AI transcript
0:00:04 There’s regular cold. And then there’s the mountains are blue cold.
0:00:09 Mountain cold refreshment. Coors Light. The chill choice.
0:00:12 Celebrate responsibly. Must be legal drinking age.
0:00:19 Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A Touch More, the WNBA playoff picture is getting messy.
0:00:23 And it looks like Chelsea is coming for another NWSL star.
0:00:26 Should we sound the alarm bells?
0:00:32 Plus, we weigh in on why Paige Beckers isn’t getting the media attention she definitely deserves.
0:00:36 Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
0:00:41 This week on Net Worth and Chill, we’re joined by Iskra Lawrence,
0:00:47 the British model and entrepreneur who’s redefining success and what body inclusivity looks like in the fashion industry.
0:00:53 From facing rejection for her curves to building a thriving business empire centered on body positivity,
0:00:56 Iskra shares her unconventional path to financial freedom.
0:01:01 I had this chunk of money and luckily I decided it was time.
0:01:04 I was like, I am never going to feel disposable again.
0:01:05 Fuck this.
0:01:09 Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on youtube.com slash yourrichbff.
0:01:14 I’m Scott Galloway and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:19 OnlyFans has a customer base greater than the U.S. population.
0:01:23 But that success comes at huge cost.
0:01:26 LonelyFans, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:37 Loneliness is lucrative.
0:01:46 Leonid Radvinsky, the secretive owner of OnlyFans, received a $700 million windfall last year,
0:01:53 while the platform’s top tier of content creators, mostly women, earned millions annually.
0:02:04 With $7.2 billion in annual gross revenue and just 46 employees, OnlyFans may be one of the most profitable companies on the planet.
0:02:10 The site is viewed as a porn-centric hub where men pay women for sexual content.
0:02:19 The company claims it’s giving their creators and their 378 million fans, greater than the population of the U.S.,
0:02:20 something more.
0:02:25 An opportunity to forge authentic connections.
0:02:28 Some crazy stats.
0:02:40 The top 0.1% of creators capture 76% of revenue and earn an average of $146,881 per month.
0:02:46 The average creator earns just $150 to $180 per month.
0:02:54 Private messages drive about 70% of revenue versus only 4% from actual subscriptions.
0:03:02 71% of users are male, but 84% of creators are female.
0:03:11 About 0.01% of subscribers are whales, who generate more than 20% of all revenue.
0:03:17 85% of users access the site via mobile.
0:03:25 We’ve created a platform where 95.8% of men pay nothing but still consume content,
0:03:32 while a tiny fraction of whales subsidize an entire economy built on loneliness.
0:03:38 It’s digital feudalism, with OnlyFans as the landlord collecting rent on human connection.
0:03:49 The pitch resonates with millions of men retreating from the high-risk but high-reward activity of forming real-world relationships.
0:03:51 It also appeals to women.
0:03:58 OnlyFans has paid more than $20 billion to creators since 2016.
0:04:04 Women are flocking to the site, with an estimated $1 million-plus in the U.S. alone.
0:04:08 The success of OnlyFans is making some people rich.
0:04:15 However, it’s also a symptom of a loneliness epidemic with devastating second-order effects.
0:04:19 Humans are hardwired to connect.
0:04:25 Interacting with families and friends is as essential as food, water, and shelter.
0:04:35 Through the 1970s, Americans seemed adept at forming social groups, political associations, labor unions, local memberships.
0:04:37 Those bonds have faded.
0:04:45 Weekly religious service attendance has fallen to 30% from 42% two decades ago.
0:04:47 Marriage rates have plunged.
0:04:53 Third places, public gathering spots outside home and work, are disappearing.
0:04:57 The driving factor is technology.
0:05:06 Addicted to YouTube and TikTok, nearly half of American teens report being online almost constantly.
0:05:13 Jonathan Haidt, my NYU colleague, estimates kids’ time with friends has been cut in half.
0:05:18 We’ve literally taken childhood and poured it into a screen.
0:05:21 This isn’t just an epidemic.
0:05:22 It’s a pandemic.
