Science Friday We’re All Being Played By Metrics
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Feb 2, 2026 
C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor and author of The Score, examines how metrics reshape what we value. He contrasts soul-crushing real-world scoring with freeing, voluntary game scores. Conversations cover social media likes, KPIs, gaming’s creative constraints, and ways to escape being reduced to a number.
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Metrics Can Capture Your Values
- Metrics can change what you value by making a simplified number take over your richer goals.
- C. Thi Nguyen calls this 'value capture' when metrics replace the original, nuanced values.
Not Everything Can Be Measured Well
- Some values fundamentally resist being captured by a single metric, especially subtle judgments like 'good art.'
- Using crude engagement metrics can steer creators toward addiction rather than quality.
Portability Explains Metrics' Power
- Metrics trade context for portability so institutions can share and compare data across settings.
- That decontextualization is both the source of their power and their key limitation.
