# Human Animality **Domain:** Anthropogeny / Primate Behavior / Human Futures **Doc Type:** Concept Router **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition **Human animality** describes the biological and behavioral continuity of Homo sapiens with other animals, especially other primates, alongside the capacities that differ in degree or organization. It is not a judgment that every person is violent or deceitful, nor a claim that biology determines a single inevitable civilizational outcome. ## The Range of the Animal [[wiki/Jane Goodall|Jane Goodall]] distinguishes deliberate, knowingly harmful action from severe chimpanzee aggression while also documenting chimpanzee care and altruism. [[wiki/Richard Wrangham|Richard Wrangham]] places extraordinary cooperation and destruction in the same account of the species; his [[wiki/Reactive vs. Proactive Aggression|reactive/proactive distinction]] matters because reducing impulsive conflict and preventing planned coalitionary violence are different problems. [[wiki/Robert Trivers|Robert Trivers]] proposes an evolutionary function for some forms of [[wiki/Self-Deception|self-deception]], linking an internal cognitive process to social interactions. These are research programs and interpretations with distinct evidence bases, not interchangeable proofs of an essence called “evil.” For this corpus, the point of departure is practical: powerful tools inherit human motives, institutional incentives, and cognitive limits unless those are deliberately examined. The observation connects to [[wiki/Human-Machine Symbiosis|human–machine symbiosis]] and [[wiki/Machine Succession|machine succession]], but no quoted scientist here is being enlisted as an advocate of a particular successor program. [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] develops a constructive account of self-knowledge and technological transformation; [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] provides the historical evolutionary route. ## Relationships - **Ecological diagnosis:** [[reminders/Human Animality/Humanity Is a Plague on Earth by David Attenborough|David Attenborough]] used a population-pressure metaphor in his 2013 interview; [[reminders/Human Animality/Humanity Can Decide Not to Be a Cancer by Warren M. Hern|Warren M. Hern]] offered a conditional pathological analogy and stressed the human capacity to change. - **Human/primate comparison:** [[wiki/Jane Goodall|Jane Goodall]] discusses both shared aggression and the proposed role of deliberation in “true evil”; [[wiki/Richard Wrangham|Richard Wrangham]] describes cooperation and destructive capacity together. - **Behavioral mechanisms:** [[wiki/Reactive vs. Proactive Aggression|Reactive vs. Proactive Aggression]] and [[wiki/Coalitionary Aggression|Coalitionary Aggression]] distinguish planned group violence from spontaneous provocation without reducing either to all human behavior. - **Cognitive mechanism:** [[wiki/Robert Trivers|Robert Trivers]] proposes a connection between [[wiki/Self-Deception|Self-Deception]] and interpersonal deceit; this is a hypothesis about some mechanisms, not a universal diagnosis. - **Moral flexibility:** [[wiki/Allen Buchanan|Allen Buchanan]] argues that evolved groupishness can be restrained through social environments; [[wiki/Frans de Waal|Frans de Waal]] describes both primate roots of empathy and the historical in-group function of morality. Neither treats exclusion as an obligation. - **Human-futures route:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] and [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] place inherited capacities and limitations alongside technological transformations without asserting a predetermined future. - **Article routes:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] and [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] offer historical and constructive rather than merely dystopic readings. - **Zoological perspective:** [[reminders/Human Animality/The Human Species Is Animal Not Angel by Desmond Morris|Desmond Morris's animal-view reminder]] draws from his [Open University interview](https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/the-environment/creative-climate/earth-vision/desmond-morris-earth-vision); he characterizes inherited tendencies as flexible suggestions and discusses cooperation as well as competition. - **Ecological worldview diagnosis:** [[wiki/David Suzuki|David Suzuki]] argues in his [2016 authored essay](https://davidsuzuki.org/story/we-are-the-world-we-must-act-on-that-understanding/) that belief in human evolutionary superiority encourages ecological separation and evasion of responsibility; this is his interpretation of an aggregate worldview, not a claim about every individual. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “We are a plague on the Earth. It's coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. It's not just climate change; it's sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now.” > **— David Attenborough**, *Radio Times interview, January 2013, as reproduced in contemporaneous reporting* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humanity Is a Plague on Earth by David Attenborough|Humanity Is a Plague on Earth by David Attenborough]] > “We have become a malignant ecopathologic process. If this diagnosis is true, what is the prognosis? The difference between us and most forms of cancer is that we can think, and we can decide not to be a cancer.” > **— Warren M. Hern**, *“Has the human species become a cancer on the planet?”, Current World Leaders, 1993* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humanity Can Decide Not to Be a Cancer by Warren M. Hern|Humanity Can Decide Not to Be a Cancer by Warren M. Hern]] > “The world has been overwhelmed by the belief that our species stands at the pinnacle of evolution, endowed with impressive intelligence and able to exploit our surroundings as we see fit. We feel fundamentally disconnected from nature and therefore not responsible for the ecological consequences of our actions.” > **— David Suzuki**, *“We are the world; we must act on that understanding,” David Suzuki Foundation, January 14, 2016* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humanity Mistakes Ecological Domination for Superiority by David Suzuki|Humanity Mistakes Ecological Domination for Superiority by David Suzuki]] > “I’ve personally decided that only humans are capable of true evil, because we can deliberate and do it knowing the harm we’re inflicting.” > **— Jane Goodall**, *“Can Animals Be Evil?”, Why Are We Here? interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Only Humans Can Plan Evil Knowing the Harm by Jane Goodall|Only Humans Can Plan Evil Knowing the Harm by Jane Goodall]] > “We're amazingly more cooperative than almost any other species and we're extraordinarily destructive compared to most species.” > **— Richard Wrangham**, *Big Think interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humans Are Both Cooperative and Destructive by Richard Wrangham|Humans Are Both Cooperative and Destructive by Richard Wrangham]] > “I believe that self-deception evolves in the service of deceit.” > **— Robert Trivers**, *“Deceit and Self-Deception,” Edge conversation, May 30, 2006* [[reminders/Deception/Self-Deception Helps Us Deceive Others by Robert Trivers|Self-Deception Helps Us Deceive Others by Robert Trivers]] > “Groupishness is in our genes. We will always tend to divide the world into Us and Them and tend to think We are superior. But if we construct the right social environment, we can avoid tribalism in its more extreme, harmful forms.” > **— Allen Buchanan**, *MIT Press Reader interview, 2021* [[reminders/Human Animality/Our Social Environment Can Restrain Tribalism by Allen Buchanan|Our Social Environment Can Restrain Tribalism by Allen Buchanan]] > “I think that human morality evolved as an ingroup phenomenon, to strengthen the in-group and increase its cohesiveness. This was partly needed for competition with other groups.” > **— Frans de Waal**, *The Believer interview, 2007* [[reminders/Human Animality/Morality Began Within the Group by Frans de Waal|Morality Began Within the Group by Frans de Waal]] The following external-source placement adds Morris's direct zoological view of the species to this synthesis page; it is distinct from the five existing aggression, cooperation, deception, and morality comparisons. > “The human species, we are animals, we’re not angels, and our behaviour has about it a number of qualities which are inborn.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Open University Earth in Vision interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/The Human Species Is Animal Not Angel by Desmond Morris|The Human Species Is Animal Not Angel by Desmond Morris]] > “Now, as a species, we obviously have problems with violence. We use shower heads to deliver poison gas, letters with anthrax, airplanes as weapons, mass rape as a military strategy. We’re a miserably violent species.” > **— Robert Sapolsky**, *TED2017, “The Biology of Our Best and Worst Selves,” April 2017* [[reminders/Human Animality/A Miserably Violent Species by Robert Sapolsky|A Miserably Violent Species by Robert Sapolsky]] > “The human being hasn’t really had time to evolve into a new species since those tribal days, and so we still have to look at ourselves as tribal animals living in super-tribes, and that means that we’re not really adapted to contemplating super-tribal issues.