0:05:30 Loneliness affects nearly one in six people globally, contributing to 100 deaths an hour.
0:05:33 The health impact is massive.
0:05:39 Loneliness is about as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes daily.
0:05:47 Social isolation reduces productivity, boosts job turnover, and drives up health care costs.
0:05:54 The economic toll in the U.S. exceeds $400 billion annually.
0:05:58 Men are especially vulnerable.
0:06:03 The most unstable, violent societies have one thing in common.
0:06:05 A plethora of lonely young men.
0:06:08 We are producing millions of them.
0:06:19 In Japan, 1.5 million people are hikikomori, modern-day recluses who withdraw for more than six months.
0:06:26 In Britain, the loneliness crisis costs employers more than $3 billion annually.
0:06:32 In Spain, the economic impact equals 1.2% of GDP.
0:06:39 Millions of Chinese women seeking companionship are downloading AI boyfriends.
0:06:46 We’re in the midst of a sex recession, with rates at record lows.
0:06:49 Participation in clubs is waning.
0:06:55 Nearly three out of four restaurant orders in the U.S. aren’t eaten in the restaurant.
0:07:05 As Esther Perel told me on the Prof G-Pod, we’re in an age of artificial intimacy, where we’re planning our extinction.
0:07:14 At current fertility rates in South Korea, you need to pass 20 people to find one who will have grandchildren.
0:07:23 In Britain, pubs are closing at a rate of one per day, faster than Nazi bombs destroyed them during World War II.
0:07:27 Today’s owners blame taxes and costs.
0:07:36 But young people increasingly choose online gaming, porn, drugs, Netflix, and OnlyFans over nightlife.
0:07:40 I’ve gotten shit for suggesting young people should drink more, so be it.
0:07:47 I believe the risks of alcohol to a 25-year-old liver are dwarfed by those of social isolation.
0:07:53 When I go out to bars and clubs, I don’t see drunkenness, but togetherness.
0:07:59 My household had little money, but my mom made exceptions.
0:08:10 She bought me Izod shirts, Sperry topsiders, and Varnays, because she’d heard they were what cool kids wore, and she wanted me to have social capital.
0:08:16 My college girlfriend threatened to stop having sex with me if I didn’t quit smoking weed.
0:08:22 My first boss consistently pulled me into conference rooms for brutal feedback.
0:08:26 These connections keep us on track and challenge our worldviews.
0:08:30 Without them, citizens become vulnerable to radical ideas.
0:08:37 A German study linked loneliness to authoritarian political views and conspiracy theories.
0:08:39 As Hannah Arendt wrote,
0:08:44 Isolation and loneliness are preconditions for tyranny.
0:08:51 A preview of what’s to come is to witness the behavior of orcas when they are put in isolation tanks.
0:08:55 Simply put, they go crazy.
0:09:03 Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is pushing investment in community infrastructure.
0:09:07 Centers, pools, green spaces, pedestrian malls.
0:09:10 You cannot overfund these projects.
0:09:18 Taxpayer-funded Westwood Park gave me a place to play sports and meet kids when I hit a growth spurt and was cut from my high school baseball team.
0:09:21 The best solution?
0:09:24 Mandatory national service after high school.
0:09:29 Uniting young people from different backgrounds in service to something bigger than themselves.
0:09:33 There are glimmers of hope.
0:09:37 The movement to ban smartphones in schools is gaining momentum.
0:09:40 Independent bookstores are staging a comeback.
0:09:48 But as women flock to OnlyFans, many will ditch education and careers for webcams.
0:09:59 There’s likely a one-in-three chance that an attractive young woman without a college degree outside a major city is on OnlyFans.
0:10:07 Meanwhile, men choose frictionless digital connections over challenging but rewarding real ones,
0:10:12 foregoing opportunities to find mates, friends, mentors, and business partners.
0:10:22 As millennials and Gen Z tire of dating apps, we’re transitioning from a Tinder economy to an OnlyFans economy.
0:10:24 The next frontier?
0:10:32 AI startups like Ochat, building lifelike digital doubles for spicy fantasies.
0:10:40 I think about my sons, 15 and 18, and the world we’re handing them.
