Podcasts about stubborn attachments

Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University and serves as the director of the Mercatus Center. A dedicated writer and communicator of economic ideas, Tyler hosts the popular blog Marginal Revolution, and the podcast Conversations with Tyler. He is also the author of several bestselling books, including The Great Stagnation, Stubborn Attachments, and Talent. His latest project is a generative book entitled GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter? Tyler joins the podcast to share his ideas on education, economics, and progress as well as the potential of artificial intelligence and the importance of humility in politics. What did you think of this episode? Let us know with a rating and a review! Still curious? https://www.templeton.org/news is where you can find the latest stories from our grantees, our staff, and contributing writers from around the world.   Join the conversation on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.           

This episode of Books for Men is a short recap of all the episodes from May '23. There was (1) nonfiction book, (1) work of fiction, and (1) edition of From the Vault. I also share some big updates for BooksforMen.org, like full episode transcripts, new tabs, etc. Listen for more!If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the podcast. Any of the three things below will help provide awareness for the initiative—inspiring (more) men to read and bringing together men who do. (Ladies, of course, you're always welcome!)Share with a friend or on social mediaSubscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platformLeave a rating or reviewVisit BooksforMen.org to sign up for the Books for Men newsletter, a monthly round-up of every episode with full book and author info, all the best quotes, and newsletter-only book recommendations!

This episode of Books for Men features an edition of “From the Vault”—a segment where I share an episode from my previous podcast, It's Not What It Seems. This is a great chat I had with Tyler Cowen, author of Stubborn Attachments, The Complacent Class, Talent, and many more. Listen for more! (Original publish date: 11/11/18.) If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the podcast. Any of the three things below will help provide awareness for the initiative—inspiring (more) men to read and bringing together men who do. (Ladies, of course, you're always welcome!)Share with a friend or on social mediaSubscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platformLeave a rating or reviewVisit BooksforMen.org to sign up for the Books for Men newsletter, a monthly round-up of the episodes w/ links, full book and author info, all the best quotes, and newsletter-only book recommendations!

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Response to Tyler Cowen's Existential risk, AI, and the inevitable turn in human history, published by Zvi on March 28, 2023 on LessWrong. Predictions are hard, especially about the future. On this we can all agree. Tyler Cowen offers a post worth reading in full in which he outlines his thinking about AI and what is likely to happen in the future. I see this as essentially the application of Stubborn Attachments and its radical agnosticism to the question of AI. I see the logic in applying this to short-term AI developments the same way I would apply it to almost all historic or current technological progress. But I would not apply it to AI that passes sufficient capabilities and intelligence thresholds, which I see as fundamentally different. I also notice a kind of presumption that things in most scenarios will work out and that doom is dependent on particular ‘distant possibilities,' that often have many logical dependencies or require a lot of things to individually go as predicted. Whereas I would say that those possibilities are not so distant or unlikely, but more importantly that the result is robust, that once the intelligence and optimization pressure that matters is no longer human that most of the outcomes are existentially bad by my values and that one can reject or ignore many or most of the detail assumptions and still see this. My approach is, I'll respond in-line to Tyler's post, then there is a conclusion section will summarize the disagreements. In several of my books and many of my talks, I take great care to spell out just how special recent times have been, for most Americans at least. For my entire life, and a bit more, there have been two essential features of the basic landscape: 1. American hegemony over much of the world, and relative physical safety for Americans. 2. An absence of truly radical technological change. I notice I am still confused about ‘truly radical technological change' when in my lifetime we went from rotary landline phones, no internet and almost no computers to a world in which most of what I and most people I know do all day involves their phones, internet and computers. How much of human history involves faster technological change than the last 50 years? When I look at AI, however, I strongly agree that what we have experienced is not going to prepare us for what is coming, even in the most slow and incremental plausible futures that don't involve any takeoffs or existential risks. AI will be a very different order of magnitude of speed, even if we otherwise stand still. Unless you are very old, old enough to have taken in some of WWII, or were drafted into Korea or Vietnam, probably those features describe your entire life as well. In other words, virtually all of us have been living in a bubble “outside of history.” Now, circa 2023, at least one of those assumptions is going to unravel, namely #2. AI represents a truly major, transformational technological advance. Biomedicine might too, but for this post I'll stick to the AI topic, as I wish to consider existential risk. #1 might unravel soon as well, depending how Ukraine and Taiwan fare. It is fair to say we don't know, nonetheless #1 also is under increasing strain. The relative physical safety we enjoy, as I see it, mostly has nothing to do with American hegemony, and everything to do with other advances, and with the absurd trade-offs we have made in the name of physical safety, to the point of letting it ruin our ability to live life and our society's ability to do things. When there is an exception, as there recently was, we do not handle it well. Have we already forgotten March of 2020? How many times in history has life undergone that rapid and huge a transformation? According to GPT-4, the answer is zero. It names The Black Death, Industrial Revolution ...