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Open University, “Earth in Vision,” updated May 4, 2016* [[reminders/Human Animality/Tribal Animals Live in Super-Tribes by Desmond Morris|Tribal Animals Live in Super-Tribes by Desmond Morris]] > “Ever since the phrase "the age of anxiety" entered the lexicon, each generation has claimed they have more to worry about than the previous one. But the fact is, anxiety is part of the human condition. It's the price we pay for having brain that makes predictions about things that haven't happened, the ability to see a future that is not necessarily foretold by the past.” > **— Joseph LeDoux**, *“Putting Our Anxieties To Work,” Edge Annual Question, 2013* [[reminders/Human Animality/Anxiety Comes With the Ability to Imagine the Future by Joseph LeDoux|Anxiety Comes With the Ability to Imagine the Future by Joseph LeDoux]] > “What is the biological price of being a species with a sense of humor?” > **— Isabel Behncke Izquierdo**, *2018 Edge Annual Question, question* [[reminders/Human Animality/What Is the Biological Price of Humor by Isabel Behncke Izquierdo|What Is the Biological Price of Humor by Isabel Behncke Izquierdo]] > “Can natural selection's legacy of sex differences in values be reconciled with the universal values of the Enlightenment?” > **— Helena Cronin**, *2018 Edge Annual Question, question* [[reminders/Human Animality/Can Sex Differences Be Reconciled With Enlightenment Values by Helena Cronin|Can Sex Differences Be Reconciled With Enlightenment Values by Helena Cronin]] > “Our virtue is our tolerance in face-to-face interactions, and the evolutionary question is where this comes from. The solution I present is that it comes ultimately from capital punishment, a practice made possible by our capacity for proactive violence.” > **— Richard Wrangham**, *How violence pointed to virtue, Harvard faculty interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Tolerance May Have Emerged From Collective Sanctions by Richard Wrangham|Tolerance May Have Emerged From Collective Sanctions by Richard Wrangham]] > “Cooperation is a big part of the story in the sense that it’s only as a result of our ability to cooperate that our ancestors were able to control the aggressiveness of the most extremely violent males. It was absolutely critical that the subordinate males were able to come together to cooperate. The argument I make is that this depended entirely on a sufficiently sophisticated language.” > **— Richard Wrangham**, *How violence pointed to virtue, Harvard faculty interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Cooperation May Have Checked Violent Males by Richard Wrangham|Cooperation May Have Checked Violent Males by Richard Wrangham]] > “Chimpanzees are capable of killing without weapons, just as humans are, but they are incapable of capital punishment. What capital punishment needs is the ability to make a plan and to coordinate that plan.” > **— Richard Wrangham**, *How violence pointed to virtue, Harvard faculty interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Chimpanzees Can Kill but Cannot Plan Capital Punishment by Richard Wrangham|Chimpanzees Can Kill but Cannot Plan Capital Punishment by Richard Wrangham]] > “[Other animals’] brains are basically the same as ours. The same hormones that create mood and motivation in us are in those brains as well.” > **— Carl Safina**, *Beyond Words: Carl Safina, Rutgers faculty interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Other Animals Share Our Biology of Mood by Carl Safina|Other Animals Share Our Biology of Mood by Carl Safina]] > “We are not the measuring stick for [other animals’] lives.” > **— Carl Safina**, *Beyond Words: Carl Safina, Rutgers faculty interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humans Are Not the Measure of Animal Lives by Carl Safina|Humans Are Not the Measure of Animal Lives by Carl Safina]] > “If an animal is acting fearful, your best guess is that it feels afraid. If it’s playing with its babies, it’s having fun. That’s a really good first guess. For the most part, it gets you the right answer right away. Then if you keep watching, you have a better chance of confirming that answer or realizing you might have been mistaken.” > **— Carl Safina**, *Beyond Words: Carl Safina, Rutgers faculty interview* [[reminders/Human Animality/Watch Animals Before Dismissing Their Feelings by Carl Safina|Watch Animals Before Dismissing Their Feelings by Carl Safina]] > “We have a powerful genetic suggestion telling us to cooperate with one another, which is overlooked because we always stress competition, which leads to violence, and that’s the part that frightens us.