Volkstoneel Frans Quotes

In a world divided by chimpophiles and bonobophiles, we all had a good laugh when Stephen peeled his banana. (62) ~ Frans De Waal

Without agreement on rank and a certain respect for authority there can be no great sensitivity to social rules, as anyone who has tried to teach simple house rules to a cat will agree. ~ Frans De Waal

Competitiveness is just as much a part of our nature as empathy. The ideal, in my view, is a democratic system with a social market economy, because it takes both tendencies into account. ~ Frans De Waal

One can train dolphins to jump synchronously because they do so in the wild, and one can teach horses to run together at the same pace because wild horses do the same. ~ Frans De Waal

We are so logic-driven that we can't stand the absence of it. ~ Frans De Waal

Charles Darwin himself had written a whole tome about the parallels between human and animal emotional expressions. ~ Frans De Waal

The initial animosity between divergent approaches can be overcome if we realize that each has something to offer that the other lacks. We may weave them together into a new whole that is stronger than the sum of its parts. ~ Frans De Waal

Lorenz was the charismatic, flamboyant thinker - he didn't conduct a single statistical analysis in his life - while Tinbergen did the nitty-gritty of actual data collection. ~ Frans De Waal

The evolutionary struggle for survival is really a self-serving series of blows and stabs, and yet it can lead to extremely social animals like dolphins, wolves or, for that matter, primates. ~ Frans De Waal

Morality, after all, has nothing to do with selflessness. On the contrary, self-interest is precisely the basis of the categorical imperative. ~ Frans De Waal

Life is a force in its own right. It is a new element. And it has altered the Earth. It covers Earth like a skin. ~ Frans Lanting

wrote: What should we make of Frans Balder's artificial intelligence?

The words blinked onto the computer screen: Mission accomplished! - Plague ~ David Lagercrantz

My wife says that I become different once I start to work with animals. My movements become different, my mood is different. It involves letting everything fall behind you, becoming intuitive in your dealings with wild creatures in a way that bypasses reason. Sometimes it's more like a dance than anything else. ~ Frans Lanting

[T]he term 'nonhuman' grates on me, since it lumps millions of species together by an absence, as if they were missing something. Poor things, they are nonhuman! When students embrace this jargon in their writing, I cannot resist sarcastic corrections in the margin saying that for completeness's sake, they should add that the animals they are talking about are also nonpenguin, nonhyena, and a whole lot more. ~ Frans De Waal

[ ... ] the best guarantee for world peace would be an extraterrestrial enemy. ~ Frans De Waal

We justify the inequalities by saying some people are just better and smarter than others and the strong should survive and the poor can die off. ~ Frans De Waal

I heard word
Of bellied sailcloth,
Creak of oars,
And gold in Eastland.
Then I smelled
A smell remembered:
Salt of spray
And black-pitched boat's keel. ~ Frans G. Bengtsson

Experiments with animals have long been handicapped by our anthropocentric attitude: We often test them in ways that work fine with humans but not so well with other species. ~ Frans De Waal

In other words, what is salient to us - such as our own facial features - may not be salient to other species. ~ Frans De Waal

Animals should be given a chance to express their natural behavior. ~ Frans De Waal

It is hard to get animals which normally pay little attention to each other to do things together. One can teach dolphins to jump simultaneously out of the water precisely because they show similar behavior spontaneously, but try to make two domestic cats jump together and you will fail. ~ Frans De Waal

When you do for other people (Fran's daddy said once upon a time when he was drunk, before he got religion) things that they could do for themselves, but they pay you to do it instead, you both will get used to it. ~ Kelly Link

Wild groups of chimpanzees attack their enemies like gangs. What they completely lack, precisely because of their strong territorial behavior, is a friendly relationship with their neighbors. ~ Frans De Waal

Religions have a strong binding function and a cohesive element. They emphasize the primacy of the community as opposed to the individual, and they also help set one community apart from another that doesn't share their beliefs. ~ Frans De Waal

In other words, both macaques and rats volunteer for tests only when they feel confident, suggesting that they know their own knowledge. ~ Frans De Waal

The role of inequity in society is grossly underestimated. Inequity is not good for your health, basically. ~ Frans De Waal

Having spent all my life among academics, I can tell you that hearing how wrong they area is about as high on their priority list as finding a cockroach in their coffee. The typical scientist has made an interesting discovery early on in his or her career, followed by a lifetime of making sure that everyone else admires his or her contribution and that no one questions it. There is no poorer company than an aging scientist who has failed to achieve these objectives. ~ Frans De Waal

Most men probably wouldn't want to live the lives of bonobos. They're constantly clinging to their mothers' apron strings. They lack the ability to make decisions about their own fates, something that we and male chimpanzees practically consider our birthright. ~ Frans De Waal

If you ask anyone, what is morality based on? These are the two factors that always come out: One is reciprocity, ... a sense of fairness, and the other one is empathy and compassion. ~ Frans De Waal

The hamadryas baboon is a harem holder where one male mates with multiple females. ~ Frans De Waal

Female bonobos form a strong sisterhood. They rule through female solidarity. ~ Frans De Waal

I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology. ~ Frans De Waal

Orm always afterwards used to say that, after good luck, strength, and skill at arms, nothing was so useful to a man who found himself among foreigners as the ability to learn a language. ~ Frans G. Bengtsson

Studies of reconciliation in primates have demonstrated that if the relationship value increases between two parties they are more willing to make peace. ~ Frans De Waal

Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive. ~ Frans De Waal

I consider dogmatism a far greater threat than religion per se. ~ Frans De Waal