Posts tagged as:

scarce resources

How Did Humans Become Empathic?

July 5, 2010
Thumbnail image for How Did Humans Become Empathic?
Bookmark and Share

Empathy is unusual in the animal kingdom. So empathy must have had some major survival benefits for it to have evolved. What might those benefits have been? Empathy seems to have evolved in three major steps. First, among vertebrates, birds and mammals developed ways of rearing their young, plus forms of pair bonding – sometimes [...]

Read the full article →

The Wolf of Hate

June 21, 2010
Thumbnail image for The Wolf of Hate
Bookmark and Share

I heard a story once about a Native American elder who was asked how she had become so wise, so happy, and so respected. She answered: “In my heart, there are two wolves: a wolf of love and a wolf of hate. It all depends on which one I feed each day.” This story always [...]

Read the full article →

The Evolution of Love

June 7, 2010
Thumbnail image for The Evolution of Love
Bookmark and Share

How did we evolve the most loving brain on the planet? Humans are the most sociable species on earth – for better and for worse. On the one hand, we have the greatest capacities for empathy, communication, friendship, romance, complex social structures, and altruism. On the other, we have the greatest capacities for shaming, emotional [...]

Read the full article →