C. Thi Nguyen: "The Appearance of Winning"

Today on The Gist, President Trump's marathon two-hour State of the Union address with a quick quiz: Can you spot the actual presidential claim among the fakes? Then, philosophy professor C. Thi Nguyen joins the show to discuss his book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. They explore the philosophical definition of a game, the crucial difference between playing for the joy of the struggle ("striving play") versus playing just for the win ("achievement play"), and why cheating at charades is essentially insane. Finally, they dive into why our institutions are so obsessed with quantifiable metrics like GPAs and page views, how this strips away human nuance, and the inevitable trap of Goodhart's Law . Produced by Corey Wara Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig Do you have questions or comments, or just want to say hello? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected] For full Pesca content and updates, check out our website at https://www.mikepesca.com/⁠ For ad-free content or to become a Pesca Plus subscriber, check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ For Mike's daily takes on Substack, subscribe to The Gist List https://mikepesca.substack.com/ Follow us on Social Media:⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pescagist/ X https://x.com/pescami TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@pescagist To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://advertising.libsyn.com/TheGist Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.