[FutureBuddha] Let's Be Bonobos ...

[Jundo]

Is this time of war and violence, nature reminds us that it need not be so ...

[NPR] UNLIKE CHIMPS, BONOBOS OFFER HOPE THAT MAYBE WE CAN ALL GET ALONG

As a species, who are we? Are humans innately hostile and violent toward people who belong to communities other than our own? Or are we inherently friendly and cooperative?

These are difficult questions to crack open. Over the years, some researchers — primatologists, evolutionary biologists and others — have tried to make headway by looking to chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest living relatives, for insights.

Now, in a study published in the latest issue of the journal Science, two collaborators argue that wild bonobos — known for friendlier and more peaceful tendencies compared to chimpanzees — cooperate not just within their own communal group but also across other bonobo groups, with more cooperative individuals leading the charge. This paves the way for the broader groups to form social ties.

That is, both the capacity for war and the capacity for peace may live inside us, alongside one another.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...-all-get-along

Gassho, J

stlah

[Kaitan]

I don't know about the bonobos, but I watched the documentary on Netflix "the empire of apes" and there they say that it's almost impossible for chimpanzees to be peaceful towards chimpanzees outside their tribes.

Gasshō

stlah

Bernal

[Nengei]

The differences in social structure are really cool to learn about. As humans, we hope that we have choice in these behaviors. And of course, as humans, we have to actually make the choice about how we behave. Our culture is so bent toward approaching problems with domination and violence that I wonder if we will ever abandon it in favor of our own best interests.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

[Jundo]

The differences in social structure are really cool to learn about. As humans, we hope that we have choice in these behaviors. And of course, as humans, we have to actually make the choice about how we behave. Our culture is so bent toward approaching problems with domination and violence that I wonder if we will ever abandon it in favor of our own best interests.

Gassho,
Nengei
Sat today. LAH.

Well, helping that process along is one aspect of my book ...

Gassho, J

stlah