I figured I haven’t read a ‘smart’ book lately; One where it
actually takes brain power and makes you think about what you are reading. And
it was great.
Yes, I did grab this book based on the chimps hand on the
cover. But I am also a fan of Fran de Waal. As a fellow primatologist (hahahahahahaha okay, maybe a wannabe went to
school to be one and now I’m stuck being a fricken secretary- as the laughter turns
to tears) I respect the way he views primates, evolution, the relationships
between Homo sapiens and other primates. He does it in a very non-anthromorphic way. I also like how he sprinkles some humor into
the book so it reads very non-textbook like. De Waal is adamant that we aren’t the selfish, individualistic, greedy person that the world (albeit the American world) personifies us to be. The Age of Empathy comes from the aftermath of such tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina, or the tsunami in Thailand. Making sure friends and family is okay is more important than the material goods. How many of us helped in some way to a bunch of people we never even met. It shows that compassion stems from everyone, even if it’s not an economic gain.
De Waal shows us in this book that social behavior such as bonding,
conflict resolution, herd mentality and consolation are present in animals (and
human) naturally. We are prewired towards empathy. He
shows a great deal of empirical evidence to show that animals do in fact ‘care’
for on another, sharing resources. Of course he mainly focuses on primates, especially
the great apes. They know that it is better to help one another out in order to
survive. Empathy requires emotional
involvement in a situation or towards an individual,. There is a need for balance between social and
selfish motives, nd you can see that in
basic survival instincts. Sure you can let the snake bite your friend, but
where would it get you?
Yes, we can be greedy at times. There are always the ones
who have to be in charge, but in reality we usually need one or two’ policing’
members of every community to help keep things under control, keep things calm. This can be seen that in more or less
every species out there, there is some form of a hierarchy.
Points of the book I really enjoyed:
-
The elephants and the mirror. It just made me happy and wanted to learn more
about elephants.
-
The ‘baby farm’ phenomena. – while it was such a
horrible idea, it really grounded the fact that we NEED bonding. From human
babies to chimp babies. We crave that bonding, and require it in order to
become a functioning adult.
-
We needed to be around people. Back in the day
when we were strolling the savannahs with saber tooth tigers, we needed support
of others. If you went at it alone, you’d probably become a nice meal. By supporting others, bonding, having a way
of resolving conflict we became a numerous species.
-
The war hungry myth also was an interesting point
to me. We didn’t evolve loving war. De Waal makes a good point; there weren’t
enough people to actively engage in war all the time. War started when humans
became more abundant. And it usually
stemmed from water or women.
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