What It Means to Be Human: The Enigma of Altruism

Though many animals display cooperative behavior, human cooperation is distinct. Alan Alda hosts E.O. Wilson, Sarah Hrdy and other leading evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and humanitarians as they examine the origins and evolution of human cooperative behavior.

The World Science Festival gathers great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that allows a broad general audience to engage with scientific discoveries. Our mission is to cultivate a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.

This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

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Original Program Date: June 12, 2009
MODERATOR: Alan Alda
PARTICIPANTS: Edward O. Wilson, Dominic Johnson, Sarah Hrdy, Xavier Le Pichon, Rob Boyd

Alan Alda introduction 00:00

Participant Introductions 2:18

Lets define altruism 5:33

What happened from the time of Darwin to today 11:05

1930's film about chimps cooperating 16:30

Comparing humans social skills to chimps social skills 22:40

Is human behavior all genes? 31:40

Human evolution and early networking 35:39

The neurobiology of human behavior 46:10

What are the conditions necessary to have altruism? 52:04

What is the history of social creatures and definition of Eusociality 59:11

The group that camps has the advantage 1:06:56

Gene culture coevolution 1:13:29

Видео What It Means to Be Human: The Enigma of Altruism канала World Science Festival