Re: The Human Condition and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
yitwail wrote:Kinch wrote: As it is widely acknowledge that our instincts are co-operatively orientated it is fair to say tha this behaviour must have escalated as the human world today is a highly divisive, violent and alienated one.
I hope I have addressed your questions adequately, but feel free to point out if I have not. Thanks for the criricism, keeps me thinking.
Kinch
you're welcome, and i thank you for considering my remarks seriously, despite the non-standard capitalization. in your reply to Terry you made the same claim that the instinctive basis of cooperative behavior in our species is widely acknowledged. i don't think you would suggest that this belief is universal; observations such as "the world is governed by self-interest" indicate some dissension. moreover, prevalence of a belief is no guarantee of its correctness. so, what evidence is there that cooperation is instinctual in humans? your remarks suggest to me that the main evidence is analogy with Bonobos. i don't find that convincing, especially since you proposed that upright posture was a key factor in the development of this instinct in humans, whereas Bonobos lack upright posture.
I am afraid that the best test of whether or not our instincts are geared towards selflessness and love or divisiveness and aggression is rather subjective. It is shown in the widespread values of humans, not in their behaviour. There are universal values and they are basically versions of Jesus' 'love one another as yourself' motto. The existence of universal values, I believem implies that that these values must go deeper than mere ideas about what we should do - if our instinctive orientation were to be aggressive and egocentric then these would be the universaly values(this, I know, is debatable). Another way of looking at it is even more subjective and it is just, what do you personally feel is the right way to behave - most people (deep down I think all people) would admit that the right way to act is co-operatively. As humans are essentially animals (unique ones, mind you) I think it is fair to say that the only way we could have a universal idea of what is the 'right' way to behave is if this behaviour was instinctive. The statement - 'the world is run by selfishness' is quite true, but selfishness is a result of the conflict between instinct and intellect which pushes humans to have to aquire physical wealth and dominance to assert their value and 'goodness' against the guilt of their conscience.
The analogy to Bonobos has its limitations. Bonobos are not fully upright but they are moreso then the common chimp, they are also younger looking and much more intelligent. Here are some examples from people who have worked with them.
(the first quotes are about the common chimp)
Footage extract 1 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: Chimpanzee's once thrived throughout the forests of equatorial Africa while
Bonobos were restricted to the Congo Basin. Today both species survive in
isolated fragments and are studied at a handful of sites. Gombe on the shore on
Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania was where Jane Goodall began her study 35 years
ago.
Fifi is the only chimp still alive from that time with six surviving offspring. Freud,
her eldest is now the dominant male in her group while her younger son, Frodo, is
the largest chimp at Gombe and working his way up the male hierarchy. Freud
now leads the tightly bonded party of males that form the core of the group. Male
chimps stay in the group of their birth and cooperate when there is common cause.
Every week or so the males form a para-military patrol to defend and test the
borders of their territory. In single file and total silence they follow their leader in
search of trespassing neighbours. Hair standing on end they listen for the voices
of their foes.
Each community of male chimps jealously guard their territory and the females in
residence. A stranger turns and flees. Though groups of males rarely engage in
battle an individual caught by a border patrol is at serious risk. In the 1970's, Jane
Goodall described a harrowing chain of events. Her study group split in two, and
over the course of four years, the males of one group systematically hunted down
and brutally killed every adult in the other group. Chilling evidence that warfare is
a painful legacy from our primate forebears.
21
Gombe's steep slopes, the stage for all this high drama, tumble from open
grassland to riverine forest, from the top of the great Rift to the blue basin of
Tanganyika.
Footage extract 2 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Dr Craig Stanford: Frodo is the best of the Gombe hunters, he's 17 years old and yet he's killed
10% of the colobus population the last three years. It's really quite an incredible
[Frodo walks past Dr Stanford] animal and a great hunter. That was Frodo.
Narrator: All the hunters, including Frodo, will try to catch a monkey for himself. By
joining forces the chimps hope to strand some monkeys in an isolated tree top
with no route of escape except into the clutches of a chimp.
