Humanities Festival  (ISABEL BEHNCKE in conversation with MISHA GLENNY) (60 min)

In an engrossing conversation with IWM Rector MISHA GLENNY, ISABEL BEHNCKE explains why recreational sex and play are essential tools in managing complex societies. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of our primate cousins (never tell her we are descended from apes—we are apes!), Behncke explains why our two closest relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, have developed very different strategies to solve communal problems. Whereas chimpanzees have a patriarchal system that relies on violent conflict to ensure territorial integrity, bonobos developed a matriarchal hierarchy that emphasizes play and peaceful resolution. Humans have evolved by deploying both these strategies, and the talk will focus on why playfulness could hold the key to our survival. ------------- Part of the Vienna Humanities Festival 2024. In 2024, the festival will be organized by the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and Time To Talk (TTT) in cooperation with FALTER, the Open Society Foundations, the City of Vienna, ERSTE Foundation, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the Wien Museum, and the Volkstheater. Learn more about the Vienna Humanities Festival here: https://www.humanitiesfestival.at