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Response to Tyler Cowen's Existential risk, AI, and the inevitable turn in human history, published by Zvi on March 28, 2023 on LessWrong. Predictions are hard, especially about the future. On this we can all agree. Tyler Cowen offers a post worth reading in full in which he outlines his thinking about AI and what is likely to happen in the future. I see this as essentially the application of Stubborn Attachments and its radical agnosticism to the question of AI. I see the logic in applying this to short-term AI developments the same way I would apply it to almost all historic or current technological progress. But I would not apply it to AI that passes sufficient capabilities and intelligence thresholds, which I see as fundamentally different. I also notice a kind of presumption that things in most scenarios will work out and that doom is dependent on particular ‘distant possibilities,' that often have many logical dependencies or require a lot of things to individually go as predicted. Whereas I would say that those possibilities are not so distant or unlikely, but more importantly that the result is robust, that once the intelligence and optimization pressure that matters is no longer human that most of the outcomes are existentially bad by my values and that one can reject or ignore many or most of the detail assumptions and still see this. My approach is, I'll respond in-line to Tyler's post, then there is a conclusion section will summarize the disagreements. In several of my books and many of my talks, I take great care to spell out just how special recent times have been, for most Americans at least. For my entire life, and a bit more, there have been two essential features of the basic landscape: 1. American hegemony over much of the world, and relative physical safety for Americans. 2. An absence of truly radical technological change. I notice I am still confused about ‘truly radical technological change' when in my lifetime we went from rotary landline phones, no internet and almost no computers to a world in which most of what I and most people I know do all day involves their phones, internet and computers. How much of human history involves faster technological change than the last 50 years? When I look at AI, however, I strongly agree that what we have experienced is not going to prepare us for what is coming, even in the most slow and incremental plausible futures that don't involve any takeoffs or existential risks. AI will be a very different order of magnitude of speed, even if we otherwise stand still. Unless you are very old, old enough to have taken in some of WWII, or were drafted into Korea or Vietnam, probably those features describe your entire life as well. In other words, virtually all of us have been living in a bubble “outside of history.” Now, circa 2023, at least one of those assumptions is going to unravel, namely #2. AI represents a truly major, transformational technological advance. Biomedicine might too, but for this post I'll stick to the AI topic, as I wish to consider existential risk. #1 might unravel soon as well, depending how Ukraine and Taiwan fare. It is fair to say we don't know, nonetheless #1 also is under increasing strain. The relative physical safety we enjoy, as I see it, mostly has nothing to do with American hegemony, and everything to do with other advances, and with the absurd trade-offs we have made in the name of physical safety, to the point of letting it ruin our ability to live life and our society's ability to do things. When there is an exception, as there recently was, we do not handle it well. Have we already forgotten March of 2020? How many times in history has life undergone that rapid and huge a transformation? According to GPT-4, the answer is zero. It names The Black Death, Industrial Revolution ...