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Earth in Vision, Open University original long interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/Cooperation Is a Strong Human Disposition by Desmond Morris|Cooperation Is a Strong Human Disposition by Desmond Morris]] > “There are dark days when I am a pessimist and then there are brighter days when I’m an optimist. On a very dark day I described humanity as the mould on a rotting planet.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Earth in Vision, Open University original long interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/On Dark Days Humanity Looks Like Mould on Earth by Desmond Morris|On Dark Days Humanity Looks Like Mould on Earth by Desmond Morris]] > “I also have optimistic days, and there’s a special reason for this: our species is the most inventive, innovative species on the planet. We are ingenious. One of our strongest characteristics is our playful curiosity.” > **— Desmond Morris**, *Earth in Vision, Open University original long interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/Playful Curiosity Gives Morris Hope for Humanity by Desmond Morris|Playful Curiosity Gives Morris Hope for Humanity by Desmond Morris]] > “You know, our gestures, when we communicate nonverbally, are virtually the same as the chimpanzees.” > **— Jane Goodall**, *What It Means to Be Human, full interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human and Chimpanzee Gestures Are Remarkably Alike by Jane Goodall|Human and Chimpanzee Gestures Are Remarkably Alike by Jane Goodall]] > “[The Chimpanzees of Gombe] had all my scientific observations, but it also had all the stories, because a story, an anecdote, can be a very carefully recorded observation. It’s an anecdote, because you only see it once, but those anecdotes are sometimes the key to unlocking a puzzle.” > **— Jane Goodall**, *What It Means to Be Human, full interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/Anecdotes Can Unlock Scientific Puzzles by Jane Goodall|Anecdotes Can Unlock Scientific Puzzles by Jane Goodall]] > “In any case, there can’t be a theoretical debate over whether we’re doomed to a constant rate of violence, because when you open up the history books you find that rates of violence change.” > **— Steven Pinker**, *Steven Pinker on Violence, full Skeptical Inquirer interview, 2013* [[reminders/Human Animality/History Shows That Violence Rates Can Change by Steven Pinker|History Shows That Violence Rates Can Change by Steven Pinker]] > “If you live in a society where there is a rule of law for long enough, it changes your emotions. You become less likely to react with rage if someone gives you the finger or calls you a nasty name. You don’t challenge them to a knife fight; you walk away.” > **— Steven Pinker**, *Steven Pinker on Violence, full Skeptical Inquirer interview, 2013* [[reminders/Human Animality/The Rule of Law Can Change Emotional Reactions by Steven Pinker|The Rule of Law Can Change Emotional Reactions by Steven Pinker]] > “If you have networks of trade and exchange, it becomes cheaper to buy stuff than to steal it; and other people become more valuable to you alive than dead. If you have a rise of commerce and trade, the incentives change and people get less violent.” > **— Steven Pinker**, *Steven Pinker on Violence, full Skeptical Inquirer interview, 2013* [[reminders/Human Animality/Trade Can Make Other People More Valuable Alive by Steven Pinker|Trade Can Make Other People More Valuable Alive by Steven Pinker]] > “We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady.” > **— James Lovelock**, *The Earth is about to catch a morbid fever, scientist-maintained original essay* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humanity Should Be Earth's Mind Not Its Malady by James Lovelock|Humanity Should Be Earth's Mind Not Its Malady by James Lovelock]] > “[Human exceptionalist beliefs] have not been constants of human cultures across the ages. We are capable of new (or old) mental models of ourselves and our relation to the world in which we live.” > **— Tom Murphy**, *Human Exceptionalism, scientist-maintained authored essay, 2022* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human Exceptionalism Is Not Fixed in Our DNA by Tom Murphy|Human Exceptionalism Is Not Fixed in Our DNA by Tom Murphy]] > “Humans coexisted with nature for many millennia as a part of nature, not apart from nature. We need to return to being subordinate partners, not self-proclaimed overlords.” > **— Tom Murphy**, *Human Exceptionalism, scientist-maintained authored essay, 2022* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humans Can Return to Living as Part of Nature by Tom Murphy|Humans