Lesson 1 You and I Become “We”
The Power of Friendliness: Soft but Strong
It’s ____ to see you, everyone! I’m Dr. Edward Wilson, an evolutionary biologist.
Thank you for inviting me here today. On my way, I had trouble ____ this room.
Luckily, ____ friendly student came up to me and walked me here.
It’s fascinating how, in situations ____ this, we want to help someone in need.
Now, this raises some interesting questions: where does our friendliness come from, and why is ____ important?
To answer these questions, I’d like to ____ you about my childhood companion dog, Sparky.
When we played with a ball, I noticed that he responded well to ____ gestures.
The responsive behavior of dogs
The responsive behavior of dogs ____ caught the attention of an evolutionary anthropologist, Brian Hare.
He conducted an experiment to see how dogs would respond to human gestures compared to wolves, who share the same common ____
He placed two cups on the ground with food hidden under ____ one of them.
____ he pointed to the cup with the food, the dogs found it easily.
The wolves, however, struggled and ____ cups at random, paying no attention to his gestures.
Dr. Hare concluded that the dogs’ ability to read human gestures allowed them to perform better ____ the wolves.
____ explained that dogs, unlike wolves, have developed communicative skills with humans and a sense of friendliness.
____ explanation sounds reasonable according to several evolutionary biologists.
They say that from the common ancestors of these two species, those that acted friendly toward humans evolved into dogs, and those that didn’t ____ wolves.
Furthermore, Dr. Hare ____ that the friendly nature of dogs probably provided them a survival advantage that allowed their population to grow larger than that of wolves.
Another example
I’ll give you another ____ of how friendliness is related to survival.
Dr. Hare and his colleagues designed ____ experiment with chimpanzees and bonobos.
Although the two ____ genetically similar, they are different in nature.
To study their cooperative behavior, Dr. Hare’s team set up a device which required two individuals to pull both ends of a rope at the same time ____ order to access food on a board.
When placed with partners that the chimpanzees knew, they were able ____ work together to get the food.
However, when paired with ____ partners, the chimpanzees usually failed to get the food, and when they occasionally succeeded, they did not share the food with their partner.
The bonobos, on the other hand, got along much better ____ the chimpanzees.
They solved the problem regardless of which individual they were paired with, and ____ were also more willing to share the food.
____ research shows that bonobos have a cooperative and friendly nature.
Experts ____ that their nature has helped their species survive.
____ these characteristics, they could have faced extinction.
Homo sapiens
____ let’s turn our attention to ourselves, Homo sapiens.
How have we ____ to survive for so long?
Neanderthals existed together with Homo ____ until about 40,000 years ago,
and they were ____ to be intelligent and physically superior to Homo sapiens.
Neanderthals were able to make tools and f ire and had strong bodies with well-developed muscles and broad ____
Despite these attributes, however, it was Homo sapiens who ultimately survived ____ thrived.
One possible explanation is that our ancestors lived ____ larger communities that promoted cooperation and the free exchange of knowledge, while Neanderthals tended to live in smaller groups.
These social differences may have given Homo sapiens a competitive advantage over Neanderthals, allowing them to ____ to an ever-changing environment.
In our competitive society, many people believe that only the biggest or ____ strongest can survive and thrive.
However, I propose ____ alternative view: kindness is the key to success. Isn’t that a comforting thought?
We can use the power of ____ natural kindness to communicate and cooperate with different individuals.
We can all benefit from this ____ of trying to be better than others.
____ like to end this talk with a message. Think of our society as a bouquet.
Just as each flower adds to the beauty when it harmonizes with the others, each person can contribute to a more ____ world when they cooperate.
By being kind and ____ together, we can truly flourish. Thank you for your attention.