How to Create Peace

In nature, peace comes with abundance. The way to create peace is by creating abundance, by sharing, and by putting women in charge.

To prove this, let's look at some species of ape that is closest to Humans - the Chimpanzee and the Bonobo.

Both chimpanzees and bonobos live in Africa. Chimpanzees live north of the Congo River, and Bonobos live south of the Congo River. They're practically the same species, living across a river from each other. But they live very different lives.

The land south of the Congo River is a lush, abundant rainforest, with plenty of food for the Bonobos. On the other hand, while the land immediataly north of the Congo River is still rainforest, the farther north you go, the closer you are to the Sahara Desert. This has caused the chimpanzees and bonobos to evolve very differently.

"Richard Wrangham, thinks this may be because chimpanzees evolved in a situation of food scarcity while bonobos developed in the giant salad bowl of the Congo basin where there was abundance." (from www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/science/06conv.html?_r=0)

According to Knowledgenuts.com (http://knowledgenuts.com/2013/08/18/the-difference-between-chimps-and-bonobos/), "Overall, bonobos have a “make love, not war” mentality, which is in stark contrast to the often aggressive and violent manner of chimps."

Basically, chimps have evolved to become patriarchal, domination and competition oriented. They have become very good at competing with each other for the scarce food, making sure that the strongest individuals get fed properly, survive and pass on their stronger genes.

On the other hand, Bonobos have evolved to become matriarchal, cooperation and relationship oriented. They have evolved to create very strong social bonds reinforced by play mating - recreational non-reproductive sex. They share everything, and they discipline bad behavior through "excommunication" - leaving someone out. Yes, the way the Catholic Church punishes bad behavior... well, not exactly. They leave the bad guy out of their group sex.

They evolved this way because getting enough food is not the key for their survival - there's enough food for everybody. Instead, their relationships ensure harmony and cooperation in the community. You see, Chimpanzee males gang up to bully everybody else, so they get the lion's share of food. Bonobo females gang up to protect themselves from male bullying, and to make sure that nobody tries to keep all the food for themselves.

According to Chimpanzee Information (http://chimpanzeeinformation.blogspot.com/2011/03/bonobos-dont-kill-each-other-like.html):

"Chimpanzees can be very empathetic, loving but they also have this darker side. They have war, they kill each other, they beat their females. Bonobos don't really have any of that..."

Bonobos' generous nature likely evolved because they live in an area of the Congo where food is plentiful. They never had to compete with gorillas or kill for a meal like common chimps do.
The females stick together, creating a matriarchal society, and when necessary will gang up on threatening males. "Females will work together to protect themselves from male aggression. So male aggression is just simply not tolerated," says Hare.