Empathy probably started out as a mechanism to improve maternal care. Mammalian mothers who were attentive to their young's needs were more likely to rear successful offspring.

A chimpanzee who is really gearing up for a fight doesn't waste time with gestures but just goes ahead and attacks.

The thinking is that we started evolving language not by speaking but by gesturing.

There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors.

We are by far the most contradictory of all primates. An animal with this much internal conflict has never lived on this earth.

We would much rather blame nature for what we don't like in ourselves than credit it for what we do like.

As far as the environment is concerned, I am becoming pessimistic because I do not see anybody stepping up and taking the long view approach. It seems like we're stuck in a tragedy of the commons where everyone is trying to contribute as little as possible to get out of this situation.