The Enhanced Games are Silicon Valley's version of the Olympics -- the athletes are invited to bulk up with performance enhancing drugs, then gather in Las Vegas for competition, and of course, it's funded by some notorious figures in venture capital. Amanda's colleague, Lucas Ropek, got to attend this carnival of debauchery and is here to tell us all about it. And yes, he saw Byran Johnson there.

If you missed our episodes on the Chinese Peptide craze (ep. 137) or the general antics of Byran Johnson (ep. 128), you may find those to be useful primers -- but also, you can just enjoy the absurdity of the Enhanced Games on its own.

Lucas's article: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/31/i-went-to-the-so-called-steroid-olympics-to-understand-why-silicon-valley-is-obsessed-with-peptides/

Balaji's Greys: http://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

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Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com

About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In which Amanda makes the worst PowerPoint ever (it's about rationalists and fan fiction, iykyk), Isabel goes on book tour, and we experiment with flip phones.

The PowerPoint in question: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ch0rBRdr8PGindVGa0cGQaKDiYR5rFmMiclL58CPci8/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p

Find Us Online

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue

Website: https://wowiftrue.com/

Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com

About Us

Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this collab-isode, we're joined by Dr. Adam Becker of Dreaming Against the Machine, a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future in the face of tech oligarchs... or, as we call them, Horrible Little Guys.

Sublimation is out now!!: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t

Join our Patreon: https://patreon.com/wowiftrue

Listen to Dreaming Against the Machine: https://www.dreamingagainstthemachine.com/

Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/

VIRTUALLY:

June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.

June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!

PHYSICALLY:

May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)

June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke)

June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)

June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)

June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)

June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)

June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)

June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.