What Can Whales Teach Us About Clean Energy, Workplace Harmony, and Living the Good Life? (Update)

Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. You are about to hear the third episode in our three-part series on the economics of whaling, which we first published in 2023. We will also publish a bonus episode featuring a conversation with a Norwegian whaler about what it's like to hunt whales today. We have updated facts and figures when necessary. As always, thanks for listening.

How many times have you read Moby Dick? 50 is probably reasonable. I'm 50 years old. I read Moby Dick for the first time at the age of 17. What was your impression on your first reading at 17 years old?

Well, that was the launch event of really my whole life. Your life, not just your academic career, your life. It's pretty central to my life. I mean, I have a tattoo of a historic harpoon on my arm.

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (48 minutes, 7,529 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 10 episodes for $5, and monthly plans are cheaper still.