Dr Craig Stanford: Although we see elements of cooperation at Gombe what we think we are
seeing mainly is individual selfish behaviour by male hunters done within a
communal setting. It's a little bit like a baseball game in that baseball is a
communal game in which individual players are doing their piece and in the end
the end result is going to be success or failure. The more hunters there are the
greater the odds of success and yet each individual hunter is performing selfishly.
Narrator: As the chimps climb up the colobus retreat to the highest branches too slender to
bear a chimp's weight. The male Colobus stand their ground against chimps up to
four times their size. They will even take the offensive, momentarily driving the
chimps back. Holding his tail out of the chimp's reach this male buys precious
time for the escape of the females and young. Excited by the cries of hunter and
prey, females appear below. Eighty feet above the ground Frodo displays his
daring technique, but this time he misses. With chimps climbing everywhere one
monkey leaps into the arms of death. Even a rear attack by the defending colobus
cannot save him.
Footage extract 3 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: Sometimes words won't suffice. Males perform displays, dramatic performances
designed to establish their dominance and intimidate rivals. Fearless, Frodo
sometime uses the human researchers to enhance his displays. Even Charlotte has
fallen prey.
Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek: He'll give me a whack. He'll just kind of add a little flourish by
incorporating me but it's not directed at me. If he wants to hurt somebody he
could have done it.
Narrator: Females and their young are dominated by this threat of force. But when the fruit
crop is ample everyone feasts. A mother's care is the primary influence on a
young chimp's life.
22
Footage extract 4 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: An infant chimp may seem secure within the bosom of his group but this is not
always true. A male has stolen a baby chimp from its frantic mother who follows
in desperate pursuit. In the Mahale Mountains south of Gombe, researchers have
recorded this terrible event not once but seven times and are at a loss to explain it.
The Alpha male is now in possession of the screaming infant. He actually beats
back the mother with her own baby. Both mother and baby are members of this
male's group and the infant was presumably sired by one of the group's members.
Males have been known to kill babies sired by outsiders but this kidnapper could
very well be the baby's father. The infant is killed by a bite to the face. Group
members share in the macabre feast just as if it were a monkey. Infanticide and
cannibalism.
(these quotes relate to Bonobos or 'pygmy chimps')
Footage extract 1 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: Chimpanzee's once thrived throughout the forests of equatorial Africa while
Bonobos were restricted to the Congo Basin. Today both species survive in
isolated fragments and are studied at a handful of sites. Gombe on the shore on
Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania was where Jane Goodall began her study 35 years
ago.
Fifi is the only chimp still alive from that time with six surviving offspring. Freud,
her eldest is now the dominant male in her group while her younger son, Frodo, is
the largest chimp at Gombe and working his way up the male hierarchy. Freud
now leads the tightly bonded party of males that form the core of the group. Male
chimps stay in the group of their birth and cooperate when there is common cause.
Every week or so the males form a para-military patrol to defend and test the
borders of their territory. In single file and total silence they follow their leader in
search of trespassing neighbours. Hair standing on end they listen for the voices
of their foes.
Each community of male chimps jealously guard their territory and the females in
residence. A stranger turns and flees. Though groups of males rarely engage in
battle an individual caught by a border patrol is at serious risk. In the 1970's, Jane
Goodall described a harrowing chain of events. Her study group split in two, and
over the course of four years, the males of one group systematically hunted down
and brutally killed every adult in the other group. Chilling evidence that warfare is
a painful legacy from our primate forebears.
21
Gombe's steep slopes, the stage for all this high drama, tumble from open
grassland to riverine forest, from the top of the great Rift to the blue basin of
Tanganyika.
Footage extract 2 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Dr Craig Stanford: Frodo is the best of the Gombe hunters, he's 17 years old and yet he's killed
10% of the colobus population the last three years. It's really quite an incredible
[Frodo walks past Dr Stanford] animal and a great hunter. That was Frodo.
Narrator: All the hunters, including Frodo, will try to catch a monkey for himself. By
joining forces the chimps hope to strand some monkeys in an isolated tree top
with no route of escape except into the clutches of a chimp.
