I worked as a crab fishermanin Alaska and we fished for other things sometimes in the off season such as cod or halibut. On time the company we worked for decided to try fishing for octopus using similar methods to how we harvested other fisheries. After about a week or two we all pretty much mutinied and refused to do it anymore. Don't get me wrong we were cold blodded killers of much marine life, I'm sure we massacred millions of fish and such in our time, but there was something about Ocupus we just couldn't do it. It didn't help that the money was shit for octopus at the time, but it didn't matter really for some reason most of us were deeply affected and uncomfortable with killing octupus in exchange for money.
On the other hand, octopus live only long enough to mature and breed (2-3 years for most of them). Octopus aren't thinking deep thoughts with that fascinating nervous system. There will be no Octopi poems or symphonies. They're pretty much just trying to get laid before they die.
Our ancestors (at least going back a few million years or so) could hope to live a dozen or three years and fuck more than once. Octopus has a long way to go to catch up, evolution-wise.