Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are

This is more a comment following reading this remarkable book than a thorough review, I don't have much to add to the other positive reviews of this remarkable book, often invaluable insights, clearly and accessibly written, often funny, perhaps the most constructive book so far this century. Hard to find fault but I think I may have one, he focuses on the polarity between our "nice" peaceful, egalitarian, cooperative, sharing side & our "nasty" violent, competitive, hierarchical, selfish side, advocating wisely the happy medium or a hybrid of the two is best and most realistic.But he doesn't say much at all about another major player in human affairs, which is neither "evil" nor "good": plain stupidity. His book was published in 2005, far as I know no one has taken his excellent advice, why? Could be stupidity. He spends so much time trying to point out how apes are as clever as us in many ways it probably wouldn't have worked if he'd also argued man is the stupidest animal ever "the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality" as the bestselling shrink Dr Al Bernstein put it ( he also states, again somewhat humorously, we are likely to oppose or dismiss evidence, no matter how strong, that we might not be perfect unless we are depressed, a bit of a problem for the truth, it's interesting many (most?) of the great philosophers suffered depression) .So what is human stupidity? Not sure, probably partly the need for males to be rather oblivious/attracted to danger in order to hunt, explore etc in early societies which he talks about. It's not clear being rather indifferent to your and others welfare is still beneficial in modern society. This indifference is probably achieved at least partly through an ability to focus exclusively on one small aspect of a situation (such as "the kill" in a hunt) a stereotyped male trait (women "multi-taskers"), marked feature of autism (much more common in males as De Waal notes) and a hallmark of industrial society with it's hyper-specialization.The reason this makes us the stupidest animal is we have magnified our powers to that of gods, through countless innovations and inventions (at least industrial scientific man has, which is virtually everyone now) but by comparison are only slightly smarter than other apes and still unconsciously act on much the same instincts and tendencies (as our economy/environment becomes more desire/addiction based (Thompson. The Fix 2012) we may actually be getting even dumber than other apes in the sense of being more impulsive, despite the rising I.Q. (attributed to increased problem-solving, having more problems is not exactly a clear indication your house is in order)). We bite off far more than we can possibly chew (create problems too big & complicated to be solved with our intelligence & presumably instincts (usually because of narrow focus we think everything's super)) this is unique in the animal kingdom as far as I know, although I understand it is not unusual for a species to be responsible for it's own extinction in other ways. I don't know if there's a solution, the smaller scale, simpler, community units he advocates at the end (modest scale & complexity for our modest intelligence) might help but can we get there from here? Can Humpty be put back together again?Another variant of stupidity seem to stem from ego, again I seem to have noticed more in us males. Big egos get over confident and think they can do no wrong, result :stupidity. Scientists who invariably want to "change the world" for no absolutely no reason other than to become the alpha male, with reckless, basically autistic (a scientific finding), disregard for the likelihood their invention will just be another nail in the coffin of the planet is just one example (e.g., advances that increase the human population, such as the sacred goal of "a cure for cancer" may contribute to the extinction of our and other species through overpopulation. Or Einstein would be the stupidest person in history so far, as he either didn't realize or didn't care his means of achieving primate dominance would be responsible for the atom bomb) I think this is hierarchy related, a big ego seem to result from thinking you're at the top, might be the rich list, might be delusions about attractiveness, coolness, moral &/or racial superiority.Also insecurity at being toward the bottom of a hierarchy produces panic which leads to stupid 'thinking' in my opinion. I don't recall if de Waal writes about this, but another primate writer, Mazur, does (Biosociology of Dominance and Deference) noting those low in primate hierarchies are anxious, those higher up are usually calm. In my opinion there is a epidemic of insecurity in modern society, perhaps because the inequality is astronomical with globalism, I think this afflicts us males more as we need to display dominance to attract a mate, a female merely needs to mate with an "alpha" being lower in the hierarchy usually makes a female more attractive..Balancing hierarchy with more egalitarian institutions as de Waal suggests might go a long way to healing this painful affliction, but it's not clear to me we are smart enough to do anything of the sort & most insecure men probably wouldn't be interested, better to play or watch some game where they can fantasize about being dominant.I'm not suggesting we are completely stupid at all, just that's a player in our make-up that just could get the last word.........maybe the book has depressed me because it's so balanced, we're as good (depending on your perspective) as we are evil ( according to whatever that perspective happens to be) so why care either way about the fate of humanity? I suppose if you really don't care either way you won't have to suffer depression, you'll be emotionally neutral, like the neutral face people usually wear in public places.

I really enjoy De Waal's books. They are all well written with a very entertaining and easy to read style. He knows his subjects thoroughly and has the unique ability to convey that knowledge in such a way that is accessible to everyone. He doesn't talk down to his audience, but is able to put the information in a context that is easy to understand. Many times those who reach the top of their respective fields end up only being able to speak in a language that only other academics can understand.I have been interested in evolutionary biology for some time now and have read quite a bit on the topic, but I continually find myself coming back to De Waal's works. He has this immutable optimism in his books that I find refreshing. He doesn't ignore the baser aspects of human and primate nature, but he focuses on the positive aspects of nature and how the two sides of nature play off each other. Both sides of our nature have been equally important for our survival and our evolution, and so neither one is necessarily "bad" or "good". They are just what we are and the more we understand what function these qualities play in our lives the better off we will be.For me, De Waal's optimism is why I enjoy his books so much. His insights and knowledge are very valuable, but his optimism is very important in a field that seems to be populated with many books focusing on the negative. Many books and experts would have us believe that we are nothing but base instincts looking out for only number one and any good we achieve is based on purely selfish motives. I myself lean towards cynicism and have a pronounced nihilistic streak in myself. I sometimes can't help but to look at us humans and think that we are doomed to destroy ourselves. De Waal thinks this is not the case at all, and his writing helps bring me from the verge of full blown nihilism back to some form of pragmatism.I really enjoy De Waal's books they are well written, entertaining, insightful and educational. I think anyone will find this book among their favorites.

It's clear from Dr de Waal that much of who we humans are comes from our biological ancestors and that there is much we can learn from studying their behavior. Our inner pacifist bonobo and our inner warrior chimp have contributed much to who we are. Our job is to project this background into the future to guide us on who we can become.

Humans have 2 cousins, not just chimps, Bonobos are also 98.5 genetically identical to us. Where chimp males are nasty, violent, and male chauvinistic... bonobos are cooperative, and matriarchal. EVERYBODY should read this book! It will help to understand the better... and worse... sides of human nature.

This is a great book to understand our own behavior and motivations and of those around us. Reading this book will help you adapt and adjust to life appropriately and also be one up in advancing your career.

Beautifully written. Must read

El autor nos hace ver, con rigor pero también con apasionantes anécdotas acumuladas observando chimpanzés y bonobos, la continuidad entre nuestro ser ético y el de los primates "la conciencia ética no surge cómo un acantilado, es más bien cómo la suave pendiente de una playa"

Interesting book,the author take us to various facets of bonobos and chimpanzees life . You will feel like keep reading, it is not heavy stuff which you have to struggle to keep going.I strongly recommend this book.