Dr Craig Stanford: Although we see elements of cooperation at Gombe what we think we are
seeing mainly is individual selfish behaviour by male hunters done within a
communal setting. It's a little bit like a baseball game in that baseball is a
communal game in which individual players are doing their piece and in the end
the end result is going to be success or failure. The more hunters there are the
greater the odds of success and yet each individual hunter is performing selfishly.
Narrator: As the chimps climb up the colobus retreat to the highest branches too slender to
bear a chimp's weight. The male Colobus stand their ground against chimps up to
four times their size. They will even take the offensive, momentarily driving the
chimps back. Holding his tail out of the chimp's reach this male buys precious
time for the escape of the females and young. Excited by the cries of hunter and
prey, females appear below. Eighty feet above the ground Frodo displays his
daring technique, but this time he misses. With chimps climbing everywhere one
monkey leaps into the arms of death. Even a rear attack by the defending colobus
cannot save him.
Footage extract 3 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: Sometimes words won't suffice. Males perform displays, dramatic performances
designed to establish their dominance and intimidate rivals. Fearless, Frodo
sometime uses the human researchers to enhance his displays. Even Charlotte has
fallen prey.
Dr Charlotte Uhlenbroek: He'll give me a whack. He'll just kind of add a little flourish by
incorporating me but it's not directed at me. If he wants to hurt somebody he
could have done it.
Narrator: Females and their young are dominated by this threat of force. But when the fruit
crop is ample everyone feasts. A mother's care is the primary influence on a
young chimp's life.
22
Footage extract 4 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: An infant chimp may seem secure within the bosom of his group but this is not
always true. A male has stolen a baby chimp from its frantic mother who follows
in desperate pursuit. In the Mahale Mountains south of Gombe, researchers have
recorded this terrible event not once but seven times and are at a loss to explain it.
The Alpha male is now in possession of the screaming infant. He actually beats
back the mother with her own baby. Both mother and baby are members of this
male's group and the infant was presumably sired by one of the group's members.
Males have been known to kill babies sired by outsiders but this kidnapper could
very well be the baby's father. The infant is killed by a bite to the face. Group
members share in the macabre feast just as if it were a monkey. Infanticide and
cannibalism.
Footage extract 1 from "Pygmy Chimpanzee: The Last Great Ape" 1997, BBC.
David Attenborough: In one isolated patch of the Central African Forest in a bend of the Zaire
River lives one of the rarest and least known of all the continent's creatures. It's
an ape, a chimpanzee. But this is no ordinary chimp. It's a bonobo. Bonobo's are
found only here in the remote forests of Zaire. They are also called Pygmy
Chimpanzees, though in fact they are just as tall as the common chimp but they
are more slender and with flatter faces. They are a distinct species perhaps even
closer to our own distant ancestors. This is our nearest living relative.
This group of bonobos includes a remarkable individual, a young male called
Shijimi. His group has been studied for more than 20 years so we know that he is
eight years old and that when he was three he lost his mother. He's an orphan. If
Shijimi were a common chimp he would almost certainly be dead by now. In the
cut and thrust of that society orphans seldom survive unless they are adopted by
another female. But bonobo social life is very different, far more tolerant and
relaxed. Friends can be male or female, young or old and groups are more closely
bound together. This is a peaceful and harmonious society, one in which a
motherless child has at least a chance. But when Shijimi lost his mother he lost
more than a meal ticket.
In apes as in our kind, childhood is a long slow process of learning, getting to
know the world around you and the rules of the society you live in. For a male
bonobo a mother is especially vital. She is the key to his future status in the group.
This young male is still at his mother's breast at six years old and he'll stay in her
group for life. Without a mother Shijimi will have no one to fight his corner.
Females are the dominant force in bonobo society.
So how has he survived and will he ever be more than just a social outcast.
Remarkably he's solved his problem by befriending the group's full-grown males.
There are three of them and Shijimi's gained their acceptance by grooming them.
As well as helping to keep the skin clean and free of parasites, mutual grooming
cements and sustains friendships. If Shijimi had a mother he wouldn't be making
friends with full grown males until much later in his young life. He's had to grow
up fast to fill the void left by his mother's death. Alliances with grown-up males
are no substitute for a mother's tender loving care but if Shijimi's lost his
childhood he does at least have friends and when the going gets tough, that can be
vital.