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Report on Social Returns to Productivity Growth, published by Tom Davidson on July 15, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Historically, economic growth has had huge social benefits, lifting billions out of poverty and improving health outcomes around the world. This leads some to argue that accelerating economic growth, or at least productivity growth, should be a major philanthropic and social priority going forward. I've written a report in which I evaluate this view in order to inform Open Philanthropy's Global Health and Wellbeing (GHW) grantmaking. Specifically, I use a relatively simple model to estimate the social returns to directly funding research and development (R&D). I focus on R&D spending because it seems like a particularly promising way to accelerate productivity growth, but I think broadly similar conclusions would apply to other innovative activities. My estimate, which draws heavily on the methodology of Jones and Summers (2020), asks two primary questions: How much would a little bit of extra R&D today increase people's incomes into the future, holding fixed the amount of R&D conducted at later times? How much welfare is produced by this increase in income? In brief, I find that: The social returns to marginal R&D are high, but typically not as high as the returns in other areas we're interested in. Measured in our units of impact (where “1x” is giving cash to someone earning $50k/year) I estimate that the cost-effectiveness of funding R&D is 45x. This is ~4% as impactful as the (roughly 1,000x) GHW bar for funding. Put another way, I estimate that $20 billion to “average” R&D has the same welfare benefit as increasing the incomes of 180 million people by 10% each for one year. That said, the best R&D projects might have much higher returns. So could projects aimed at increasing the amount of R&D (for example, improving science policy). This estimate is very rough, and I could readily imagine it being off by a factor of 2-3 in either direction, even before accounting for the limitations below. Returns to R&D were plausibly much higher in the past. This is because R&D was much more neglected, and because of feedback loops where R&D increased the amount of R&D occurring at later times. My estimate has many important limitations. For example, it omits potential downsides to R&D (e.g. increasing global catastrophic risks), and it focuses on a specific scenario in which historical rates of return to R&D continue to apply even as population growth stagnates. Alternative scenarios might change the bottom line. For instance, R&D today might speed up the development of some future technology that drastically accelerates R&D progress. This would significantly increase the returns to R&D, but in my view would also strengthen the case for Open Phil to focus on reducing risks from that technology rather than accelerating its development. Overall, the model implies that the best R&D-related projects might be above our GHW bar, but it also leaves us relatively skeptical of arguments that accelerating innovation should be the primary social priority going forward. In the full report, I also discuss: How alternative scenarios might affect social returns to R&D. What these returns might have looked like in the year 1800. How my estimates compare to those of economics papers that use statistical techniques to estimate returns to R&D growth. The ways in which my current views differ from those of certain thinkers in the Progress Studies movement. If environmental constraints require that we reduce our use of various natural resources, productivity growth can allow us to maintain our standards of living while using fewer of these scarce inputs. For example: in Stubborn Attachments, Tyler Cowen argues that the best way to improve the long-run future is to maximize ...

