Probably some great DOD grants here. :/ However, I really look forward to the day that our clothes can actively do this.
I do. And I don't write it off. Why is voice communication any less magical than telepathy? An organ in my head communicates with an organ in yours by indirectly vibrating the gases between us in a pattern. Or by these marks. Isn't that a field of consciousness in a sense? Anyone standing in it is potentiated by my message, and maybe in multiple ways at once! That octopus is influencing my brain, and I don't even know how. My guess is that it is hacking my circuitry by taking advantage of a processing weakness. Brain hacking. I bet we are going to start doing this in our life time. I know we are already to an extent, but I mean I think we will begin to do so in a very aggressive manner. Scary thought. But, I think that you suggest something more subtle and expansive/intrinsic?
Attempt to evolve a mutation of the octopus that is subject to predators with unusual band sensory apparatus (e.g. infra-red). Would mind hacking continue or is the octopus rendered defenseless?
Many fish use electroreception. I have to wonder if the octopus can't create some sort of similar electrical field camoflauge as well.