The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game with C. THI NGUYEN

The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game with C. THI NGUYEN

From AI & The Future of Humanity: Artificial Intelligence, Technology, VR, Algorithm, Automation, ChatBPT, Robotics, Augmented Reality, Big Data, IoT, Social Media, CGI, Generative-AI, Innovation, Nanotechnology, Science, Quantum Computing: The Creative Process Interviews by The Creative Process Original Series: Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Innovation, Engineering, Robotics & Internet of Things

March 13, 2026 · 1h 12m · Season 16 · Episode 1222

About this episode

C. Thi Nguyen discusses the impact of quantifying human experience through metrics and the importance of reclaiming unstructured joy in life.

We live in a world obsessed with tracking. From our sleep scores to our social media engagement, invisible systems constantly quantify our worth. But when we replace our deepest values with these thin, easily measurable numbers, we lose a part of our humanity. It is time to step outside the magic circle of optimization and reclaim the unstructured joy of being alive.  C. Thi Nguyen  is a philosopher whose work gets to the heart of the invisible structures that define modern life. He first established himself as a food writer, exploring the sensory world, before turning his intellectual gaze toward the philosophy of games and agency. He’s the author of  Games: Agency As Art .   His new book is  The  Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game .   He argues that when we simplify our values for the sake of a leaderboard, something inside the human spirit begins to die. In it, he explores a concept called "value capture"—the moment we stop caring about the experience and start obsessing over the metric. He joins me now to discuss how we can lead a playful, spontaneous life without getting lost in the scoring systems of the 21st century…

People in this episode

Guest: C. Thi Nguyen

Topics covered

  • philosophy
  • value capture
  • optimization
  • human experience
  • metrics
  • agency

Keywords

  • value capture
  • optimization
  • human spirit
  • metrics
  • philosophy of games
  • agency

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Games: Agency As Art, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game

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