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Will faster economic growth make us happier? The relevance of the Easterlin Paradox to Progress Studies, published by MichaelPlant on June 24, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. This is a transcript of a talk I gave at the Moral Foundations of Progress Studies workshop at the University of Texas in March 2022. Or rather, it's a re-recorded and edited version of the talk that was subsequently produced for a Global Priorities Institute reading group on ‘progress' and then updated in light of many helpful comments from that seminar. The original slide deck can be viewed here. 1. Introduction As I understand it, Progress Studies is a nascent intellectual field which starts by asking the question, “Since we seem to have gotten a lot of progress over the last couple of hundred years, where did this come from, and what can we do to get more of it?” (Vox, 2021). Progress Studies has been popularised by academics such as Tyler Cowen and Steven Pinker. However, the Easterlin Paradox presents a real challenge to the claim that if we want more progress, we just need to improve the long-run growth rate - a view that Cowen argues for in his book Stubborn Attachments. This is a possible version of Progress Studies and the one I'm responding to. So what is the Easterlin Paradox? Quoting Easterlin and O'Connor (2022), the Easterlin Paradox states: At a point in time, happiness varies directly with income both among and within nations, but over time the long-term growth rates of happiness and income are not significantly related. There is a common view that economic growth is going to make our lives better, but the Easterlin Paradox challenges this. What's paradoxical is that at a given point in time, richer people are more satisfied than poorer people and richer countries are more satisfied than poorer countries, but over the course of time, countries which grow faster don't seem to get happier faster. In other words, if I get richer, that will be good for me, but if we all get richer, that won't do anything for us collectively. While subjective wellbeing (self-reported happiness and life satisfaction) has gone up in previous decades, the challenge of the Easterlin Paradox is that countries which grow faster do not seem to be getting happier faster; growth per se seems unrelated to average subjective wellbeing. If the paradox holds, the result would be striking and significant. It would suggest that, if we want to increase average wellbeing, we must not rely on growth, but go back to the drawing board and see what really works. There's been quite a bit of debate over the nature and existence of the Paradox. The topic first emerged in 1974 when Richard Easterlin published a paper called, Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? It's been particularly challenged by Stevenson and Wolfers (2008), who claim the paradox is an illusion and growth is making us happier. However, after looking into this myself, I actually think that Easterlin has the better half of the debate and the paradox does propose a real challenge to the idea that economic growth alone will make us happier. My main purpose here is to explain what the Easterlin Paradox is and why - despite doubts - we need to take it seriously. My second purpose is to show that we can work out how to improve subjective wellbeing in society and make some tentative suggestions about this. However, this project is only starting to be taken seriously and there is lots more work to be done. 2. Evidence for the Paradox So where does the Easterlin Paradox data come from? It's based on survey questions such as: Taking all things together, how would you say things are these days? Would you say you're very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?[1] All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole nowadays, from one, diss...

The blogger Tyler Cowen, in his book "Stubborn Attachments," exemplifies a miserably inadequate, and failed, line of thought about future human flourishing.  (This article was first published December 7, 2018.) The written, original version of this article can be found here, or at https://theworthyhouse.com/2018/12/07/stubborn-attachments-a-vision-for-a-society-of-free-prosperous-and-responsible-individuals-tyler-cowen/ We strongly encourage, in these days of censorship and deplatforming, all readers to bookmark our main site (https://www.theworthyhouse.com). You can also subscribe for email notifications. The Worthy House does not solicit donations or other support, or have ads. 

Η γνωριμία με τον Βασίλη ξεκίνησε από μια συζήτηση στο Twitter μετά από την οποία αποφασίσαμε να κάνουμε ένα "κλασικό" φιλντ ριπορτ καθότι ζει στο Seatle ενώ επίσης εργάζεται στη Microsoft, ένας συνδυασμός που καλύπτει αρκετά κενά στις μέχρι στιγμής σχετικές συζητήσεις μας. Ενώ ηχογραφούσαμε δεν περιοριστήκαμε στα παραπάνω οπότε θίξαμε αρκετά θέματα που μας απασχολούν όπως το πως οι εταιρίες διαχειρίζονται τη γνώση τους, πως μαθαίνουν αλλά και μαθαίνουμε ατομικά, για ψηφιακή δημοκρατία, NFTs και WEB3.0, βιβλία και μέθοδοι διαβάσματος... ε, βάλαμε και λίγη πολιτική. Μια "φέτα" ταυτόχρονα "παλιά" αλλά και "πως θα είναι από εδώ και μπρος" την οποία πιστεύουμε θα απολαύσετε. Επίσης, βάλαμε και διαφημίσεις. Η αναφορά στον Δημήτρη Τσοβόλα έγινε κατά την ηχογράφηση δύο εβδομάδες πριν από τον θάνατό του οπότε οφείλεται σε σύμπτωση. Τα συλληπητήρια μας στην οικογένεια του. Λινκς: Τα βιβλία που αναφέραμε μαζεμένα εδώ: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/173542.Feta_Report_Podcast_101_with_Vasilios_Tziokas Ένα προς ένα: Hit Refresh: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/30835567-hit-refresh Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036377-where-is-my-flying-car Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35396029-deep-thinking Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44767248-human-compatible The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies: www.goodreads.com/book/show/698866.The_Myth_of_the_Rational_Voter The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57423806-the-genetic-lottery 2034: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54211065-2034 Stubborn Attachments: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31283667-stubborn-attachments Darwin's Cathedral: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134827.Darwin_s_Cathedral Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50879762-ravenna Twenty Battles That Shaped Medieval Europe: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45034924-twenty-battles-that-shaped-medieval-europ Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the-difference Υπόλοιποι σύνδεσμοι: Golden: https://golden.com Notion: https://www.notion.so sound.xyz: https://sound.xyz Simple Minds συζήτηση με τον Δημήτρη: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYoF9ZUQXL0 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fetareport/message

