More or Less · Topics · Episode #167
Sleep-Age Wars & Sam's Grand Theory: We're Entertaining Ourselves to Death
Clip from the full recording, 40:12–47:07 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube
Brit's 8 Sleep says she's six years younger; Dave claims 6.8; Sam ranks the wearables by honesty ('Garmin is an asshole') — and drops the episode's big theory: this is the most entertaining business cycle in history, and that's the product.
Brit announces her 8 Sleep sleep-age (35 going on 29) and the pod descends into a leaderboard war — Dave finds his (6.8 years younger), Jess’s is ‘calculation in progress’ after two years of use, and once Brit starts losing she declares the whole metric dumb (‘this is where you guys learn how competitive Brit is’ — Dave). Sam’s taxonomy of wearable honesty: 8 Sleep is the most self-congratulatory (‘because of 8 Sleep you’ve slept so much better and now you’re twelve’), Apple just wants to congratulate you, Oura is ‘kind of reasonable,’ and ‘Garmin is an asshole.’ Dave: longevity ages are ‘the doomerism of health apps.’ Out of the bit comes the episode’s biggest idea — Sam: if you want to understand our era from a hundred years out, ‘we are entertaining ourselves to death… this is the most entertaining business cycle in the fucking history of the world.’ What AI is actually best at is entertainment, and the world is currently optimized to produce the most entertaining possible outcomes. Brit ties it back: we’re at ‘peak emote’ — you have to perform feelings to get attention. Jess’s counter-programming: she’s betting The information on two unannounced projects precisely because ‘everyone’s gonna drown themselves out in a sea of memes’ — build something people need instead. (Even her reels agree: tennis moms falling on stairs.)
Key points
- The sleep-age arms race: Brit -6 years, Dave -6.8, Jess 'calculation in progress' — and Brit exits the game the moment she's losing.
- Sam's wearable-honesty rankings: 8 Sleep = self-congratulatory marketing, Apple = just nice, Oura = selling some semblance of reality, Garmin = an asshole.
- Dave: longevity/sleep ages are 'the doomerism of health apps' — none of it is real.
- Sam's era thesis: the most entertaining business cycle in history — AI's true superpower is entertainment, and the world is optimizing for it.
- Brit: we're at 'peak emote' — attention now requires performed feelings, in the narrative, the apps, and the feeds.
- Jess's counter: The information is betting on two unannounced projects others won't copy — build for the people done drowning in memes.
Where they landed
Quotes
“If you want to understand our era looking back in a hundred years, we are entertaining ourselves to death. This is the most entertaining business cycle in the fucking history of the world.”— Sam
“Apple wants to congratulate you because they're just nice. Garmin is an asshole. Oura is kind of reasonable. And 8 Sleep is the most self-congratulatory.”— Sam
“Longevity age scores are like the doomerism of health apps.”— Dave
“We're at peak emote right now. You have to emote so hard and do the most crazy things to get attention.”— Brit
Suggested tweets
Sam Lessin's wearable honesty rankings: Apple congratulates you, Oura sells you some reality, 8 Sleep tells you you're 12 years old — and 'Garmin is an asshole.'
Tweet this →'This is the most entertaining business cycle in the history of the world.' Sam Lessin's theory of 2026: AI's real superpower is entertainment, and everything is optimizing for the show.
Tweet this →The More or Less sleep-age leaderboard: Brit -6 years, Dave -6.8, Jess 'calculation in progress.' Brit's response to losing: the metric is dumb.
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #167 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify