Are humans really unique? Not as much as we think, according to the renowned primatologist Frans de Waal. He says the emotional life of a chimpanzee is not that different from our own world of roiling emotions. (and chimps also have a keen sense of fairness.) We’ll look at the social and moral lives of our closest ape cousins, chimps and bonobos, next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge.
What do the opening notes of Beethoven’s “Symphony Number Five” and a rabbit named Oolong balancing a pancake on his head have in common? They’re both examples of memes – units of culture that are imitated and, as a result, copied from one brain to another. Are memes the driving force behind cultural evolution?
Sunday, June 9th at 10am on 88.9 and 9am on 89.1.