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is:Shelly Kagan - readings for Ethics and the Future seminar (spring 2021) , published by velutvulpes on the LessWrong. This is a linkpost for This is a list of the readings from Shelly Kagan's seminar, “Ethics and the Future,” taught at Yale in Spring 2021. See the original linked Google Doc for full introduction. Background on Existential Risks: 1. Toby Ord, The Precipice, Chapters 3-6 and Appendices C and D (about 124 pages) The Basic Case for Longtermism: 1. Perhaps start with this very brief overview: Todd, “Future Generations and Their Moral Significance” (about 7 pages), which can be found online at:/ 2. Then look at the somewhat longer (but still breezy) exposition in Ord, The Precipice, Intro and Chapters 1-2, and Appendix E (65 pgs.) 3. Then read Chapters 1 and 3 from Nick Beckstead's dissertation, On the Overwhelming Importance of Shaping the Far Future (about 44 pages) 4. Finally, Greaves and MacAskill, “The Case for Strong Longtermism” (about 25). That will come to about 140 pages, most of which reads fairly quickly. If you want even more (consider what is listed next as recommended but not required)--look at: 5. Bostrom, “Existential Risk Prevention as Global Priority” (17 pages), and also 6. Bostrom, “Astronomical Waste” (10 pages) 7. Finally, there is a passage from Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, that is quoted regularly in the longtermist literature (for example, by Beckstead). If you would like to see it in its original context, it is on pp. 453-4 (2 pages). All of these things can be found in the Files folder for the class, other than the Todd, the Ord, and the Parfit. The Social Discount Rate: 1. Start with Cowen, Discount Rates Table, a short passage from his Stubborn Attachments, which gives a quick sense of how even a “modest” discount rate effectively wipes out the significance of the long term future (1 page). 2. Then Parfit, Reasons and Persons, Appendix F (7 pages), for arguments against the social discount rate. 3. Cowen and Parfit, “Against the Social Discount Rate,” (from Peter Laslett & James S. Fishkin (eds.) Justice between age groups and generations, Yale University Press: New Haven, 1992, pp. 144–161) repeats much of the Parfit but gives some additional arguments. To (mostly) avoid the repetition, only read the two introductory pages (pp. 144-145) and the section on “economic arguments” (pp. 150-158). Though the first such economic argument (on opportunity costs) very closely follows the earlier Parfit, it does add some extra details. (11 pages.) 4. Then Ord, The Precipice, Appendix A (6 pages) for further discussion. 5. Next, read Greaves, “Discounting for Public Policy,” section 7, which is pages 404-409 (5 pages). That's the bit on the “pure” discount rate. (The rest of the paper isn't required, but is recommended for anyone who would like a thorough (though a bit technical) survey of some of the economics debates on the discount rate.) 6. Finally, Mogensen, “The Only Ethical Argument for Positive Delta” (33 pages). That's about 62 pages. 7. If you are interested in further discussion of the discount rate from an economist's perspective, you could take a look at Broome, “Discounting the Future,” (29 pages) though this is primarily on discounting with regard to future resources, not pure discounting of future welfare, so it is only recommended. Population Ethics I: Parfit, Reasons and Persons, Chapters 16-18, and Appendix G (70 pages). Population Ethics II: 1. Start with Boonin, “How to Solve the Non-Identity Problem” (30 pages) 2. Next, Harman, “Can We Harm and Benefit in Creating?” (25 pages) 3. Then McMahan, “Climate Change, War, and the Non-Identity Problem” (27) 4. Beckstead, Overwhelming Importance, Chapter 4 (23 pages) 5. Ord, The Precipice, Appendix B (6 pages) 6. Finally, a few pages from Kagan, “Singer on Killing Animals...

