James Keys and Tunde Ogunlana discuss a couple of the laws from Robert Greene’s bestselling book “The 48 Laws of Power,” particularly looking at the extent to which the laws hold up as society has evolved in the nearly 3 decades since the book was published.

The 48 Laws of Power (Bookshop.org)

James Keys and Tunde Ogunlana discuss the public reaction to the American Eagle jeans advertising campaign which features Sydney Sweeney and makes a direct play on the word jeans and the idea of genetics, culminating in quote “Sydney Sweeney has great genes.” The guys also consider what it means for the public discourse that stirring up controversy and creating outrage is a very reliable path to money and power in the attention economy, particularly with how certain groups seem to be easily set up to play the same roles in these controversies over and over again.

The ad campaign that launched a thousand critiques: Sydney Sweeney's jeans (NPR)

The Sydney Sweeney Jeans Ad "Backlash" Is Mostly Fake (The Present Age)

American Eagle Scores Big Win Amid Sydney Sweeney Ad Backlash (Newsweek)

James Keys and Tunde Ogunlana reflect on an interesting point made in Yuval Noah Harari’s book “Nexus,” about the witch hunting era in Europe following the spread of the printing press and how that time shared many of the characteristics we see in our modern, post Internet society. The guys also discuss whether, in light of how things turned out in the witch hunting era, we should be more worried about where the information environment in this post Internet era may take us.

Nexus (ynharari.com)