Summary of We’re All Being Played By Metrics

Overview of We’re All Being Played By Metrics (Science Friday)

This episode of Science Friday (host Flora Lichtman) features philosopher Dr. C.T. Nguyen (University of Utah) discussing his book The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game. The conversation examines how metrics and scoring systems shape behavior and values—both harmfully (in institutions) and beautifully (in games)—and explores how to recognize, resist, or harness these effects. The episode mixes philosophical framing, personal anecdotes, historical scholarship, and listener game-stories to show when metrics empower and when they capture and distort what we care about.

Key takeaways

• Metrics are powerful because they are simple, stable, and translatable across contexts; that power makes them useful but also strips away important context and nuance.
• Value capture: when an external metric begins to replace or reshape your intrinsic values—e.g., caring about likes/KPIs instead of connection or quality.
• Some things resist good measurement (e.g., "good art"); optimizing the wrong metric can produce perverse outcomes (e.g., engagement hours → addiction).
• Games use scoring systems to intentionally shape desire and experience; because games are voluntary and contained (the “magic circle”), scoring can be liberating and meaningful.
• Institutional metrics are often inescapable and thus more likely to change who we become; game-like metrics are optional and thus usually less corrosive.
• Signals to watch for: boredom or despair may indicate you've adopted the wrong values or started chasing a metric at the expense of what you truly care about.

Topics discussed

• The ubiquity of metrics in daily life (reviews, star ratings, KPIs).
• Philosophical and historical analysis of metrics: Theodore Porter and Lorraine Daston on bureaucracy and quantification; Bernard Suits on the nature of games.
• Personal example: Nguyen’s experience of being professionalized into chasing journal status and losing his love for philosophy.
• Practical and ethical limits of measurement in AI (optimizing for engagement hours vs. “good art”).
• Contrast between metrics in institutions vs. scoring in games/board games/video games/Dungeons & Dragons.
• Listener-submitted game stories illustrating different relationships with scoring systems.

Notable quotes & insights

• “Value capture” — the process by which simplified, quantified versions of values start to take over your actual values.
• “Metrics are powerful because they're decontextualized.” — Nguyen summarizing Porter’s idea.
• “Optimizing for engagement hours is optimizing for addiction.” — critique of using engagement as a proxy for artistic quality.
• Bernard Suits: “Playing a game is taking on a voluntary obstacle to make a certain kind of experience of struggling possible.”
• “The opposite of bureaucracy is house‑ruled Dungeons & Dragons.” — on how rule variants restore agency and local judgment.
• Boredom (and despair) as a moral signal that your values or incentives are misaligned.

Listener stories (examples used in episode)

• Connor (New Milford, CT): Turned Appalachian Trail hikes into a spreadsheet goal (300 miles), which strengthened his bond with his dog—an example of a metric used to enrich life.
• Elizabeth (Yahtzee anecdote): A friend rolls five sixes despite astronomically low odds; the memory reframes how she thinks about rare possibilities.
• Fred (Virginia): Dungeons & Dragons sparked social skills, storytelling, research interests, and lifelong learning.
• Jenny (Arizona): Daily crosswords as an ongoing practice of curiosity—an instance of play/exercise of capacities as meaning-making.

Practical advice / recommendations

• Diagnose value capture: ask whether a metric is directing your attention away from what originally mattered.
• Watch internal signals: boredom and despair can indicate you’re optimizing the wrong thing.
• Question proxies: ask what a metric actually measures and what it omits (e.g., “engagement hours” vs. quality).
• When possible, favor context-sensitive, qualitative judgment for things that defy measurement.
• Use metrics intentionally: adopt them as tools for aims you choose (like Connor), not as replacements for your values.
• Create or modify systems (house rules, alternative KPIs) to align incentives with richer values.
• Preserve space for risk-taking and play (magic circle): allow temporary detachment from consequential metrics to experiment and grow.

Where to learn more

• Dr. C.T. Nguyen, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game (book discussed).
• Transcript/book excerpt available via Science Friday (referenced on show).

Conclusion: Metrics are neither wholly good nor wholly bad. They enable coordination, comparability, and motivation but can also hollow out meaning when they replace richer, context-sensitive values. Recognize when you’re being shaped by a score, choose or redesign the games you play, and let boredom/despair guide you back to what you genuinely care about.