Survival of the Friendliest. Why Women Choose Good-Natured Men, Youth Avoid Aggression, and Other Paradoxes That Help Us Understand Ourselves...

Since school, we know that in nature, the most adapted survive. But is this really the case? Anthropologist and Ph.D. Brian Hare made an important discovery: the most advantageous survival strategy is friendliness. It is this mechanism that allowed Homo Sapiens to continue living and thriving, wolves to love humans, bonobos to create a paradise, and a Soviet scientist to make a global breakthrough in genetics. But there is a downside to this – we are cruel to those we do not consider our friends. Humans are capable of dehumanizing enemies and destroying entire nations. All this is due to the same mechanism that developed empathy and compassion in us. Brian Hare visited Novosibirsk, where he met tamed foxes, and the Congo River, where he studied monkeys. He looked into the darkest corners of human history: genocide, forced sterilization, chauvinism, racism. This research explains the wars of the past, the rise and fall of empires, and modern politics, and most importantly, why it is so important for us to have common interests and help those close to us.