Yesterday I spoke with Ben Shapiro, you can catch the conversation here (starts at around 20:30):
Links for Spotify and Apple Podcast.
From the archives:
The Age of The Social Paradox
The Best Sleep Upgrade I’ve Ever Had:
I’ve been using Eight Sleep for more than a year, and one thing I’ve come to appreciate is how much the product learns over time.
Eight Sleep has now analyzed more than 1 billion hours of sleep data.
As you probably know, sleep advice is usually pretty generic. Go to bed at the same time. Put your phone away. Keep the room dark. Don’t drink caffeine too late. Exercise. Reduce stress.
All good advice.
But people are different. Something that is often overlooked, though, is that even the same person is different from one night to the next. A hard workout, a late flight, a stressful day, or a warmer room can all change how you sleep.
Eight Sleep uses data from your own sleep history, along with patterns from a much larger group of sleepers, to make the Pod more responsive to you.
I like the basic idea. Most sleep products tell you what happened after the fact. Eight Sleep is trying to use what it learns to improve what happens the next night.
That is a much more useful goal.
And the best part is that I don’t have to think about any of this. I go to bed. The system works in the background.
That is what good technology should do. It should make your life better without asking you to spend more time thinking about the technology itself.
Exclusive Offer for My Readers
Use my code ROBHENDERSON at eightsleep.com/robhenderson for up to $200 off the new Pod 6.
You get 30 nights to try it at home and return it if you don’t love it.
Links and recommendations:
The Concept Creep of Nonconsent by Christina Buttons
Hunter‑gatherer societies are often put on a pedestal as paragons of equality – but the reality is more complicated by Duncan Stibbard Hawkes and Christopher von Rueden. I wrote about this here
The Dark Triad and Career Choices by W. Keith Campbell
Did medieval people love their children? by Samuel Hughes
Why People Support Involuntary Treatment by Stephen Eide and Valerie Franchitti
Follow me on Instagram here. The platform is less volatile and more chill than Twitter/X, so I post some spicier excerpts from my readings on my IG stories
You can follow me on TikTok here
Three interesting findings:
1. Over 70 percent of people say they’ve fallen in love with someone they knew first as a friend or colleague, and nearly half (49 percent; 44% of men and 52% of women) say they fell in love with someone they didn’t initially think it could happen with. (source: The Intimate Animal by Justin R. Garcia).
2. A poll of 1,550 15-year-olds in the UK found that 37 percent “hardly ever” left their bedrooms during free time. We are raising a “bedroom generation” of teenagers who leave school, shut the door and disappear to scroll. (source).
3. The average husband-wife IQ gap is between 12 and 15 points. To be clear, the gap could go either way. Wife or husband could be lower. (source).
The paperback version of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class is now available.
If you have gained any value from this newsletter and want to support my work, please buy a copy today. For yourself. For a friend or a loved one. If you can’t afford it, please support your local library.
Order your copy now:
Audible (I narrated the audiobook myself)