0:10:47 A world where human connection has been commoditized, where intimacy is artificial,
0:10:55 where young people retreat into digital caves instead of stepping into the messy and rewarding complexity of real relationships.
0:10:59 Being human is not a solo sport.
0:11:05 The loneliness epidemic isn’t just killing people at 100 deaths per hour.
0:11:12 It’s killing our capacity for joy, for surprise, for the modern encounters that make life worth living.
0:11:22 Every swipe right, every OnlyFans subscription, every AI boyfriend is another step away from the fundamental truth.
0:11:28 We not only need each other to survive, but to really live.
0:11:34 We can keep feeding and ignoring the machine that profits from our isolation,
0:11:42 or we can remember what it means to be gloriously, beautifully human together.
0:11:48 The most subversive act in the 21st century may not be starting a unicorn,
0:11:56 but showing up, approaching strangers, asking someone out, grasping for their hand.
0:11:59 It’s not only fans that will save us.
0:12:02 It’s only us.
0:12:07 Life is so rich.
0:12:31 One way to understand how vaccines work is that they’re kind of like practice tests for your immune system.
0:12:33 I’m Dr. Holly Phillips.
0:12:38 I’ve spent years helping people understand how vaccines can help protect us.
0:12:45 I’d say one thing to really keep in mind about vaccines is that timing is everything.
0:12:48 Babies and kids, they get that series of vaccines.
0:12:53 But protection from those childhood vaccines can start to fade over time.
0:12:56 So some vaccines actually need boosters in adulthood.
0:13:00 Our seasonal vaccines we need every year.
0:13:02 It does not matter what stage of life you’re in.
0:13:06 We should all get our flu vaccine, and earlier in the fall is better.
0:13:10 And also, don’t forget about the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
0:13:14 And yes, it’s totally fine to get most vaccines at the same time.
0:13:21 CVS offers 14 no-cost vaccines that are covered by most insurance plans.
0:13:25 So head to cvs.com slash vaccines to book your vaccines.
0:13:28 Or you can stop by your local CVS pharmacy today.
0:00:09 Mountain cold refreshment. Coors Light. The chill choice.
0:00:12 Celebrate responsibly. Must be legal drinking age.
0:00:19 Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A Touch More, the WNBA playoff picture is getting messy.
0:00:23 And it looks like Chelsea is coming for another NWSL star.
0:00:26 Should we sound the alarm bells?
0:00:32 Plus, we weigh in on why Paige Beckers isn’t getting the media attention she definitely deserves.
0:00:36 Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.
0:00:41 This week on Net Worth and Chill, we’re joined by Iskra Lawrence,
0:00:47 the British model and entrepreneur who’s redefining success and what body inclusivity looks like in the fashion industry.
0:00:53 From facing rejection for her curves to building a thriving business empire centered on body positivity,
0:00:56 Iskra shares her unconventional path to financial freedom.
0:01:01 I had this chunk of money and luckily I decided it was time.
0:01:04 I was like, I am never going to feel disposable again.
0:01:05 Fuck this.
0:01:09 Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on youtube.com slash yourrichbff.
0:01:14 I’m Scott Galloway and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:19 OnlyFans has a customer base greater than the U.S. population.
0:01:23 But that success comes at huge cost.
0:01:26 LonelyFans, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:37 Loneliness is lucrative.
0:01:46 Leonid Radvinsky, the secretive owner of OnlyFans, received a $700 million windfall last year,
0:01:53 while the platform’s top tier of content creators, mostly women, earned millions annually.
0:02:04 With $7.2 billion in annual gross revenue and just 46 employees, OnlyFans may be one of the most profitable companies on the planet.
0:02:10 The site is viewed as a porn-centric hub where men pay women for sexual content.
0:02:19 The company claims it’s giving their creators and their 378 million fans, greater than the population of the U.S.,
0:02:20 something more.
0:02:25 An opportunity to forge authentic connections.
0:02:28 Some crazy stats.
0:02:40 The top 0.1% of creators capture 76% of revenue and earn an average of $146,881 per month.
0:02:46 The average creator earns just $150 to $180 per month.
