If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity

by Gregg, Justin

• ISBN13: 9780316388160
• ISBN10: 0316388165
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2023-10-03
• Publisher: Back Bay Books
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Summary

This funny, "extraordinary and thought-provoking" (The Wall Street Journal) book asks whether we are in fact the superior species. As it turns out, the truth is stranger—and far more interesting—than we have been led to believe.

If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal overturns everything we thought we knew about human intelligence, and asks the question: would humans be better off as narwhals? Or some other, less brainy species? There’s a good argument to be made that humans might be a less successful animal species precisely because of our amazing, complex intelligence.  

All our unique gifts like language, math, and science do not make us happier or more “successful” (evolutionarily speaking) than other species. Our intelligence allowed us to split the atom, but we’ve harnessed that knowledge to make machines of war. We are uniquely susceptible to bullshit (though, cuttlefish may be the best liars in the animal kingdom); our bizarre obsession with lawns has contributed to the growing threat of climate change; we are sexually diverse like many species yet stand apart as homophobic; and discriminate among our own as if its natural, which it certainly is not. Is our intelligence more of a curse than a gift?    

As scientist Justin Gregg persuasively argues, there’s an evolutionary reason why human intelligence isn’t more prevalent in the animal kingdom. Simply put, non-human animals don’t need it to be successful. And, miraculously, their success arrives without the added baggage of destroying themselves and the planet in the process.  In seven mind-bending and hilarious chapters, Gregg highlights one feature seemingly unique to humans—our use of language, our rationality, our moral systems, our so-called sophisticated consciousness—and compares it to our animal brethren. Along the way, remarkable tales of animal smarts emerge, as you’ll discover: 

“A dazzling, delightful read on what animal cognition can teach us about our own mental shortcomings.” —Adam Grant

•    The house cat who’s better at picking winning stocks than actual fund managers 
•    Elephants who love to drink
•    Pigeons who are better than radiologists at spotting cancerous tissue
•    Bumblebees who are geniuses at teaching each other soccer

What emerges is both demystifying and remarkable, and will change how you look at animals, humans, and the meaning of life itself.

San Francisco Chronicle bestseller •  BOOKRIOT Best Books of the Year • Next Big Idea Book Club Best Science Books of the Year

“I love the book, and everyone should read it.” —Ryan Holiday

"Undeniably entertaining." —TheNew York Times 

Author Biography

Justin Gregg is a Senior Research Associate with the Dolphin Communication Project and an Adjunct Professor at St. Francis Xavier University where he lectures on animal behavior and cognition. Originally from Vermont, Justin studied the echolocation abilities of wild dolphins in Japan and The Bahamas. He currently lives in rural Nova Scotia where he writes about science and contemplates the inner lives of the crows that live near his home. 

Table of Contents

Introduction The human brand of intelligence is really not all that exceptional (from an evolutionary standpoint), and is rarely the best solution for how to live a good life. Animal thinking has a lot to teach humans about how to live well without overthinking things.  Chapter 1: The Why Specialists The human capacity for causal inference is unsurpassed in the animal kingdom. But animals seem to get by just fine (and sometimes even better) without needing to know why things happen. Chapter 2: The Fake News Species Humans are experts are manipulating the thoughts of other humans through lies and deception. Animals, on the other hand, are usually quite honest about their feelings and intentions. But being masters of deception isn’t always as advantageous as it might seem. Chapter 3: To Be or Not to Be an Ant Humans have come a long way since a handful of us left the African continent to explore the Earth a few dozen millennia ago. We’re fantastically populous, for a mammalian species. But we aren’t really designed very well for group living. So many other species have hit on solutions for living well in large numbers that could provide lessons for us newfangled city-dwellers. Chapter 4: The Mystery of the Happy Chicken Conscious awareness is not limited to the human species; there’s every reason to believe that a myriad of animals—from the pets on our sofas right down to the spiders in our basement—experience the world in ways not dissimilar to a human. From a biological standpoint, however, consciousness isn’t really that big of a deal. Chapter 5: Angry Gay Ducks Humans certainly don’t have a monopoly on morality. Other species live by moral codes, too. And when looking at how non-human species deal with problems of right and wrong, or who gets to have sex with whom, or even the best way to fight a war, most species have hit on solutions that call into question the moral superiority of Homo sapiens.  Chapter 6: Death Wisdom Knowledge of our own mortality is arguably a rather crappy knock-on effect of the human brand of intelligence. Other species might well know something of death but are unlikely to dwell on it the way a human poet or philosopher could. Is this kind of death wisdom a good or a bad thing? Chapter 7: Prognostic Myopia Humans excel at predicting and planning for the distant future. No other animal species understand the passage of time like we do. And yet, our minds never evolved to truly feel the future repercussions of our current decisions. Is this skill a benefit or a liability for our species? Chapter 8: Human Exceptionalism Human and animal cognition are not really all that different. In the few areas where humans do something truly exceptional when it comes to intelligence, there is every reason to believe that other species are nonetheless doing a better job than us at living a good life with less complex thinking strategies. Humans could learn a lot from the cognitive solutions offered by those species that are less exceptional than we consider ourselves to be. Epilogue Does the science of animal minds and animal intelligence leave us with a clear understanding of how animals should be treated? Re-thinking the nature of human intelligence and exceptionalism just might provide us with a few signposts showing us why we should also re-think our relationship to the living creatures with whom we share this planet.