Richard Wrangham: A biological anthropologist at Harvard who began his career with Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees. He is known for theories on the roles of fire, cooking, and violence in human evolution and authored Catching Fire and The Goodness Paradox.
What this episode covers
Wrangham distinguishes reactive aggression (impulsive, dramatically reduced in humans) from proactive coalitionary violence (still high, shared with chimps and wolves). He argues Homo sapiens self-domesticated when coalitions of beta males began executing bullying alpha males, lowering reactive aggression and enabling cooperation, language, and culture. He explains his Catching Fire thesis that controlled fire and cooking gave Homo erectus smaller guts, more energy, and bigger brains. The conversation ranges across sexual violence, tribalism, dictators, nuclear deterrence, conservation, and the meaning of life.
Recommended on this episode
Painful Atonement (Hardcore History podcast episode)
Dan Carlin
“He has an episode three, four-hour episode that I recommend to others. It's quite haunting.”— guest
The guest's own work
The Goodness Paradox
Richard Wrangham
“What is your book titled Goodness Paradox? What are the main ideas in this book?”— Lex Fridman
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
Richard Wrangham
“You also wrote the book titled Catching Fire, How Cooking Made Us Human. What's the central idea in this book?”— Lex Fridman
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Steven Pinker
“this is made famous in Steven Pinker's book, but others have written about it, too. That the the frequency of uh death from violence”— guest
1984
George Orwell
“George Orwell's vision in 1984 was of uh of you know, two or three world powers each so powerful”— guest
Big reveals from this episode
- Chimps and bonobos physically engage in reactive violence 500 to 1,000 times more often than humans, two to three orders of magnitude.
- Wrangham argues there has been natural selection in favor of enthusiasm about killing, an active potential for enjoying it under the right conditions.
- His central thesis: Homo sapiens is a self-domesticated species created when beta-male coalitions executed alpha males, suppressing reactive aggression.
- Catching Fire claim that the control of fire and cooking, not Homo sapiens, made us 'human' by creating Homo erectus 2 million years ago.
- Wrangham seriously proposes that getting rid of males could reduce conflict, calling it a fantasy worth talking about as reproductive tech advances.
- Cooking cut chewing time from roughly 50% of the day to about one hour, freeing energy and time that enabled larger brains.
- He frames male tribal violence as a 'bug' for the species even while acknowledging he is a male himself.
Worth remembering
- Aristotle noted long ago that humans behave like domesticated animals because we are so non-violent.
- As much as 50% of adult wolf mortality is due to being killed by other wolves.
- The average chimpanzee attack on a single male involves about eight attackers, who immobilize and dismember the victim with no weapons.
- Sapiens wiped out Neanderthals within roughly 3,000 years of entering Europe 43,000 years ago, likely via larger groups and better weapons.
- The human brain is about 2.5% of body weight but consumes around 25% of our calories.
- Chimps hunt about two or three times a month for ~20 minutes; humans hunt around 20 times a month for ~6 hours.
- Human brain size has actually declined since at least 30,000 years ago, mirroring the smaller brains of domesticated animals.
- Female bonobos rub their genitals together, appearing to have orgasms, as a conflict-resolution device, the 'make love, not war' species.
- Wrangham was once charged by the gorilla Digit at Dian Fossey's camp and knocked five yards into the bushes.