Supercharged Tanning, Supreme Wealth's Reality & Souped Up Athletes

Happy Friday EICompetitors! This week on the podcast, what lengths will humans not go to, to feel a little bit special?

First up, a 2025 survey by the American Academy of Dermatology revealed that half of Gen Z participants got a sunburn in 2024, with 10% getting burns severe enough to cause blisters. They also found that 37% didn’t know the risks of tanning and 57% believed common tanning myths- e.g. that a base tan protects you from sunburn. More than a fifth of Gen Z respondents prioritise getting a tan over protecting their skin, and 25% said that it’s worth looking good now even if it means their skin looks worse down the line. Is this just the naivety of youth? Or does it signal something shifting in culture? We talk everything tanning!

Secondly, what does extreme wealth do to the brain? This is the title of a piece for New York magazine by Lane Brown, and the question he tries to answer within it. So Lane Brown you may also remember authored The Feed Is Fake, about stealth marketing online which we discussed in last week’s episode. And for this piece about the ultra-rich, he spent two months interviewing the 0.1 and 0.001% and asking them how money has changed the way they think, how their worldview shifted when they were no longer under the same financial constraints and how becoming mega rich altered their perception of status, friendship, obligation and maybe even reality itself.

And lastly, while we were enhancing the UK bank holiday heatwave with picky bits, day drinking and ice lollies, over in Las Vegas, another kind of enhancement was going on at The Enhanced Games. Is this just inevitable in a world of optimisation? We discuss.

We hope you enjoy, as always please do rate, review and share the show, it helps others to find it and us to keep making it! LY! O,R,B xx

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