23
Even in this peaceful society there are tensions. The males have a definite pecking
order and the top male reacts vigorously to any challenge. Shijimi is bundled out
of the way. If he gets caught up in this he could be hurt. Dragging branches
around is a threat, a way of letting off steam. This may look violent but it's mostly
bluff. Actual physical conflict is rare.
Bonobos have one means of defusing tension they use above all else?-sex. Sexual
contact brings the males dispute to a peaceful close. More even than in human
societies, sex has become far more than just a means of reproduction. Everyone
does it with everyone else. Males with males, females with females, adults with
young. And they do it for all sorts of reasons. To greet, to appease, to reassure, to
enhance relationships of all kinds. It's the social cement of bonobo society. The
binding force that keeps the group together.
That togetherness is evident when bonobos set off to look for food. Unlike
common chimps they usually travel as a large compact group and the leader's
almost always a female. She decides when to move and where to go. Females
have a great influence in bonobo society, another contrast with common chimps.
Footage extract 2 from "Pygmy Chimpanzee: The Last Great Ape" 1997, BBC.
David Attenborough: Fruit is high in energy so eating it gives the bonobos time for more social
activities. But it doesn't contain much protein so they have to supplement their
diet with other foods like leaves, stems or pith. By the time Shijimi catches up the
others are already moving on. There's one fruit that's a particular favourite that
makes bonobos go bananas. This is the cause of all the excitement, it's a fruit
called Bolingo. At times like this the pecking order is very clear. The females
have first choice. Even the top male has to wait his turn.
Footage extract 3 from "Pygmy Chimpanzee: The Last Great Ape" 1997, BBC.
David Attenborough: Common chimps are afraid of water. They'll go to any lengths to avoid
getting their feet wet but for bonobos a stream holds no fears. They're looking for
insect larvae, of dragon flies and the like. Though bonobos are more vegetarian
than common chimps they do take animal food; caterpillars, earth worms, birds
eggs, even small mammals.
Footage extract 5 from "The New Chimpanzees" 1995, National Geographic.
Narrator: It is in Africa's dark heart, the Congo Basin that we find the gentler tributary of
our primate legacy. Takayoshi Kano has led the research here in Wamba, Zaire
for the past 22 years. He comes here in search of the second, little known species
of chimpanzee. Sugar cane is the sweet lure used to call down the elusive bonobo.
Dr Kano and his associate Chie Hashimoto have discovered that bonobos are
quite distinct from the chimps studied by Goodall and Boesch. At first glance they
are different. Although they have been called pygmy chimps they're not smaller,
just more slightly built. Hunted elsewhere in Zaire they're safe here but wary still.
The sugar cane buffet proves irresistible. At ease on two legs as well as on four
they simply rise up and walk so their hands are free to carry the cane. Eerily their
24
long shapely limbs and upright gait recall our own prehistoric forebears and their
natural two legged gait is only the first surprise they have in store for us. An
impressively stern female enters and snaps a young sapling. Once she picks
herself up she does something entirely surprising for a female chimp, she
displays, and the males give her sway. For this is the confident stride of the
group's leader, its alpha female, whom Kano has named Halu.
Females play a very different role in bonobo society than they do among chimps.
The reigns of power are shared equally between male and female held by a
strongly bonded group of high ranking mothers and their adult sons. The son of a
dominant female can take great liberties. High ranking females cooperate to
dominate adult males and support their sons in social conflicts. Though tough
with other adults bonobo mothers almost never discipline their babies, even when
they steal the food right out of their mouths.
Footage extract 1 from "Congo: Footprints in the Forest" 2001, BBC.
Narrator: Bonobos are pygmy chimpanzees found only on the south side of the Congo
River. Separated for two million years by this natural barrier, a smaller chimp
species has evolved which is very like our own. These are new age chimps,
caring, sharing apes. Bonobo males and females are of a similar size reflecting
fairly equal roles in their society. They live together in closely knit clans and they
take great care of each other. Psychologists say that mutual grooming like this
may have led to a modern human equivalent: gossiping. Both reinforce social
bonds, show that you care. Bonobos clean each other, we chat about our day to
day lives. Both may be ultimately trivial but a good excuse for intimacy.
