Why do kids kill insects? It is a strange, disturbing fact that so many of us have, at some early point in our lives, plucked wings off butterflies, burned ants with magnifying glasses, or, in Sophus’s case, drowned a dragonfly. But where does semi-psychotic instinct comes from? In this episode, Sophus explains that our encounter with insects—whether as kids or as adults—is like a miniature moral lab, where we can experiment with our relation to the world.

Hosted and written by Sophus Helle. Sound editing by Simone Nystrup-Larsen. Edited by Andreas Lindinger Saxild.

Find out more at sophushelle.com/monkeymind.

Monkey Mind

Combining wit and wisdom, silliness and seriousness, the podcast Monkey Mind by Sophus Helle takes the audience on a weekly jaunt through the jungle of the mind. Each episode throws a new and unusual light on the issues of everyday life—trees, typos, taxes, and much more besides—making the audience look again at a world they thought they knew. It tells stories that are designed to make the listener chuckle, then reflect, drawn from both the host’s own life and from the deep well of history.

Sophus Helle is a writer, translator, and cultural historian. He is an expert in the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh and the ancient poet Enheduana.