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The Laughing Ape is a newsletter about the ridiculous things suit-wearing apes do, and the lies we tell ourselves to avoid admitting we’re doing them.
The Laughing Ape
What evolution tells us about human behavior
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Latest posts
How Anthropology Lost Interest in the People It Was Founded to Understand
“He who only knows his own side of the case, knows little of that.” — John Stuart Mill
The Forgotten Virtue
In Michigan you get ten cents for returning empties, and my parents used to pull over and pick them up off the side of the road.
Chapter 3: What Is Funny?
It's Funny Because It's True
Everyone Knows Soccer Is Boring
How the beautiful game convinced the world that boredom is sophistication
What an Eighth Grader Who Drew a Penis on My 510-Million-Year-Old Fossil Taught Me About Status
By Robert Lynch
I Was a Scientist. Then I Became a Substitute Teacher
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series about downward mobility for the credentialed class — a story that is likely to become much more common as AI eats white-collar work and the degree-leads-to-status and stability bargain stops paying out.
I Was Wearing a Tutu When I Started Bragging About My PhD
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series about declining status and name-dropping my credentials to people who couldn’t possibly care.
Kinship and religion
How religion improves relationships with relatives
How America Lost Its Sense of Humor
“I see a lot of unfunny comedians, I see unfunny TV shows, I see unfunny awards shows, I see unfunny movies — because everybody’s scared to make a move.