Go to the Africa savannah. You'll see what 8 chimps can do to a jeep. It's chaos alright, hilarious chaos.

Oh, by the way. The cooperative ape human with the back pack intends to blow up the plane and litter the countryside below with fingers and toes.

Yes the true nature of humanity is clandestiney ,charles! smile in your face know all the time we want to take your place!-backstabberz-Rugged individualism is a heads up lifestyle!

Chimps are assholes. If it was a plane full of bonobos it may have gone better.They would just sit there with their bag of pretzles and their junk hanging out.

Someone mentioned mirror neurons before in another SLOG post. Humans have empathy for each other because we have the most mirror neurons of any animal. Men have a few less than women, and those with autism have a few less, but it's all good. With them we "mirror" other peoples' experiences in our own head, essentially feeling them ourselves. You can't be mean to someone unless you can separate yourself from them emotionally, since you would experience their pain yourself (like in Clockwork Orange).

It's disappointing to see Hrdy misrepresent the "selfish gene" theory as being at odds with altruistic behavior. Given the ambiguity of the phrase, I can understand why people might misinterpret Dawkin's intent, but it's really unfortunate that they do so, because his idea is so useful.

Most people seem to immediately assume that the term "selfish gene" means simply "a gene that make one selfish," which could not be further from the truth. In fact, the "selfish gene" refers to a gene which, in a sense, is itself selfish. I know it sounds foolishly anthropomorphic to put it this way, but it's difficult to give a proper explanation in a brief blog comment. At any rate, when you begin to view genes as the target of survival pressures, rather than individual organisms, the so-called "paradox" of altruism disappears entirely.

The process of Individualization is a universal constant.

Species spit.

New elements form.

Diversity increases.

The Commu-crap you spew about our natural proclivity rollup into sardine cans is horrifying, and yet revealing, as the underlying substrate of the current b.s. administration.

We have always spread out. Left Europe. Homesteaded...just to get enough room for each of us.

When i sart to feel irritated at the tedium and discomfort of flying I make myself remember that my grandfather came to the U.S. from Greece in 1910 in an ocean liner in steerage class. I imagine having to interact with, hear and smell 100's of people in cramped, squalid quarters for two weeks and a 4 or 12 hour plane ride in coach becomes luxurious.