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Micael Dahlén on how numbers run (and ruin) our lives
Season 2, episode 11.
27 Oct 2021

Listen on Apple Podcast and Acast.

Micael Dahlen is a professor at the Stockholm School of Economics, with expertise in the intersecting areas of consumer behaviour, human happiness, welfare, marketing and creativity. He is also a speaker and an author, with the latest book Sifferdjur on shelves now, in which Micael and co-author Helge Thorbjørnsen discuss how numbers are running, and ruining our lives.

In this episode, Micael talks about:

How the times we live in are crammed with numbers.

Getting a bad rating from an Uber driver made him realise the power of numbers.

How numbers are far from logical and binary.

How numbers affect our motor system and neurons.

Why people buy glasses when they turn 20, 30 or 40 rather than 23, 34, or 41.

How numbers made the pandemic more stressful.

Why we judge something from likes and followers instead of the actual content.

Fooling your brain that you can run faster and better by alternating workout stats.