Our Inner Ape
Great NPR show on a new book Our Inner Ape. The author, Frans de Waal, teaches psychology at Emery and studies primates (bonobos, chimps, and apes).
I was taking notes in the car, so these are imprecise. But he said things like:
* Like humans, primates are very sensitive to inequity. It really makes them angry. In cooperative species, the members will cooperate for a larger goal, but then they carefully watch what they get in return. A certain amount of equity is necessary or the cooperation breaks down.
* People talk about a "dog eat dog" world, but most animals will not leave the unfortunate or wounded behind. Some animals, like sharks, they will. But social animals -- like primates and dolphins -- almost never will.
* In bonobos, the females are more powerful than the males. Not because they are stronger -- a single male is still stronger than a single female -- but because they form more effective cooperative alliances with other females.
* Watching these other species teaches us important information about our own society, but if things continue, the bonobos will probably be extinct by 2040 or 2050.
I go back and forth on sociobiology arguments, "we've evolved to be like X and that's our inner nature." Biology-as-destiny has been used to defend rape, for one thing. And accounts of what's "natural" usually say more about the observer than the observed.
But since social Darwinism is still so politically pervasive, it's nice to hear someone claiming empathy and equity are "natural" and evolved, that they may be innate human instincts.
I was taking notes in the car, so these are imprecise. But he said things like:
* Like humans, primates are very sensitive to inequity. It really makes them angry. In cooperative species, the members will cooperate for a larger goal, but then they carefully watch what they get in return. A certain amount of equity is necessary or the cooperation breaks down.
* People talk about a "dog eat dog" world, but most animals will not leave the unfortunate or wounded behind. Some animals, like sharks, they will. But social animals -- like primates and dolphins -- almost never will.
* In bonobos, the females are more powerful than the males. Not because they are stronger -- a single male is still stronger than a single female -- but because they form more effective cooperative alliances with other females.
* Watching these other species teaches us important information about our own society, but if things continue, the bonobos will probably be extinct by 2040 or 2050.
I go back and forth on sociobiology arguments, "we've evolved to be like X and that's our inner nature." Biology-as-destiny has been used to defend rape, for one thing. And accounts of what's "natural" usually say more about the observer than the observed.
But since social Darwinism is still so politically pervasive, it's nice to hear someone claiming empathy and equity are "natural" and evolved, that they may be innate human instincts.
posted by carey at 12:44 PM
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