0:02:54 Private messages drive about 70% of revenue versus only 4% from actual subscriptions.
0:03:02 71% of users are male, but 84% of creators are female.
0:03:11 About 0.01% of subscribers are whales, who generate more than 20% of all revenue.
0:03:17 85% of users access the site via mobile.
0:03:25 We’ve created a platform where 95.8% of men pay nothing but still consume content,
0:03:32 while a tiny fraction of whales subsidize an entire economy built on loneliness.
0:03:38 It’s digital feudalism, with OnlyFans as the landlord collecting rent on human connection.
0:03:49 The pitch resonates with millions of men retreating from the high-risk but high-reward activity of forming real-world relationships.
0:03:51 It also appeals to women.
0:03:58 OnlyFans has paid more than $20 billion to creators since 2016.
0:04:04 Women are flocking to the site, with an estimated $1 million-plus in the U.S. alone.
0:04:08 The success of OnlyFans is making some people rich.
0:04:15 However, it’s also a symptom of a loneliness epidemic with devastating second-order effects.
0:04:19 Humans are hardwired to connect.
0:04:25 Interacting with families and friends is as essential as food, water, and shelter.
0:04:35 Through the 1970s, Americans seemed adept at forming social groups, political associations, labor unions, local memberships.
0:04:37 Those bonds have faded.
0:04:45 Weekly religious service attendance has fallen to 30% from 42% two decades ago.
0:04:47 Marriage rates have plunged.
0:04:53 Third places, public gathering spots outside home and work, are disappearing.
0:04:57 The driving factor is technology.
0:05:06 Addicted to YouTube and TikTok, nearly half of American teens report being online almost constantly.
0:05:13 Jonathan Haidt, my NYU colleague, estimates kids’ time with friends has been cut in half.
0:05:18 We’ve literally taken childhood and poured it into a screen.
0:05:21 This isn’t just an epidemic.
0:05:22 It’s a pandemic.
0:05:30 Loneliness affects nearly one in six people globally, contributing to 100 deaths an hour.
0:05:33 The health impact is massive.
0:05:39 Loneliness is about as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes daily.
0:05:47 Social isolation reduces productivity, boosts job turnover, and drives up health care costs.
0:05:54 The economic toll in the U.S. exceeds $400 billion annually.
0:05:58 Men are especially vulnerable.
0:06:03 The most unstable, violent societies have one thing in common.
0:06:05 A plethora of lonely young men.
0:06:08 We are producing millions of them.
0:06:19 In Japan, 1.5 million people are hikikomori, modern-day recluses who withdraw for more than six months.
0:06:26 In Britain, the loneliness crisis costs employers more than $3 billion annually.
0:06:32 In Spain, the economic impact equals 1.2% of GDP.
0:06:39 Millions of Chinese women seeking companionship are downloading AI boyfriends.
0:06:46 We’re in the midst of a sex recession, with rates at record lows.
0:06:49 Participation in clubs is waning.
0:06:55 Nearly three out of four restaurant orders in the U.S. aren’t eaten in the restaurant.
0:07:05 As Esther Perel told me on the Prof G-Pod, we’re in an age of artificial intimacy, where we’re planning our extinction.
0:07:14 At current fertility rates in South Korea, you need to pass 20 people to find one who will have grandchildren.
0:07:23 In Britain, pubs are closing at a rate of one per day, faster than Nazi bombs destroyed them during World War II.
0:07:27 Today’s owners blame taxes and costs.
0:07:36 But young people increasingly choose online gaming, porn, drugs, Netflix, and OnlyFans over nightlife.
0:07:40 I’ve gotten shit for suggesting young people should drink more, so be it.
0:07:47 I believe the risks of alcohol to a 25-year-old liver are dwarfed by those of social isolation.
0:07:53 When I go out to bars and clubs, I don’t see drunkenness, but togetherness.
0:07:59 My household had little money, but my mom made exceptions.
0:08:10 She bought me Izod shirts, Sperry topsiders, and Varnays, because she’d heard they were what cool kids wore, and she wanted me to have social capital.