The young male bonobos stay with their mother right through to adulthood and
this may help to explain why there is so little male aggression. The males have
great respect for females altogether. These really are touchy, feely apes, very
much at home with their feminine side. It's hardly surprising that feminists have
taken bonobos to their hearts. Females dominate this culture, male aggression has
been tamed.
Footage extract 2 from "Congo: Footprints in the Forest" 2001, BBC.
Narrator: One of the old assumptions about human origins was that we only learned to walk
upright after we came down from the trees and took to the grasslands. But a closer
look at our nearest relatives and especially bonobos suggests a simpler truth. Life
in the trees is a largely bipedal affair already. Maybe this step in our evolution
wasn't such a great leap after all.
Narration regarding "Ultimate Guide: Great Apes" 1996, Discovery Channel.
Narrator: For copyright reasons we are unable to include footage of bonobos from the 1996
documentary "The Ultimate Guide: Great Apes". However, in it Dr Jo Myers
Thompson discusses the differences between common chimpanzees and bonobos.
Dr Thompson explains that the clearest differences can be found in the status of
females.
25
She says a female chimpanzee's life is rugged. They have hardships just in daily
activities. They are probably lower on the hierarchy, the social status, than males
throughout the society and for instance males beat them up, chase them, bully
them around and that doesn't happen in bonobo society. The female bonobos are
not bullied and chased. Although there can be some male aggression, it's very
minor. Female bonobos are never raped as far as we know, they have first choice
at feeding sites. Their life is much more peaceful.
The narrator in this programme then goes on to say the physical difference
between chimps and bonobos are quite telling. Bonobos have shorter, smaller
faces and a more slender physique retaining many of the features seen in juvenile
chimps. They're rather like chimps frozen inside adolescent bodies. Even their
voices are high pitched and child-like. The male aggression that is so common in
chimps is much reduced in bonobos and even relations between neighbouring
groups are often peaceful.
Jo Thompson goes on to add, why do they need to be aggressive? They don't have
to fight for food, they don't have to fight for sex, they don't have to fight for interrelationships,
they don't have to fight for space. Why would they be aggressive?
Footage extract from "Monkey in the Mirror" 1995, BBC.
Narrator: Unlike common chimps bonobos have never been seen to kill their own kind. This
is truly an ape that makes love not war.
Footage extract 1 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: Georgia State University's Language Research Center, Kanzi's home, is set
among 50 wooded acres just 20 minutes from down town Atlanta. Researchers
here study language development in human children by comparing it with
language development in our close relatives, apes.
Kanzi working on word tests with Dr Rose Sevcik. [Researcher saying words and
Kanzi identifying them on the picture board] Kanzi is distinguishing spoken
words. First the researcher says a word. To answer Kanzi presses a picture symbol
which triggers and electronic voice. These 256 symbols bear no visual
resemblance to test words which include adjectives, verbs, even wishes and
emotions. The board includes abstracts like good and bad. Some human adults
working with Kanzi have taken a year to memorise these symbols and master the
board. [Kanzi doing more word tests with the picture board]
Dr Rose Sevcik: Success! Good job. Good job. And then we'll get some more grapes, how does
that sound! [Kanzi and Dr Sevcik hooting with excitement]
Narrator: Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh is one of several people who care for Kanzi at the
Language Research Center. They often prepare their meals together.
26
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Here's some cheese. You put that in your tummy this is going to be
for our hot food. Okay I want you to go put the onions in your hot food. I got the
onions in a bowl, lets go and put them in our hot food and we'll come back and
turn the TV on. Get your onions right here and put them in your bowl. [Kanzi puts
onions in saucepan] Look you spilled some of them.
Narrator: Savage-Rumbaugh has monitored Kanzi's language development since soon after
his birth 13 years ago.
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Let me get you a spoon to stir it with Kanzi. Stir it up please. [Kanzi
stirs the onions] Will you wash this potato off for me? Could you wash the
potato? With the water. You need to wash it in the water. That's very good.
