This role is at least as important as the painstaking research from which scientific conclusions are derived, and Frans de Waal has occupied both worlds with remarkable poise over his distinguished career. While the need for specialization is an indispensable feature of the scientific endeavor, it is often interdisciplinary thinkers who excel at bringing the findings of science into the public sphere. The delightful and irrefutable truth is that the spectrum of intelligence that has evolved on Earth is much vaster and more nuanced than previous generations could have imagined. This view has always been wrong, but only over the last few decades have we acquired the scientific evidence to prove what many animal specialists have long suspected: Most animals are intelligent, emotional, and deeply social creatures. One of our most misguided and longstanding myths is the notion that humanity’s mental faculties should be considered qualitatively different from those of nonhuman animals. If humans want to survive and flourish in the Anthropocene, we will need to overcome the habits of thought that have wrought destruction on our collective psyche and the natural world.
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