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Are metrics controlling your life?

August 31, 2026 · 35 min

Show notes

Have you ever finished a book you dislike just to say you’ve finished it?

Have you loaded up Duolingo at 11:55pm to keep the streak alive?

Have you felt the crushing disappointment of realising you forgot to record your run for Strava? 

If so, metrics might be controlling your life. And philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, my guest on today’s episode of Nudge, thinks that’s a problem.

Nguyen believes that our lives are increasingly organised around metrics and that these rankings don’t just track what we value. They replace it.

This episode contains some explicit language. 

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Get Thi’s book The Score: https://amzn.to/4fsqxTD

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Today’s sources:

Nguyen, C. T. (2026). The Score: How to stop playing somebody else's game. Penguin Press.

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