What It Means to Be Human - The Enigma of Altruism

Explore the unique nature of human cooperation in this World Science Festival panel discussion hosted by Alan Alda. Join leading evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, and humanitarians as they delve into the origins and evolution of altruistic behavior in humans. Examine the differences between human and animal cooperation, investigate the interplay between genes and culture in shaping human behavior, and discover the conditions necessary for altruism to emerge. Learn about early human networking, the neurobiology of behavior, and the concept of eusociality. Gain insights into how group dynamics and camping may have influenced human evolution, and understand the process of gene-culture coevolution.

Alan Alda introduction
Participant Introductions
Lets define altruism
What happened from the time of Darwin to today
1930's film about chimps cooperating
Comparing humans social skills to chimps social skills
Is human behavior all genes?
Human evolution and early networking
The neurobiology of human behavior
What are the conditions necessary to have altruism?
What is the history of social creatures and definition of Eusociality
The group that camps has the advantage
Gene culture coevolution