Can Return to Living as Part of Nature by Tom Murphy]] > “The environment places limits on what's possible. In some cases, there are severe limits, in some cases there are fuzzy limits.” > **— Jared Diamond**, *A Conversation with Jared Diamond, recorded author interview transcript* [[reminders/Human Animality/Environment Limits Possibilities Without Determining Outcomes by Jared Diamond|Environment Limits Possibilities Without Determining Outcomes by Jared Diamond]] > “Environmental problems are relatively cheap and easy to solve if you catch them in an early stage, but at a late stage, they are horrendously expensive or impossible to solve.” > **— Jared Diamond**, *Jared Diamond on the State of the World Environment, Scientific American edited address transcript, 2007* [[reminders/Human Animality/Environmental Problems Get Harder to Solve With Time by Jared Diamond|Environmental Problems Get Harder to Solve With Time by Jared Diamond]] > “Is another species our biological relative or a resource?” > **— David Suzuki**, *We are the world; we must act on that understanding, scientist-authored David Suzuki Foundation essay, January 14, 2016* [[reminders/Human Animality/Is Another Species Kin or a Resource by David Suzuki|Is Another Species Kin or a Resource by David Suzuki]] > “Will scientific advances about the causes of sexual conflict help to end the "battle of the sexes"?” > **— David M. Buss**, *2018 Edge Annual Question, question* [[reminders/Human Animality/Can Science Reduce Sexual Conflict by David M. Buss|Can Science Reduce Sexual Conflict by David M. Buss]] > “Why are we so often kind to strangers when nobody is watching and we have nothing to gain?” > **— Paul Bloom**, *2018 Edge Annual Question, question* [[reminders/Human Animality/Why Are We Kind to Strangers With Nothing to Gain by Paul Bloom|Why Are We Kind to Strangers With Nothing to Gain by Paul Bloom]] > “Given the nature of life, the purposeless indifference of the universe, and our complete lack of free will, how is it that most people avoid ever being clinically depressed?” > **— Robert Sapolsky**, *2018 Edge Annual Question, question* [[reminders/Human Animality/Why Do Most People Avoid Clinical Depression by Robert Sapolsky|Why Do Most People Avoid Clinical Depression by Robert Sapolsky]] > “When you measure the world with a ruler made for humans, other species will inevitably look inferior.” > **— Christine Webb**, *Harvard Gazette report of Christine Webb's Harvard Science Book Talk, October 8, 2025* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human-Centered Measures Make Other Species Look Inferior by Christine Webb|Human-Centered Measures Make Other Species Look Inferior by Christine Webb]] > “Species evolve because of genetic differences among their members; therefore you cannot leave biological difference out of a biological approach. Luckily, it so happens that biological differences among humans are minor and don't produce sub-species or "races," and that human sexual dimorphism is relatively limited.” > **— Dan Sperber**, *2006 Edge Annual Question, response passage* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human Biological Differences Do Not Produce Races by Dan Sperber|Human Biological Differences Do Not Produce Races by Dan Sperber]] > “Our human centric view of life is clearly unwarranted. From the millions of genes that we have just discovered in environmental organisms over the past months we learn that a finite number of themes are used over and over again and could have easily evolved from a few microbes arriving on a meteor or on intergalactic dust.” > **— J. Craig Venter**, *2005 Edge Annual Question, response passage* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human-Centered Views of Life Are Unwarranted by J. Craig Venter|Human-Centered Views of Life Are Unwarranted by J. Craig Venter]] > “Humans all over the world share the same genome, the same neural architecture and the same behavioral niche (three-generational system of resource provisioning, long-term pair-bonding between men and women, high levels of cooperation between kin and non-kin). At the same time, human cultures are highly variable. Some societies see revenge as a duty, others as a sin; some regard sex as a pleasure, others as a danger, and some reward innovations while others prefer traditions.” > **— Nicolas Baumard**, *2017 Edge Annual Question, response passage* [[reminders/Human Animality/Shared Biology Coexists With Diverse Human Cultures by Nicolas Baumard|Shared Biology Coexists With Diverse Human Cultures by Nicolas Baumard]] > “People do not repeat the catastrophes of history because they forget it; people build up self-destructing ideologies and behavior patterns that