#84 The Art of War Was Never About War

A 2,500-year-old Chinese military text is outselling most self-help books in 2026, and it's not because people want to fight more. Sun Tzu's The Art of War has never really been about aggression. At its core, it's a manual for attention, strategy, and knowing when not to commit your forces. In this episode, Abi explores how Sun Tzu's principles map onto the defining struggles of modern life: social media algorithms designed to keep us in a state of outrage, the cognitive overload of the information age, the psychology of knowing yourself under pressure, and the radical idea that winning without fighting is the highest form of strategy. Backed by current research in cognitive science, psychology, and social behaviour, this is a different kind of conversation about an ancient text, not reverent, not reductive, just honest about what it actually says and why it still matters.FULL CITATION LIST1. Abubakar, A.M., et al., "Causes, consequences, and strategies to deal with information overload: A scoping review," Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 2024; 14:100403. DOI: 10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100403 | URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S26670968240005082. Varshney, L.R., Barbey, A.K., "Beyond IQ: The Importance of Metacognition for the Promotion of Global Wellbeing," Journal of Intelligence, 2021; 9(4):54. DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence9040054 | URL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8628945/3. Brady, W.J., McLoughlin, K., Doan, T.N., Crockett, M.J., "How social learning amplifies moral outrage expression in online social networks," Science Advances, 2021; 7(33):eabe5641. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe5641 | URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34389534/4. Brady, W.J., Crockett, M.J., "Norm Psychology in the Digital Age: How Social Media Shapes the Cultural Evolution of Normativity," Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2024; 19(2):393–413. DOI: 10.1177/17456916231187395 | URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/174569162311873955. Guamanga, M.H., Saiz, C., Rivas, S.F., Morales Bueno, P., "Critical Thinking and Metacognition: Pathways to Empathy and Psychological Well-Being," Journal of Intelligence, 2025; 13(3):34. DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence13030034 | URL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11943267/6. Ren, L., et al., "A New Method for Inducing Mental Fatigue: A High Mental Workload Task Paradigm Based on Complex Cognitive Abilities and Time Pressure," Brain Sciences, 2025; 15(6):541. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci15060541 | URL: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12190366/7. Marsh, E., Perez Vallejos, E., Spence, A., "Overloaded by Information or Worried About Missing Out on It: A Quantitative Study of Stress, Burnout, and Mental Health Implications in the Digital Workplace," Sage Open, 2024; 14(3). DOI: 10.1177/21582440241268830 | URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440241268830