Humans Are Overrated (with Christine Webb)

EconTalk

Library of Economics and Liberty

Ethics, Philosophy, Economics, Books, Science, Business, Courses, Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Interviews, Education, History

4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are humans the most intelligent species, or just the most arrogant? NYU primatologist Christine Webb, author of The Arrogant Ape, believes that human exceptionalism is a myth that does more harm than good. Listen as she speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how research has skewed our understanding of animals' capabilities, the surprising inner lives of animals, and how a shift from dominance toward connection with the larger living world can help humanity.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:07.9	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Sholem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.8	Go to EconTalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.2	You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.7	Our email address is mail at econTalk.org.
0:30.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:36.6	Today is July 27, 2025.
0:39.2	And my guest is primatologist and author Christine Webb of New York University.
0:44.7	She's the author of The Arrogent Ape, The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters,
0:50.1	which is our topic for today.
0:51.7	Christine, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:53.5	Thanks so much for having me. Why do you call human beings arrogant apes? which is our topic for today. Christine, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:55.2	Thanks so much for having me.
0:57.9	Why do you call human beings arrogant apes?
1:04.4	So the arrogant ape is a catchy phrase.
1:06.0	I think there's alliteration there.
1:09.0	So there was a strategic move in making that the title.
1:15.3	But the arrogant ape does not refer to all human beings. It doesn't even refer necessarily to a particular group of human beings, a particular culture,
1:21.6	nor does it refer to an individual. For me, the arrogant ape represents a character. And I was inspired by the concept
1:29.2	of hubris in Greek tragedy, this sort of arrogance that leads protagonists to their downfall,
1:37.5	but they're often unaware that they even hold this, this arrogant worldview. And so the arrogant
1:43.4	ape is sort of this mask, this character, I think, that many humans inherit or dawn as a result of a worldview that sometimes they're not even aware that they have.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Library of Economics and Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Library of Economics and Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.