LOS ANGELES — Authors and researchers Dr. Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods are the latest guests on “The Dr. Susan Block Show,” in which they and the host discuss how humanity can benefit from the survival of "the friendliest mindset" found in dogs and bonobos.
Their discussion marks the 25th installment of Block's web series "Bedside Chats in the Coronapocalypse," and centers on why dogs and bonobos have survived and thrived through friendliness, while many species depend on aggressive behaviors.
“The 'Make-Love-Not-War' bonobos excel at friendliness with each other,” a rep explained. "Bonobos are very friendly, even with strangers; they share resources, empower the females, nurture the babies, engage in frequent consensual sex — more ‘outercourse’ than intercourse in a 'Bonobo Sutra' of positions — and most remarkably, bonobos are the only great apes that never kill each other."
"Could human friendliness help us through the anthropogenic crises that confront us now?” the rep continued. “Or will its deadly flip-side — dehumanization of our fellow humans — destroy us all?”
Hare and Woods are also a married couple; Hare is a Duke University Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Woods is an award-winning science journalist.
Their latest book is “Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity," which follows the New York Times bestseller, “The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think."
Woods is also the sole author of “Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo.”
The interview, and additional information, can be accessed at DrSusanBlock.com; it can also be viewed on YouTube.
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