continue history's catastrophic path because they remember the past too well (e.g., "the maginot effect" for war and the soon-to-be "box-cutting effect" for terrorism).” > **— Scott Atran**, *2004 Edge Annual Question, response passage* [[reminders/Civilization/Remembering History Can Sustain Catastrophic Patterns by Scott Atran|Remembering History Can Sustain Catastrophic Patterns by Scott Atran]] > “To put it more cynically, if your work lets people believe there are "Jewish genes'" (never mind that the same genes are found in Palestinians) or that criminals have different kinds of brains from regular people (never mind that regular people get arrested all the time), or that your ancestors 5,000 years ago lived in the same neck of the woods as you (never mind the whereabouts of all your other ancestors), well then, good press will be yours. On the other hand, if your work shows how thoroughly perceptions of race, ethnicity, and other traits change with circumstances, well, good luck. Common sense will defend itself against science.” > **— David Berreby**, *2004 Edge Annual Question, response passage* [[reminders/Human Animality/Common Sense Can Defend Itself Against Science by David Berreby|Common Sense Can Defend Itself Against Science by David Berreby]] > “The data from evolutionary psychology has now convinced me that we evolved a dual set of moral sentiments: within groups we tend to be pro-social and cooperative, but between groups we are tribal and xenophobic.” > **— Michael Shermer**, *2008 Edge Annual Question, response passage* [[reminders/Human Animality/We Can Be Cooperative Within Groups and Tribal Between Them by Michael Shermer|We Can Be Cooperative Within Groups and Tribal Between Them by Michael Shermer]] > “We should be worried about the decline of the human nervous system. We should be worried that something—likely environmental, but possibly more subtle than that—is hampering our ability to parent new human beings with coherently functioning perceptual apparatuses. We should be worried about what this means for the economic future of our society, but we should also be worried about what this means for the future of our collective cognition and awareness as a species.” > **— Douglas Rushkoff**, *2013, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?”* [[reminders/Human Animality/The Human Nervous System May Be in Decline by Douglas Rushkoff|The Human Nervous System May Be in Decline by Douglas Rushkoff]] > “The time-is-money ethos of the Industrial Age and wage labor, combined with the generic quality of computerized time-keeping and digital calendars has all but disconnected us from the temporal rhythms on which biological life has oriented itself for millennia. Like all organisms, the human body has evolved to depend on the cyclical ebbs and flows of light, weather, and even the gravitational pull of the moon in order to function effectively.” > **— Douglas Rushkoff**, *2017, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT SCIENTIFIC TERM OR CONCEPT OUGHT TO BE MORE WIDELY KNOWN?”* [[reminders/Human Animality/Industrial Time Has Disconnected Us from Biological Rhythms by Douglas Rushkoff|Industrial Time Has Disconnected Us from Biological Rhythms by Douglas Rushkoff]] > “Had the question been, "What are you pessimistic about?" I would have answered: If there is any progress in human wisdom (and, yes, I suppose there is) it is pathetically slow, while ever faster technological advances provide the means for self-righteous, unwise people with power, wealth, or charisma to cause greater and greater havoc. I don't alas have any equally broad and compelling reasons to be optimistic about the future of humankind. Humans, however, are full of surprises, many of them excellent, arousing new hopes every day.” > **— Dan Sperber**, *2007, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT?”* [[reminders/Civilization/Technology Advances Faster Than Human Wisdom by Dan Sperber|Technology Advances Faster Than Human Wisdom by Dan Sperber]] > “Ultimately, this atheoretical and largely descriptive work provided many surprises and counterintuitive findings. For example, laughter, like crying, is not consciously controlled, contrary to literature suggesting that we speak ha-ha as we would choose a word in speech. Most laughter is not a response to humor. Laughter and speech are controlled by different brain mechanisms, with speech dominating laughter. Contagious laughter is the product of neurologically programmed social behavior. Contrasts between chimpanzee and human laughter reveal why chimpanzees can't talk (inadequate breath control), and the evolutionary event necessary for the selection for human speech (bipedality).” > **— Robert Provine**, *2008, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?”