[Applause]
my question is can we live like bonobos
98.7 percent of our DNA we share with
bonobos they’re our closest living
relative next to the chimpanzee now I
firmly believe everyone is born with a
chimp gene and a bonobo gene okay I’ve
spoken to a lot of scientists who say if
you look at male politicians in
Washington you have chimpanzee behavior
you’re done right you do but we have a
bonobo in us as well I see it every
single day
I do I see the empathy but the problem
is we’re moving away from that it’s like
our in history we’re going backwards
instead of forwards
I am extremely passionate about these
apes and aside from the DNA ok bonobos
live in a matriarchal society so the
females run the show it’s absolutely
incredible
they they raise their daughters to go
off into the wild to be independent and
it’s the sons that actually stay with
their mothers long term so aside from
the matriarchy and the fact that they’re
incredibly peaceful they’re called the
you know make love not war ape they’re
very very inclusive so they live in an
inclusive society they’re very accepting
and they’re gentle and they know how to
be in the moment so what’s so incredible
about these Apes is that they make love
all the time all the time they truly do
when they feel tension they have sex
that’s just it’s innate it’s it’s in
them they don’t know any different so
again I’ve spoken to a lot of scientists
and researchers when I was doing
research for my film the bonobo
connection of documentary on these Apes
and they told me that observed in the
wild there’s no evidence of violence
they don’t kill each other like
chimpanzees do and like orangutans do
these are all brilliant apes and we’re
talking about very very highly
intellectual beings bonobos don’t do
that they don’t know why they don’t do
that they just don’t do it they don’t
they don’t want to do it it’s not in
them
I am very drawn to empathy and when I
went to the Columbus Zoo in Ohio to do
research I spent about three years every
few months with a family of bonobos this
is Jimmy right here and this family they
were they just they took me right in I
was I was amazed they didn’t know me at
first and I didn’t bring any of my
equipment any of my gear I just sat with
them this is Suzy she’s my family member
she’s your family member Suzy is
astonishing I would sit with her for
hours at a time in the glass I’d be like
this should be right next to me
and she would look at me she it was like
she was almost looking into my soul it’s
like she knew all of my issues all of my
insecurities and she became like a
mother figure to me I mean honest to god
like I would be dreaming about her Suzy
came to me in my dreams there was one
time when I guess I anthropomorphize the
heck out of her and she was speaking
English to me and this ape has touched
me in just the most profound ways she
made me realize that you know I’m good
enough to when I would sit with her I
felt like all of my insecurities came
out all of my vulnerability zki mout my
anxieties and I I just felt like I was
just trying to fit in in society just
trying to try it’s trying to be enough
you know come from a competitive family
and you know our society it’s a lot to
keep up with and I felt like I was kind
of getting lost in translation but Suzy
got me to sit still with her and to be
present in the moment and it was like
she brought me back to who I was like I
I felt alive again and I didn’t even
know any of this was gonna happen I was
just doing research for a film but i sat
with her over and over again and I’d
come back and she would see me and she
would do this head now this is a really
cool thing that bonobos do they sit here
and they go like this and they get when
they get really excited they want to see
you and engage with you and they they
accept you so I felt really accepted by
Suzy and it made me take a good look at
myself and realize wow you know I am
I feel like I can be a better person I
mean when I was sitting with Suzy she I
didn’t feel like there was a status
difference because I’m a human and she’s
a great ape were both beings and we had
a language even though we weren’t
speaking to each other it was like a
visual language like an emotional
language it was truly profound she’s
blown me away and I will tell you she
has changed my life she’s changed the
way I think about myself she has changed
the way I treat other people and I try
to have empathy every single day in
people I’m not perfect none of us are
but when I looked at this to me this was
like a huge wake-up call she’s a
phenomenal mother to Suze spend so much
time with her family and make sure
everyone is okay so what is what does
this mean for us this is looking pretty
good if we can commit to not going
backwards but to moving forwards
we now need in my opinion but know it
the bonobo model more than ever before
we have the species there they’re right
in our backyard I mean in the wild they
live in the Democratic Republic of Congo
but you can see them in zoos in the US
and I encourage every single one of you
to sit with a bonobo go meet one look
them up there’s research all over the
place now on them spend some time in
their presence it will absolutely change
you and you will see that there is hope
there’s hope in our world for us to be
empathic it’s hard we’re missing it I
know it’s in us but we’re just we’re
just not there yet we’re missing a big
piece of it we are a self-absorbed
Society you know we make it all about us
but it’s about a greater love a greater
good it is not just about us it’s about
doing good for other people and during
my research Susie taught me this and I
did I had no idea it would turn out that
way so she’s taught me that we have
something greater to live for we can
truly be happy and empathic people we
can sustain empathy and what I’d like to
leave you with is you know we have
this chimpanzee over here that loves to
hang around and that’s great we need the
chimp in us sometimes but where’s the
bonobo the bonobo is the the best-kept
secret you know my partner says so much
to me
Irene it’s about choices and she’s right
you know
we have choices and we do we have
choices every day to be kind to be
sincere to be authentic and dare I say
vulnerable so the bonobo model shows us
what it would be like if men shared
equal power in society with women I
think it’s about time for that thank you
[Applause]
my question is can we live like bonobos
