I am going to say it - we, humans, are angry apes

We're mostly a hodge-podge between Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon and and the elusive but very real Denisovans.

These are all descendants of Homo Heidelbergensis, a pack hunter and a body evolved to wreak havoc, either on animals or each other.

Thus, the "angry ape" we all come from.

Thing is all three parts of our genetic makeup incorporate two major things: aggression and empathy.

We know for sure the Neanderthals took care of their old and sick, and even set up a very crude kind of "hospital."

No idea on the Denisovans, but if they are like their brothers, they too cared for the old and sick.

We do as well - and all three of these used tools - as did daddy Heidelbergensis.



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Moving on from our origins, as societies we are capable of terrible aggression that no other species alive today is capable.

Just name any war, name any act of violence, any act of unprovoked aggression, or reaction to perceived aggression.

That lizard brain takes over and pushes us out of our ethics and reason.

And yet it is a third component - empathy - the ability to see through another individuals perspective compassionately - that can stop these things.

It is no surprise those champions of empathy such as Martin Luther King Jr. worked so hard towards peace. After the civil rights act he dedicated himself to unions, urban poverty and stopping the Vietnam War. LBJ hated him for this.

And there you see the dichotomy of man - Empathy vs depersonalization, ethics vs impulse, and reason vs superstition.



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We need to stop reacting towards our base, lizard brain that made the "Angry Ape." Chimps and Bonobos, which are extremely similar genetically, have radically different societies.

Chimps are war like, and kill, Bonobos are peaceful. Chimps have a concept of private property, Bonobos share resources.

It is a choice which society we want - will it be empathy or will it be aggression?