[Kanzi turns the tap on and washes the potato under the tap] Put some water in
the pan for our noodles. [Kanzi places pan in kitchen sink and turns on water]
More water, more water. Alright your noodles are going to go in here and you can
have a few of them for your tummy. Kanzi could you turn the water off again
please. [Kanzi turns the water off]
Footage extract 2 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: Then there's Kanzi. Does he really understand what he hears? [Dr Savage-
Rumbaugh stands behind Kanzi so he can't see her and says ?'Kanzi, see if you
can find mushrooms' etc and Kanzi hands her the corresponding picture. Kanzi is
successful in all tests] Obviously Kanzi can choose correct pictures in response to
Sue's voice, but how about other voices, unseen voices?
Dr Rose Sevcik: Kanzi come on. We're all set, we're ready. [Kanzi takes a pair of headphones
from Dr Sevcik and puts them on]
Narrator: With Dr Rose Sevcik putting questions through a microphone Kanzi takes the test
that Austin [a common chimp] failed. Will Kanzi still be able to distinguish
words? [Dr Sevcik says through the microphone in another room ?'Kanzi, give Sue
the picture of juice' etc and Kanzi hands Dr Savage-Rumbaugh the corresponding
picture. Kanzi is successful in all tests] Kanzi has picked up several hundred
words, not through formal training but in daily life with Dr Savage-Rumbaugh
and others.
1980 was the year of Kanzi's birth into the bonobo clan at the Language Research
Center. He was less than a month old when this film was shot. Kanzi is the one
being kissed by a nurturing female called Matata. In bonobo society infants are
passed back and forth among adults. The whole community takes turns
babysitting. But baby Kanzi was happiest with Matata. In the wild adults lavish
affection on the young. Matata was born in the wild. Perhaps that is why she is so
fond of baby Kanzi despite the fact that he is not her offspring. In the end Kanzi
was raised by Matata.
27
Meanwhile researchers were trying to teach Matata words without much success.
She had baby Kanzi with her all the time but they weren't teaching him. They
thought him too little to learn. Then when Kanzi was about two and a half the
unexpected happened. He would say ?'apple' and ?'chase', then he would go over
and pick up an apple and look at the researcher with a smile on his face and start
running around the room. So to everyone's surprise they found that Kanzi was
learning language while they were trying to teach his mother and paying no
attention to Kanzi. What was happening was that he had been learning by
listening to what people said and observing what they did, much as a human child
might. Kanzi amazed his researchers. Apes had been taught language before but
he picked it up on his own.
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Go get your ball.
Narrator: Kanzi understands long sentences as well as words. He's no good with lists but
sentences present no problem. Sue dons a welder's mask to prevent him reading
her expression.
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: I'm going to put on my mask and we're going to try a sentence for
Kanzi okay. Can you hear me Kanzi? [Kanzi squeals. Sue asks him to do different
things like ?'Put the key in the refrigerator', ?'Could you take off Sue's shoe.' Kanzi
is successful in all tests.]
Narrator: What about objects he can't see?
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Go get the ball that's outdoors [Kanzi gets the ball.]
Narrator: Sometimes Kanzi applies his own logic. Asked to put water on a carrot he threw it
outdoors. Chided by Sue, he pointed to the rain, the carrot was wet.
A vocabulary of 800 words confers basic English skills. Kanzi has several
hundred.
Footage extract 3 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: Panbanisha, like Kanzi loves the woods. Over excitement can cause bad
behaviour such as jumping on the dog [Panbanisha jumps on the dog].
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: Oh Panbanisha! [Sue makes Panbanisha look at the picture board
while she presses the symbol for ?'bad' over and over again]
Narrator: Panbanisha knows she's being scolded. Is this the face of bonobo contrition?
[Panbanisha contemplates what has happened and then presses the symbol for
?'good']
28
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: I hope so. [Panbanisha presses ?'good' again and then ?'milk'] You
want some milk. I know you always want some milk when your planning to be
good.
Narrator: As if to atone, Panbanisha goes to pat the dog she jumped on.
