The Alpha Male Myth

The Alpha Male Myth

In 1970, a young biologist named David Mech published what could be the most consequential book on wolves ever written. At the time, The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species, was the most complete collection of scientific knowledge on wolves money could buy, and it became best seller for Dave's publishers. But outside of the world of wolf biology, the book is also credited with unleashing a certain idea into our popular lexicon: The Alpha.

The thing is, Dave made a mistake – and the alpha wolf, doesn't exist.

This week on Endless Thread, Ben and Amory track down the origins of "the alpha," and whether this idea – which has been recanted by the very scientist who popularized it – has any legitimacy when talking about people.

Show notes: This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(462)

Teach us how to Dougie

Teach us how to Dougie

Long before TikTok dances, there was the Dougie. In 2010, Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie” went worldwide, and for the decade-plus since, people have been trying to learn the viral moves...

31 Jul 24min

The Lost Loophole

The Lost Loophole

Kurt Gödel was a genius mathematician and logician, considered by many scholars to be as influential as Aristotle. He was also buddies with fellow geniuses Albert Einstein and Oskar Morgenstern, the c...

24 Jul 34min

How to Dim the Sun, from Marketplace's How We Survive

How to Dim the Sun, from Marketplace's How We Survive

The climate crisis is escalating. We have to decarbonize our economy, but we’re moving too slowly. So, what’s the backup plan? This season of How We Survive is about engineering nature: large-scale in...

17 Jul 37min

Socials for Sale

Socials for Sale

Most of us know the internet isn't a particularly private place. Yet there's a certain feeling of anonymity that comes with sharing online — our words and stories mixed in with millions of others. It'...

10 Jul 31min

Encore: Adrián and the Whale

Encore: Adrián and the Whale

This episode was originally published on March 21, 2025.  There are moments that define each of our lives. Some we can predict: graduations, marriages, births, deaths. Others? Not so much. And in th...

3 Jul 24min

Comfort maxxing on the interwebs

Comfort maxxing on the interwebs

Sit back, relax and get cozy. As a matter of fact, why not put on your baggiest of clothes and burrow down in your snuggiest of blankets?  This week on Endless Thread, Ben and Amory are comfy-maxxing....

26 Jun 25min

Back to the Backrooms!

Back to the Backrooms!

Once upon a dimly lit hallway, Ben and Amory stumbled onto a beloved brainchild of the internet: Backrooms. It began as a "creepypasta"— a horror story or concept that originates online and often beco...

19 Jun 22min

Endless Thread on OnlyFans

Endless Thread on OnlyFans

Journalist Leon Neyfakh — known for the podcasts Slow Burn, Fiasco, and Backfired — wanted to know more about the massively popular and sprawling online ecosystem of OnlyFans. What are its nearly 400...

11 Jun 36min

Populært innen Teknologi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
teknisk-sett
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
shifter
hans-petter-og-co
rss-digitaliseringspadden
rss-ai-forklart
elektropodden
rss-kunstig-intelligens-med-elisabeth-maren-og-morten
smart-forklart
teknologi-og-mennesker
rss-bak-skyen
rss-grenser-for-ki
rss-ki-praten
rss-kvantespranget
nasjonal-sikkerhetsmyndighet-nsm
energi-og-klima
i-loopen
rss-snakk-om-sikkerhet
fornybaren