Understanding Society
Are Humans Like Bonobos?
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
‘We refuse one who boasts,’ say the !Kung, because pride may someday lead him to kill. In Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History, Doug uses their leveling custom to compare humans with sociable bonobos rather than domineering chimpanzees. Even young children resist inequality: three-year-olds divide cake equally, while six-year-olds would rather discard a slice than accept an unfair division.
A Note on the Original Text
Doug’s writings are presented as originally written. Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical irregularities have been retained to preserve his words and the integrity of the original record.
ORIGINAL WRITING
The content in this post is based on the book Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman.
“Humans are clearly not bonobos. Still a growing body of research suggests that we have a lot more in common with these sociable apes than we do with Machiavellian chimpanzees. For starters for most of human history our political systems much more closely reasonable those of bonobos. Just recall the the tactics of !Kung tribe members: ‘We refuse one who boasts, for someday his pride will make him kill somebody. So we always speak of his meat as worthless. This way we cool his heart and make him gentle.’
In an analysis of forty-eight studies on hunter gatherer societies, an American anthropologist determined that Machiavellianism has almost always been a recipe for disaster. To illustrate this, here are some traits that, according to this scientist were needed to get you elected in prehistory:
Generous Brave Wise Charismatic Fair Impartial Reliable Tactful Strong Helpful
Leadership was temporary among hunter-gatherers and decisions were made by the group. Anyone foolish enough to act as Machiavelli later prescribed was risking their life. The selfish and the greedy would get booted out of the tribe and faced likely starvation. After all, no one wanted to share food with those who were full of themselves.
A further indication that human behavior is more closely those of bonobos than chimpanzees is our innate aversion to inequality. Do a search for ‘inequality aversion’ in Google Scholar and you’ll find more than ten thousand scientific articles about this primordial instinct. Children as young as three divide a cake out equally and at six would rather thrown a slice away than let one person have a larger portion. Like bonobos, humans share both fanatically and equally.
That said, we also shouldn’t exaggerate such findings. Homo puppy is not a natural born communist. We’re fine with a little inequality, psychologists emphasize, if we think it’s justified. As long as things seem fair.If you can convince the masses that you’re smarter or better or holier, then it makes sense that you’re in charge, and you won’t have to fear opposition.