Footage extract 4 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: On one occasion demands imposed by three months of filming caused human and
bonobo tempers to flare. The producers asked Sue to put sentences to Tamuli to
see if Kanzi would explain them to her, but Tamuli who does not understand
language became frustrated. She began kicking Sue. Pound for pound apes are
five times as strong as humans. Even Tamuli is stronger than Sue, let alone Kanzi.
With Sue trying to convey that she had misbehaved, Tamuli sought Kanzi's help.
To his credit Kanzi tried to arbitrate, keeping them apart. Tamuli is still
unrepentant, and Sue?
Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh: [To Tamuli] I'm not going to have it!
Narrator: Kanzi steps between them, mediating with his bulk, but the storm was almost
spent. Tamuli sat down and offered an apology. Sue, badly bruised was mollified.
Peace was restored.
Footage extract 5 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: Bonobos are highly intelligent and physically similar to human ancestors whose
remains are found in this cradle of Mankind, the great Rift Valley of East Africa.
In the mid 70's a three and a half million year old human skeleton was discovered
in the Rift Valley. She was named Lucy for the Beatles song, ?'Lucy in the sky
with Diamonds' which happened to be on the radio at the time. The hominid Lucy
and bonobos like Kanzi share a remarkable number of features. Their limb
proportions and the way in which they walk are similar. Which returns us to
Kanzi, the bonobo who shares features with our own human ancestors.
Footage extract 6 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: Three and a half million year old Lucy shows that hominids walked erect even
then. This posture held the key to human development in more ways than one.
Lucy's structure and bonobo's, Pan paniscus to use Kanzi's scientific name, have
been carefully compared at the University of California. Dr Adrienne Zihlman.
Dr Adrienne Zihlman: It's amazing how similar Pan paniscus is to Lucy who's one of the early
hominids that lived in Africa about three and a half million years ago. If we look
at their skeletons and compare them they're very similar in brain size, they're very
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similar in stature, the length of the lower limbs and fairly similar in overall body
proportions.
Narrator: Zaire, in Central Africa. A Japanese research team has been studying wild
bonobos here since the mid 1970's. What bonobos make of humans we can't say.
But humans learned a lot about bonobos. For example, in the wild they often walk
upright. They walk like humans with straight backs and arms swinging at their
sides, taking obstacles like logs in their stride.
Wild bonobos like the ancient hominid Lucy, can walk upright for long distances,
even in rough terrain. A vertical posture leaves hands free to do more important
things.
Footage extract 7 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: A bonobo walks like this, essentially upright. Chimpanzees bend further forward
making long distance walking difficult. In modern man the back is perfectly
straight. A bonobo leans further forward than the ancient hominid Lucy but even
so the bonobo resembles the hominid more closely than the chimpanzee does. If
we compare their gait the bonobo is certainly the closest ape to Lucy. Walking
upright left apes hands free to develop new skills.
Footage extract 8 from "Kanzi: An Ape of Genius" 1993, NHK Productions
Narrator: Kanzi, ?'buried treasure' in Swahili. Not a month goes by without Kanzi revealing
another facet of his character to those who know him best.
Kanzi, ?'buried treasure', promises to teach us much much more about the journey
of the human species from it's ancient bones and shadows to the historic land of
apes.
_____________________________
Conclusion
Narrator: We have seen how Geoffrey Miller's belief that sexual selection for traits such as
care and empathy resulted in ?'runaway kindness' intersects with the line of
argument being put by Jeremy Griffith.
Jeremy Griffith: I am suggesting that in terms of our evolution, our human ancestors lived in a
totally cooperative, integrated and loving state. This nurturing development of
integration began some 12 million years ago and became fully developed in our
primate ancestors some five million years ago before succumbing to the
emergence of a very competitive, aggressive and selfish fully conscious ancestor
some two million years ago. This period from 12 to two million years ago then is
I'm suggesting what produced our sense of morality and our conscience, our
innate sense of right and wrong. This period from 12 to two million years ago was
our species' time in infancy and childhood where we lived in a metaphorical
?'Garden of Eden' state of integrative cooperativeness.
As you can see, their is a mixture of aggresiveness and co-operativeness in Bonobo society but compared to the common chimp they certainly seem to be moving towards integration. Hope this is helpful and to hear from you again,
Kinch