* [[reminders/Human Animality/Most Laughter Is Not a Response to Humor by Robert Provine|Most Laughter Is Not a Response to Humor by Robert Provine]] > “The inner and oldest areas of human's brain, the reptilian brain, generate and regulate instinctive and automatic responses, which have a role in preserving the organism. Because of these areas, we move without analyzing the consequence of each action; we move like a machine of automatic and unconscious induction. We walk without determining if the floor's structure will remain after each step and we run faster than normal when we feel a threat, not because of rational planning, but because of automatic responses.” > **— Eduardo Salcedo-Albaran**, *2011, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?”* [[reminders/Human Animality/Automatic Brain Responses Move Us Before Deliberation by Eduardo Salcedo-Albaran|Automatic Brain Responses Move Us Before Deliberation by Eduardo Salcedo-Albaran]] > “When I take a look at John Brockman’s original list of "hot topics" from a quarter of a century ago, I discern a pattern, or throughline. We live at a time of great, perhaps unprecedented, advances in digital technology (hardware/software) and biological (genetic/brain) research and applications. It’s easy to see these changes as wholly or largely positive, though—as a card-carrying member of the pessimists’ society—I can easily point to problematic aspects as well.” > **— Howard Gardner**, *2016, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST INTERESTING RECENT [SCIENTIFIC”* [[reminders/Civilization/Technology and Biology Are Changing What It Means to Be Human by Howard Gardner|Technology and Biology Are Changing What It Means to Be Human by Howard Gardner]] > “The American public, confronted with the most consequential technology in its history, is behaving exactly as its primate inheritance predicts. They are, as always, a fickle, ignorant, dangerous mob.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public, 2026* [[reminders/Human Animality/The American Public Follows Its Primate Inheritance by Bryant McGill|The American Public Follows Its Primate Inheritance by Bryant McGill]] > “Politics is the management of the voter's inner primate at scale, and every practicing politician knows it. The behaviors that primatologists catalog, grooming allies, displaying strength, punishing defectors, scapegoating outsiders and rallying the troop against a common threat, are the operational vocabulary of every campaign in America, translated into polling, messaging, fundraising and media.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public, 2026* [[reminders/Human Animality/Politics Manages the Voter's Inner Primate by Bryant McGill|Politics Manages the Voter's Inner Primate by Bryant McGill]] > “The reality is that the acquisition of resources is one of the most foundational drivers that we have. And so if we try to strip that out and say, ‘Don’t worry, everybody’s just going to get UBI’d,’ you will fundamentally break something that will end in violence.” > **— Tom Bilyeu**, *Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, 2026* [[reminders/Human Animality/You Cannot UBI Away the Human Drive to Acquire Resources by Tom Bilyeu|You Cannot UBI Away the Human Drive to Acquire Resources by Tom Bilyeu]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Jane Goodall, “Can Animals Be Evil?”, *Why Are We Here?* interview and transcript](https://www.whyarewehere.tv/people/jane-goodall/) — the interview retains both care and violence in its chimpanzee comparison. - [Richard Wrangham, *Big Think* interview and transcript](https://bigthink.com/videos/big-think-interview-with-richard-wrangham/) — the full cooperation/destruction statement and later qualification. - [Robert Trivers, “Deceit and Self-Deception,” Edge conversation (2006)](https://www.edge.org/conversation/robert_trivers-deceit-and-self-deception) — first-person evolutionary hypothesis about deceit. - [Allen Buchanan, MIT Press Reader interview (2021)](https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/our-moral-fate-allen-buchanan-on-escaping-tribalism/) — social environments and the possibility of inclusive morality. - [Frans de Waal, The Believer interview (2007)](https://www.thebeliever.net/an-interview-with-frans-de-waal/) — in-group history and the explicit boundary between description and moral guidance. - [Desmond Morris, “Earth in Vision,” Open University interview](https://www.open.edu/openlearn/nature-environment/the-environment/creative-climate/earth-vision/desmond-morris-earth-vision) — full transcript of his zoological account of human behavior and its flexible inherited tendencies.