0:08:16 My college girlfriend threatened to stop having sex with me if I didn’t quit smoking weed.
0:08:22 My first boss consistently pulled me into conference rooms for brutal feedback.
0:08:26 These connections keep us on track and challenge our worldviews.
0:08:30 Without them, citizens become vulnerable to radical ideas.
0:08:37 A German study linked loneliness to authoritarian political views and conspiracy theories.
0:08:39 As Hannah Arendt wrote,
0:08:44 Isolation and loneliness are preconditions for tyranny.
0:08:51 A preview of what’s to come is to witness the behavior of orcas when they are put in isolation tanks.
0:08:55 Simply put, they go crazy.
0:09:03 Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts is pushing investment in community infrastructure.
0:09:07 Centers, pools, green spaces, pedestrian malls.
0:09:10 You cannot overfund these projects.
0:09:18 Taxpayer-funded Westwood Park gave me a place to play sports and meet kids when I hit a growth spurt and was cut from my high school baseball team.
0:09:21 The best solution?
0:09:24 Mandatory national service after high school.
0:09:29 Uniting young people from different backgrounds in service to something bigger than themselves.
0:09:33 There are glimmers of hope.
0:09:37 The movement to ban smartphones in schools is gaining momentum.
0:09:40 Independent bookstores are staging a comeback.
0:09:48 But as women flock to OnlyFans, many will ditch education and careers for webcams.
0:09:59 There’s likely a one-in-three chance that an attractive young woman without a college degree outside a major city is on OnlyFans.
0:10:07 Meanwhile, men choose frictionless digital connections over challenging but rewarding real ones,
0:10:12 foregoing opportunities to find mates, friends, mentors, and business partners.
0:10:22 As millennials and Gen Z tire of dating apps, we’re transitioning from a Tinder economy to an OnlyFans economy.
0:10:24 The next frontier?
0:10:32 AI startups like Ochat, building lifelike digital doubles for spicy fantasies.
0:10:40 I think about my sons, 15 and 18, and the world we’re handing them.
0:10:47 A world where human connection has been commoditized, where intimacy is artificial,
0:10:55 where young people retreat into digital caves instead of stepping into the messy and rewarding complexity of real relationships.
0:10:59 Being human is not a solo sport.
0:11:05 The loneliness epidemic isn’t just killing people at 100 deaths per hour.
0:11:12 It’s killing our capacity for joy, for surprise, for the modern encounters that make life worth living.
0:11:22 Every swipe right, every OnlyFans subscription, every AI boyfriend is another step away from the fundamental truth.
0:11:28 We not only need each other to survive, but to really live.
0:11:34 We can keep feeding and ignoring the machine that profits from our isolation,
0:11:42 or we can remember what it means to be gloriously, beautifully human together.
0:11:48 The most subversive act in the 21st century may not be starting a unicorn,
0:11:56 but showing up, approaching strangers, asking someone out, grasping for their hand.
0:11:59 It’s not only fans that will save us.
0:12:02 It’s only us.
0:12:07 Life is so rich.
0:12:31 One way to understand how vaccines work is that they’re kind of like practice tests for your immune system.
0:12:33 I’m Dr. Holly Phillips.
0:12:38 I’ve spent years helping people understand how vaccines can help protect us.
0:12:45 I’d say one thing to really keep in mind about vaccines is that timing is everything.
0:12:48 Babies and kids, they get that series of vaccines.
0:12:53 But protection from those childhood vaccines can start to fade over time.
0:12:56 So some vaccines actually need boosters in adulthood.
0:13:00 Our seasonal vaccines we need every year.
0:13:02 It does not matter what stage of life you’re in.
0:13:06 We should all get our flu vaccine, and earlier in the fall is better.
0:13:10 And also, don’t forget about the updated COVID-19 vaccine.
0:13:14 And yes, it’s totally fine to get most vaccines at the same time.
0:13:21 CVS offers 14 no-cost vaccines that are covered by most insurance plans.
0:13:25 So head to cvs.com slash vaccines to book your vaccines.
0:13:28 Or you can stop by your local CVS pharmacy today.
As read by George Hahn.
Lonely Fans
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
