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Chapter 1: What are the Enhanced Games and why are they controversial?
Hey, everybody. Today, we're going to talk about the Enhanced Games, the event that transpired in Las Vegas the other weekend. Adam and I are going to share our thoughts on what it was, what happened, what we make of it, our perspective, the implications, both financial, cultural, ethical, et cetera, and dig into our personal opinions on it. Does that sound good, Adam? That sounds good, man.
I love it. Are these UV safe lights? I don't know.
You didn't bring your umbrella? Okay.
Chapter 2: How does the Enhanced Games differ from traditional sports events?
We're going to talk about that. But first, before we get into it, for those that don't know what the Enhanced Games are, this somehow eclipsed your radar. The Enhanced Games is a, obviously controversial, privately funded international multi-sport event that lacks any kind of governmental body oversight from like WADA or the International Olympic Committee.
And in this event, they don't just permit athletes to use performance enhancing drugs, they actually encourage it. with the caveat that the use of these substances must be under medical supervision and taken through an FDA-approved regimen. They also, at the Enhanced Games, offered significant prize money, especially if you broke a world record. We're going to talk about that.
And this all took place the other weekend in Las Vegas. It was...
Chapter 3: What are the implications of performance-enhancing drugs in sports?
42 athletes across three sports, swimming, track and field, and weightlifting. And it was only a few events here and there. I think they had aspirations that it was going to be like all sports and there were going to be hundreds of athletes, but this was the inaugural event. So humble beginnings, but my perspective is this is only the first year of an event that is going to grow over time.
And we talked a little bit about it before the event, do you remember? Yes. We were on the phone. Yes, yes. And you were asked- Like a couple days before, right?
Chapter 4: How do societal trends influence the popularity of the Enhanced Games?
Well, you were asked by some publication to write an article about this or something like that?
No, no, I was, Canadian Broadcasting Company. So I was asked by Canadian Radio to be on the show called Commotion, which is a pop culture and sports show. And I've been on there before for different articles I've written or something I've covered, like the Olympic surfing was the first time I think I was on there. And so they asked me to be on there and comment on the enhanced games.
But the caveat was I had to watch the enhanced games. So we hadn't talked about it. And then I called you. I'm like, I have to watch that. And you were like, couldn't wait to watch it.
Chapter 5: What role does self-optimization play in the Enhanced Games phenomenon?
And I was like, I have to watch it. And so I watched it. You know, I was like, I think the early prelim events, I was kind of like just keeping tabs on. But then once it was like on, like from like three o'clock Pacific Time on. I was basically watching the whole thing throughout the night. And yeah, so I saw it all.
I saw the... And it was interesting because the broadcast of it was... I thought it was well done. The broadcast part of it was well done. And I thought it was interesting.
Chapter 6: How do the performances at the Enhanced Games compare to Olympic standards?
They built this arena in 30 days. 30 days. 100-meter track. 50-meter pool, we think. I mean, we think these measurements are correct.
There's a lot of, you know, like sort of conspiracy-minded videos being made right now. It's like, was it a 50-meter pool? Are we sure? There's no governing body, so we don't know. It's a private...
Chapter 7: What ethical concerns arise from the commercialization of sports enhancements?
it's a private event.
They could be doing anything, but anyway. Right. And so they build this thing and then there's all these seats, but, and mostly luxury boxes with a little bit of bleachers. And for the beginning of the time, like when it was hot out, there was almost nobody in the bleachers, but it did end up getting kind of a lot of people there.
Chad Kroger from Chad goes deep posted from the, from the enhanced games. And who else?
What was the, there were a lot of influencers there to make contact.
Emile Hirsch. It was like,
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Chapter 8: How can athletes balance performance with health and ethics?
kind of in an interview scrum at one point he was there. So it was like this weird, but yeah, it was like kind of manosphere adjacent influencer type crowd that they brought in. And, you know, it was a curiosity. That's the thing I would point to it right now. It's a curiosity. It's curious because like, they did get some amazing athletes. I mean, you do see these athletes.
These guys weren't playing. They were going for big money. Fred Curley was there, who's an incredible sprinter. Some great swimmers. Maybe not everybody that you'd think would be there because the best ones don't want to be associated with it.
So when we first talked on the phone about this, you were of the mind that this was... going to be something that nobody was really going to care about. And I was of the opinion, I think this is going to go viral. This is a meme factory and waiting.
And I felt like it was going to, despite the fact that we no longer have a monoculture, there are certainly very large cohorts of people in certain pockets of the internet who are very interested in this. This event transpired At a moment in time when we're hitting peak self-optimization, we have all of these fitness influencers who are modeling the ultimate male physique.
We have a fascination with healthspan extension and longevity. It's this... cultural paradigm shift towards focusing on looks. There's the looks maxing thing. I mean, this is, you coined it. It's like, this was the clavicular Olympics. So anyone who is part of that looks maxing culture or that health extension culture or the self-optimization culture culture,
you know, writ large is gonna be interested in this and is gonna be waiting with bated breath to see what happens. And there's a lot of people who wanna see like the ultimate human animal, like without a shirt on and trying to perform athletically. So I felt like it was all teed up to be a moment where there was going to be a lot of conversation around this.
And maybe it's just my feed, but like my feed was like 90% enhanced games on social media. And then in the wake of the enhanced games, Then it was the even bigger games, the discourse games began and all the conversation around this on both sides of the aisle and every possible take you could imagine. And that seems to be continuing.
It feels like maybe not a monoculture moment, but certainly intriguing enough that there's a lot of people talking about this right now. And it's polarizing.
It is. I mean, that's why I called it a curiosity because people are curious about this. Everyone is curious. Look, nobody wants to die. Let's put it that way. And we all want it. Nobody wants to age. You know, I'm sitting here. I have like a list of maladies that I would like improvement on. And I get it. Like, I understand.
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