Primatologist Isabel Behncke and Great Place to Rock co-founder, Hernán Rojas, launched the “Social Tech Lab”, a joint initiative to deepen understanding of social technologies and the dynamics of human behavior. For this, each one presented a talk from his experience with music and  game.

Sharing intense emotional experiences brings people closer. Sing together, enjoy a music festival or talk about your life. CICS researcher Isabel Behncke and Rocktor Hernán Rojas have all that in common and more.

Both made long journeys in search of a dream and the further exploration of their field. In the case of the primatologist, she traveled 3 thousand kilometers in the Congo to study closely the behavior of the bonobos, primates that are only there and are our evolutionary cousins. In the case of the Sound Engineer and conductor of The Law of Rock, he took a ship that sailed from Valparaiso to California, taking with him a cassette of Fleetwood Mac and another of The Beatles.

They shared these experiences with the students of the Doctorate in Social Complexity Sciences, teachers and rock lovers who attended the last Divergent Talk, a series of exhibitions that took place within the framework of the Research Camp DCCS 2018.

“The sound and movement capacity were fundamental in the formation of clans, allowed to share information about resources, plan, talk with other clans. The shamans of these groups discovered that, after repeating certain sounds generated by their own bodies, they could create symbolism. The sounds take form and from there they became songs. The rockers are the shamans of the 20th century, “said Rojas, accompanied by the sound of the song” Do the evolution “by Pearl Jam.

As a social technology – a tool that contributes to generating and reinforcing links – music allows us to reflect, work hard, stimulate movements. In terms of the evolutionary anthropology: like the game, it allows bonding, creating deep bonds that build the social fabric. “We humans do not like uncertainty, but this is forgotten under the playful mood and becomes an element that is fun. Limits are tested, we allow ourselves to be more creative. Music, rock and festivals are dynamics that maintain that face-to-face integration, one that social networks can not replace, “explained Behncke.

The Social Tech Lab will seek to understand this relationship between music and evolution from a scientific perspective, mainly from evolutionary anthropology, to unveil our evolutionary legacy and bonding processes behind behavioral dynamics.