I just came back from a community
that holds the secret to human survival.
It's a place where women run the show,
have sex to say hello,
and play rules the day --
where fun is serious business.
And no, this isn't Burning Man
or San Francisco.
(Laughter)
Ladies and gentlemen, meet your cousins.
This is the world of wild bonobos
in the jungles of Congo.
Bonobos are, together with chimpanzees,
your living closest relative.
That means we all share a common ancestor,
an evolutionary grandmother,
who lived around six million years ago.
Now, chimpanzees are well-known
for their aggression.
(Laughter)
But unfortunately,
we have made too much of an emphasis
of this aspect
in our narratives of human evolution.
But bonobos show us
the other side of the coin.
While chimpanzees
are dominated by big, scary guys,
bonobo society
is run by empowered females.
These guys have really worked something out,
since this leads to a highly tolerant society
where fatal violence
has not been observed yet.
But unfortunately,
bonobos are the least understood
of the great apes.
They live in the depths of the Congolese jungle,
and it has been very difficult to study them.
The Congo is a paradox --
a land of extraordinary biodiversity and beauty,
but also the heart of darkness itself --
the scene of a violent conflict
that has raged for decades
and claimed nearly as many lives
as the First World War.
Not surprisingly,
this destruction also endangers bonobo survival.
Bushmeat trades and forest loss
means we couldn't fill a small stadium
with all the bonobos that are left in the world --
and we're not even sure of that to be honest.
Yet, in this land of violence and chaos,
you can hear hidden laughter
swaying the trees.
Who are these cousins?
We know them as the "make love, not war" apes
since they have frequent, promiscuous
and bisexual sex
to manage conflict
and solve social issues.
Now, I'm not saying this is the solution
to all of humanity's problems --
since there's more to bonobo life
than the Kama Sutra.
Bonobos, like humans,
love to play throughout their entire lives.
Play is not just child's games.
For us and them,
play is foundational for bonding relationships
and fostering tolerance.
It's where we learn to trust
and where we learn about the rules of the game.
Play increases creativity
and resilience,
and it's all about the generation of diversity --
diversity of interactions,
diversity of behaviors,
diversity of connections.
And when you watch bonobo play,
you're seeing the very evolutionary roots
of human laughter, dance
and ritual.
Play is the glue
that binds us together.
Now, I don't know how you play,
but I want to show you a couple of unique clips
fresh from the wild.
First, it's a ball game bonobo-style --
and I do not mean football.
So here,
we have a young female and a male
engaged in a chase game.
Have a look what she's doing.
It might be the evolutionary origin of the phrase,
"she's got him by the balls."
(Laughter)
Only I think that he's rather loving it here, right?
Yeah.
(Laughter)
So sex play is common
in both bonobos and humans.
And this video is really interesting
because it shows --
this video's really interesting
because it shows the inventiveness
of bringing unusual elements into play --
such as testicles --
and also how play both requires trust
and fosters trust --
while at the same time being tremendous fun.
But play's a shapeshifter.
(Laughter)
Play's a shapeshifter,
and it can take many forms,
some of which are more quiet,
imaginative, curious --
maybe where wonder is discovered anew.
And I want you to see,
this is Fuku, a young female,
and she is quietly playing with water.
I think, like her,
we sometimes play alone,
and we explore the boundaries
of our inner and our outer worlds.
And it's that playful curiosity
that drives us to explore, drives us to interact,
and then the unexpected connections we form
are the real hotbed for creativity.
So these are just small tasters
into the insights that bonobo give us
to our past and present.
But they also hold a secret for our future,
a future where we need to adapt
to an increasingly challenging world
through greater creativity
and greater cooperation.
The secret is that play is the key
to these capacities.
In other words,
play is our adaptive wildcard.
In order to adapt successfully
to a changing world,
we need to play.
But will we make the most of our playfulness?
Play is not frivolous.
Play's essential.
For bonobos and humans alike,
life is not just red in tooth and claw.
In times when it seems least appropriate to play,
it might be the times when it is most urgent.
And so, my fellow primates,
let us embrace this gift from evolution
and play together,
as we rediscover creativity,
fellowship and wonder.
Thank you.
(Applause)