The Human Team (How We Evolved to Cooperate)

Compared to any other primate, humans are extraordinarily cooperative—not only among ourselves but with hundreds of other species in mutually beneficial ways. Such mutualism allowed humans to thrive and conquer the world: How did it happen? How did we change from being self-centered and impulsive, living for the day, to being other-minded and self-controlled, living for tomorrow? Why did we evolve to be such effective “mutualists”? In The Human Team, primatologist Michael Lawrence Wilson draws on his decades of fieldwork with chimpanzees and baboons in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya to demonstrate differences in cooperation. He explains ten key transitions in how human cooperation emerged, including in how we share food, use tools, exchange ideas, foster social partnerships, and reproduce. And he makes a powerful case that our future survival depends on expanding our team to encompass all life on Earth, ensuring that humans and other species flourish.