Humankind - the mistrustful, aggressive pinnacle of primate evolution?

Altruism, self-sacrifice for the benefit of others, is a phenomenon which has puzzled scientists for a long time. Why would an individual give up his right to reproduce to help the reproduction of others instead? In his presentation, Professor Gadagkar, from the Indian Institute of Sciences in Bangalore, showed how the analysis of conflict and cooperation in animal societies has changed biologists' understanding of altruism.

Whereas the degree of kinship plays an important role -for example, one is more likely to help a brother rather than a nephew -the cost and benefits of the act of helping are also taken into account. An individual's behaviour towards others is also determined by genetic predisposition, as well as environmental, physiological and developmental circumstances. Empathy is another concept that contributes to establishing a cause and effect explanation of cooperative behaviour in animals. Chimpanzees, for example, clearly display a sense of self: evidence of this self concept is that they are able to recognize themselves in a mirror. The ability to conceive of the abstract concept of "the other" is associated with a sense of empathy, which occurs also during childhood development in humans. Chimpanzees also show evidence of 'motor contagion' in their capacity to mimick facial expressions and to display acts of reconciliation and consolation by touching and calming another animal after a confrontation. Professor Frans de Waal from Emory University, USA, hypothesized that this behaviour has its evolutionary roots in selection of the capacity for a mother to react quickly to her offspring's needs. He also described experiments designed to establish whether by our criteria, monkeys have a sense of fairness. Professor de Waal's experiments indicate that they do appear to have a concept of fairness and can even learn to act cooperatively to achieve a common goal. In fact, many species-specific behaviour patterns, which are displayed by non-human primates in special or unique situations, are also recognizable in human behaviour patterns. Professor de Waal surmises that humans sometimes continue to exhibit behaviour patterns which are not suited in our modern society:thus creating problems.

Trust, as the next level of interaction in human society, was addressed by Prof. Karen S. Cook from Stanford University, USA. As individuals, we have to decide when and whom to trust. The decision is generally based on previous behaviour and experience evaluating trustworthiness. However, as she described, Western society can be said to have moved towards a more codified, institutionalized trust, which has come at the expense of personal trust. This appears not be true to the same extent in other geographically and/or culturally different communities; for example business networks in Russia are usually set up along network lines of family or friends. Prof. Cook concluded that to explain these processes and understand why our trust-dependent relationships are such as they are, we need to focus on the evolutionary basis of trust and also consider empathy, while linking such research to both the social and natural sciences.

To understand, for example, the shift from personal to institutional trust necessary for economic development in the new democracies of Eastern Europe, another important aspect is the simultaneous evolution of culture, social, political and economic structures. The difficult situation of global trust networks was the main point of the very forceful talk given by Jean-Pierre Hocké, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees. He criticized the current Western global intervention concept, where relief agencies have to cooperate fully with and are almost co-opted by the military interests of warring factions and governments. This situation puts aid workers at high risk because they are considered by locals to be part of the military organizations. He also expressed an opinion that the international community is becoming more fragmented and less able to respond to humanitarian needs during a time of crisis. Mr. Hocké contrasted the example of how international outrage prompted the immediate action that was taken to stop Nigeria from starving out the Biafra secession in 1969, with a recent (and ongoing) burning humanitarian issue of how UN resolutions on the Darfur conflict are blocked for political reasons. As a result, he stressed, the international community's trust in international organizations is eroding fast and the validity of the International Humanitarian Law is being increasingly questioned. Mr. Hocké anticipates the continuation of a tendancy for increasing number of conflicts in the world. He insisted that relief agencies must therefore regain trust with urgency by adopting cooperative action to reinstate their independence and impartiality. He also called for a trans-disciplinary approach to analyze specific incidences of conflict and to advise governments on how to deal with issues such as the apparent emergence of new deviant behaviours and social manifestations of violence.