Lesson 1 You and I Become “We”
The Power of Friendliness: Soft but Strong
It’s good to see you, everyone! I’m Dr. Edward ____ an evolutionary biologist.
Thank you for inviting me here today. On my ____ I had trouble locating this room.
Luckily, ____ friendly student came up to me and walked me here.
It’s fascinating how, in situations like this, we want to help someone in ____
Now, this raises some interesting questions: where does our friendliness come from, and why ____ it important?
To answer these questions, I’d like to tell you about my ____ companion dog, Sparky.
When we played with a ball, I noticed that he responded ____ to my gestures.
The responsive behavior of dogs
The responsive behavior of dogs also caught the attention of an evolutionary anthropologist, Brian ____
He conducted ____ experiment to see how dogs would respond to human gestures compared to wolves, who share the same common ancestor.
He placed two cups on ____ ground with food hidden under only one of them.
When he pointed to the cup with ____ food, the dogs found it easily.
The wolves, however, ____ and chose cups at random, paying no attention to his gestures.
Dr. Hare concluded that the dogs’ ability to read human gestures ____ them to perform better than the wolves.
He explained that dogs, unlike wolves, have developed communicative skills with humans and ____ sense of friendliness.
This explanation ____ 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 ____ didn’t became wolves.
Furthermore, Dr. Hare suggested that the friendly nature of dogs probably provided them a survival advantage that allowed their ____ to grow larger than that of wolves.
Another example
I’ll give ____ another example of how friendliness is related to survival.
Dr. Hare and his colleagues designed an experiment ____ chimpanzees and bonobos.
Although the two are genetically ____ 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.
____ placed with partners that the chimpanzees knew, they were able to work together to get the food.
However, when paired with new partners, the chimpanzees usually failed to get the food, and when they occasionally succeeded, they ____ not share the food with their partner.
The bonobos, on the other hand, got along much better than the ____
They solved the problem regardless of which individual they were paired with, and they were also more willing to share the ____
This research shows that bonobos have a cooperative ____ friendly nature.
Experts suggest that their nature ____ helped their species survive.
Without these characteristics, they ____ have faced extinction.
Homo sapiens
Now let’s turn our ____ to ourselves, Homo sapiens.
How have we managed to survive for so ____
Neanderthals existed together with Homo sapiens ____ about 40,000 years ago,
and they were known to be intelligent and physically superior ____ Homo sapiens.
Neanderthals were able to make tools and f ire and had ____ bodies with well-developed muscles and broad shoulders.
Despite ____ attributes, however, it was Homo sapiens who ultimately survived and thrived.
One possible explanation is that ____ ancestors lived in 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 ____ to adapt to an ever-changing environment.
In our competitive society, many people believe that only the biggest or the strongest can ____ and thrive.
However, I propose an alternative view: ____ is the key to success. Isn’t that a comforting thought?
We can use the power of our natural kindness ____ communicate and cooperate with different individuals.
We can all benefit from this ____ of trying to be better than others.
I’d like to end this talk with a message. Think ____ 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 working together, we can truly flourish. Thank you for ____ attention.