Science & Cocktails: Frans de Waal on animal and human emotions + Conjunto Papa Upa

Event in English, semi-seated.
19:30 doors open for cocktails
20:30 Frans de Waal (talk)
21:40 Conjunto Papa Upa (live music)

Science & Cocktails is a series of public talks by scientists with live music and smoky dry-ice chilled cocktails in your hand. Frans de Waal will explore animal and human emotions. Afterwards, live music by Conjunto Papa Upa and chilled cocktails to help you think carefully about your proximity to animals.

This spring there are more Science & Cocktails talks, check the full program here.

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Mama's Last Hug: Animal and Human Emotions

Frans de Waal has spent four decades at the forefront of animal research. Following up on the best-selling Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, which investigated animal intelligence, this evening is about his latest research summarized in his new book Mama’s Last Hug, that delivers a fascinating exploration of the rich emotional lives of animals. 

Mama’s Last Hug begins with the death of Mama, a chimpanzee matriarch who formed a deep bond with biologist Jan van Hooff. When Mama was dying, van Hooff took the unusual step of visiting her in her nightcage for a last hug. Their goodbyes were filmed and went viral. Millions of people were deeply moved by the way Mama embraced the professor, welcoming him with a big smile while reassuring him by patting his neck, in a gesture often considered typically human but that is in fact common to all primates. This story and others like it form the core of de Waal’s argument, showing that humans are not the only species with the capacity for love, hate, fear, shame, guilt, joy, disgust, and empathy.

De Waal will discuss facial expressions, the emotions behind human politics, the illusion of free will, animal sentience, and of course Mama’s life and death. The message is one of continuity between us and other species, such as the radical proposal that emotions are like organs: we don’t have a single organ that other animals don’t have, and the same is true for our emotions. Mama’s Last Hug opens our hearts and minds to the many ways in which humans and other animals are connected, transforming how we view the living world around us.

Frans de Waal has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. The author of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? among many other works, he is the C. H. Candler Professor in Emory University’s Psychology Department and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Conjunto Papa Upa

Venezuelan born Alex Figueira digs deeply into the buried traditions of his native country, connecting the dots that were left hanging in over 500 years of Afro-Caribbean musical cross-pollination, bringing these roots into unpredictable, uncharted and exciting territory with his band Conjunto Papa Upa. The band’s gritty sound presents familiar elements in a new, fresh way: African and Caribbean rhythms, psychedelia, surf, samba, old school salsa, funk and sarcastic lyrics that cleverly portrait the complexity of the current socio-political situation in Venezuela. The end result is an irresistibly danceable meld that manages to be vintage and futuristic, both scary and fun at the same time.

This event is an initiative by the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) with the support of NWA Route 2.

Science & Cocktails Amsterdam is presented in cooperation with Paradiso and acknowledges the support of New Scientist.