98.7 percent of our DNA we share with
bonobos they’re our closest living
relative next to the chimpanzee now I
firmly believe everyone is born with a
chimp gene and a bonobo gene okay I’ve
spoken to a lot of scientists who say if
you look at male politicians in
Washington you have chimpanzee behavior
you’re done right you do but we have a
bonobo in us as well I see it every
single day
I do I see the empathy but the problem
is we’re moving away from that it’s like
our in history we’re going backwards
instead of forwards
I am extremely passionate about these
apes and aside from the DNA ok bonobos
live in a matriarchal society so the
females run the show it’s absolutely
incredible
they they raise their daughters to go
off into the wild to be independent and
it’s the sons that actually stay with
their mothers long term so aside from
the matriarchy and the fact that they’re
incredibly peaceful they’re called the
you know make love not war ape they’re
very very inclusive so they live in an
inclusive society they’re very accepting
and they’re gentle and they know how to
be in the moment so what’s so incredible
about these Apes is that they make love
all the time all the time they truly do
when they feel tension they have sex
that’s just it’s innate it’s it’s in
them they don’t know any different so
again I’ve spoken to a lot of scientists
and researchers when I was doing
research for my film the bonobo
connection of documentary on these Apes
and they told me that observed in the
wild there’s no evidence of violence
they don’t kill each other like
chimpanzees do and like orangutans do
these are all brilliant apes and we’re
talking about very very highly
intellectual beings bonobos don’t do
that they don’t know why they don’t do
that they just don’t do it they don’t
they don’t want to do it it’s not in
them
I am very drawn to empathy and when I
went to the Columbus Zoo in Ohio to do
research I spent about three years every
few months with a family of bonobos this
is Jimmy right here and this family they
were they just they took me right in I
was I was amazed they didn’t know me at
first and I didn’t bring any of my
equipment any of my gear I just sat with
them this is Suzy she’s my family member
she’s your family member Suzy is
astonishing I would sit with her for
hours at a time in the glass I’d be like
this should be right next to me
and she would look at me she it was like
she was almost looking into my soul it’s
like she knew all of my issues all of my
insecurities and she became like a
mother figure to me I mean honest to god
like I would be dreaming about her Suzy
came to me in my dreams there was one
time when I guess I anthropomorphize the
heck out of her and she was speaking
English to me and this ape has touched
me in just the most profound ways she
made me realize that you know I’m good
enough to when I would sit with her I
felt like all of my insecurities came
out all of my vulnerability zki mout my
anxieties and I I just felt like I was
just trying to fit in in society just
trying to try it’s trying to be enough
you know come from a competitive family
and you know our society it’s a lot to
keep up with and I felt like I was kind
of getting lost in translation but Suzy
got me to sit still with her and to be
present in the moment and it was like
she brought me back to who I was like I
I felt alive again and I didn’t even
know any of this was gonna happen I was
just doing research for a film but i sat
with her over and over again and I’d
come back and she would see me and she
would do this head now this is a really
cool thing that bonobos do they sit here
and they go like this and they get when
they get really excited they want to see
you and engage with you and they they
accept you so I felt really accepted by
Suzy and it made me take a good look at
myself and realize wow you know I am
I feel like I can be a better person I
mean when I was sitting with Suzy she I
didn’t feel like there was a status
difference because I’m a human and she’s
a great ape were both beings and we had
a language even though we weren’t
speaking to each other it was like a
visual language like an emotional
language it was truly profound she’s
blown me away and I will tell you she
has changed my life she’s changed the
way I think about myself she has changed
the way I treat other people and I try
to have empathy every single day in
people I’m not perfect none of us are
but when I looked at this to me this was
like a huge wake-up call she’s a
phenomenal mother to Suze spend so much
time with her family and make sure
everyone is okay so what is what does
this mean for us this is looking pretty
good if we can commit to not going
backwards but to moving forwards
we now need in my opinion but know it
the bonobo model more than ever before
we have the species there they’re right
in our backyard I mean in the wild they
live in the Democratic Republic of Congo
but you can see them in zoos in the US
and I encourage every single one of you
to sit with a bonobo go meet one look
them up there’s research all over the
place now on them spend some time in
their presence it will absolutely change
you and you will see that there is hope
there’s hope in our world for us to be
empathic it’s hard we’re missing it I
know it’s in us but we’re just we’re
just not there yet we’re missing a big
piece of it we are a self-absorbed
Society you know we make it all about us
but it’s about a greater love a greater
good it is not just about us it’s about
doing good for other people and during
my research Susie taught me this and I
did I had no idea it would turn out that
way so she’s taught me that we have
something greater to live for we can
truly be happy and empathic people we
can sustain empathy and what I’d like to
leave you with is you know we have
this chimpanzee over here that loves to
hang around and that’s great we need the
chimp in us sometimes but where’s the
bonobo the bonobo is the the best-kept
secret you know my partner says so much
to me
Irene it’s about choices and she’s right
you know
we have choices and we do we have
choices every day to be kind to be
sincere to be authentic and dare I say
vulnerable so the bonobo model shows us
what it would be like if men shared
equal power in society with women I
think it’s about time for that thank you
[Applause]
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