Internationally recognized primate scientist Frans de Waal believes weâre experiencing a second, more sophisticated Darwinian Revolution, which will vastly expand our understanding of basic human psychology and human nature. Professor de Waal has studied other Great Apes for almost twenty-five years and agrees with Charles Darwin -- aggression is only one element in human nature. Other vitally important elements have been neglected, including morality, language, cooperation and technology. ãThese deserve just as much attention as aggression.ä

Professor de Waal has looked at parallels there are between us and the other Great Apes (orangutans, chimps, gorillas, and bonobos.)Ê In the debate over ãwhat is moralä which has raged for 100 years, de Waal does not claim chimps are moral beings, but he has documented primates have a powerful interest in how their societies are structured. His interests are the parallels between other primates and us, particularly sympathy/empathy and social norms/reciprocity rules. Heâs confident the survival of individual social animals (of which primates are only one example) depends on how the group functions. That gives individuals a great stake in the social environment. Professor de Waal uses beavers to make his point. ãIf your survival depends not on a dam but on a social group, then you repair things in that social group or you prevent things from happening in that group that are not in your interest.ä On a practical level, he concludes humans need a better balance between the individualism championed in America and a stronger sense of community and connectedness.

Our speciesâ big challenge? We evolved living in groups of no more than 200 individuals. Now our cities count people in the millions. ãItâs impressive how relatively peaceful our cities are. Chimps couldnât manage the task.ä Itâs another testimony to how good we are at adapting, as earlier we adapted to radically different climates.

And then there are our cousins the Bonobos, discovered only in 1929. Bonobos are very, very sexy -- 75% of their sexual interactions have absolutely nothing to do with reproduction. Copulation is natural in all combinations of sexes. That seems to be central to how peaceful they are -- they literally ãmake love not war.ä And females seem to be both dominant and central to bonobo society. Itâs alarming that bonobos live almost exclusively in politically unstable Zaire/The Congo, putting the speciesâ survival extremely at risk. ãSince bonobos are equally close to us as the chimpanzee, we cannot ignore them. Itâs very hard to draw lines in evolution.ä

Conversation 1

Frans de Waal, Paula Gordon and Bill Russell stand atop an observation tower overlooking a colony of chimpanzees for this conversation, which is enlivened by Professor de Waalâs ãplay by playä of activities among the chimpanzees.

Describing what heâs discovered about the nature of primates, Professor de Waal tells how his general interest in animal behavior led him to focus on chimpanzees and monkeys. ÊHe compares them with humans. He says anthropomorphizing is not a ãsinä but ãDon't attribute what you donât know.ä

He tells how biologists compare the ways species adapt to their environments, from cockroaches and crocodiles to humans.

Conversation 2

The way humans have invaded all kinds of climates demonstrates how extremely adaptive humans are. Professor de Waal talks about humans as a ãtechnological species.ä Chimps, he says, are socially similar, but technologically very different.

He describes different chimpanzee cultures and describes non-verbal communication among primates, including humans. (He uses human politicians as examples.) He cites his work with chimps who can't ãpromiseä things but do make deals. They are also very good at ãkeeping score.ä Professor de Waal describes his research and observations of changes as central as the struggle to become ãalpha maleä in a chimp community.

Conversation 3

Humans, orangutans, chimps, gorillas, and bonobos are all apes. Bonobos are the least well known, discovered only in 1929. ãPhysically elegant and gracefulä with long legs, bonobos are known for their peacefulness and for sex. Professor de Waal characterizes their behavior as ãmake love not warä and compares Bonobos to our ancient ancestor ãLucy.ä

After World War II, a number of people emphasized the aggressive nature of humans. Professor de Waal believes aggression was overstated, that it is only one of many elements in human behavior. He describes other, equally or more important parallels he sees between humans and other primates. ãItâs very hard to draw lines in development or in evolution.ä

He describes Darwinâs sophisticated attitude toward other primates and relates it to his own extensive research on ãprimate reconciliation.ä Suggesting humans' ãrationalä behavior has been overestimated, Professor de Waal he describes how the ãrationalä can never be separated from emotions or context.

Conversation 4

Professor de Waal describes his ãreciprocityä research with chimps and compares chimp behavior to humans. Language, he believes, complicates communications. He describes how language is not only an information system but also functions as a distraction system.

Our speciesâ biggest challenge, according to Professor de Waal, is to adapt to living with great masses of other humans. We did not evolve in such large groups. After millions of years living in small groups of not more than 200 hunter-gatherers, large masses of humans living together is a recent circumstance for which we are not prepared by evolution.

Professor de Waal believes we can learn a great deal from watching other primates. We have primate tendencies which are much older than some social scientists would have us believe -- reciprocity, reconciliation, getting even, enforcing social rules are among those tendencies. While we cannot simply be anything we want to be, our primate natures go a long way in describing humansâ will to cooperate, to help people in need, to reassure people in trouble. Professor de Waal describes the importance of how a group functions to the survival of individuals. He compares the social activities of beavers and primates, humans and chimps.

Conversation 5

Professor de Waal describes how ãsurvival of the fittestä has been replaced by more sophisticated thinking about the functioning of groups and individuals within groups. He compares chimpanzee reconciliation with the ãvery intensive sexual contactsä of bonobos. He places bonobos and chimpanzees equally far or close from the common ancestor we all share. He is convinced primates have much greater flexibility in social relationships than has previously been assumed, citing the central role of female bonobos and of sex in bonobo societies.

Humansâ ãvery sexy relativeä the bonobos banish the credibility of human ãmoralizersä who would restrict sex to reproduction. Bonobos evolved differently from chimps for a variety of reasons which permitted larger groups and female bonding,

The study of ãcognitionä increasingly transcends boundaries as an interest in issues of evolution blossoms across many disciplines. ÊProfessor de Waal sees a second Darwinian Revolution in the making. Perhaps it will allow us to better balance community and connectedness with what he sees as Americaâs over-emphasis on individualism.

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