Podcast: Village Global's Venture Stories (LS 47 · TOP 1% )Episode: What Tyler Cowen Thinks About Basically EverythingRelease date: 2018-11-30In this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler's book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there's a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn't as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he's “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments. They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn't as big a deal as it's made out to be.Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.Tyler's own podcast Conversations with Tyler has been a big inspiration to Erik and Venture Stories, so Erik concludes with an homage with a round of overrated vs. underrated and by asking Tyler what his production function is for the podcast.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Podcast: Village Global Podcast Episode: What Tyler Cowen Thinks About Basically EverythingRelease date: 2018-11-30In this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler's book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there's a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn't as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he's “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments. They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn't as big a deal as it's made out to be.Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.Tyler's own podcast Conversations with Tyler has been a big inspiration to Erik and Venture Stories, so Erik concludes with an homage with a round of overrated vs. underrated and by asking Tyler what his production function is for the podcast.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

In this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler's book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there's a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn't as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he's “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments. They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn't as big a deal as it's made out to be.Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Please contact us or support us on Patreon!This week we discuss why the internet intelligentsia really do not like the Australian lockdowns (each word is a different link, that's how much they hate us).I try to explain to Brian why Slime Mold Time Mold thinks we're getting fat. Something to do with chemicals?Brian is launching his world famous youtube channel!!! You can also find us on discord or redditBig list of coffee bets - now also on Melange app. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------Stubborn Attachments - by Tyler Cowen. If we think that future lives are as valuable as our own, then economic growth is one of the highest moral imperatives. (Funny that an economist would have that thesis)A history of factory safety - possible pre-reading for a future episode!I tried to find a reference for my story about mega-yacht story, but I did find an article explaining how much yacht you can afford! I can afford a dinghy.John Howard sacked many high-ranking public servants upon coming to power in the night of the long knivesThe Jolly Swagman podcast has a fascinating episode on Australia's (botched) vaccine rollout.Ben and James from Exponant discuss the idea that you have to make your priority stack explicit when thinking about complicated issues.Why are we getting fat? Doomsday by Nero, what a banger

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episodeSelected References:2:12 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 17 - BI Book Club 1: The Reality Bubble from July 2021, where we discuss Ziya Tong's 2019 book The Reality Bubble4:07 - Published in 1739, book 3 of philosopher David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, “Of Morals”, articulates what has come to be known as the “is-ought problem” which arises when someone makes claims about what ought to be that are based solely on statements about what is. Hume found that there seems to be a significant difference between positive statements (about what is) and prescriptive normative statements (about what ought to be), and that it is not obvious how one can coherently move from descriptive statements to prescriptive ones. While Hume was dealing with moral philosophy, a related epistemological concept derived from Hume's thought is the fact-value distinction, in which statements of fact based upon reason and physical observation, and which are examined via the empirical method, are separate from statements of value, which encompass ethics and aesthetics. This barrier between 'fact' and 'value' implies it is impossible to derive ethical claims from factual arguments, or to defend the former using the latter. 5:44 - James Madison lays out his views on a large diverse republic in Federalist No. 10, see the Wikipedia entry as well10:33 - See the great “Cognitive bias cheat sheet” and “What Can We Do About Our Bias?” by Buster Benson writing for Better Humans12:49 - Listen to Season 2, Episode 18 of Conversations With Coleman: The Myth of Climate Apocalypse with Michael Shellenberger (YouTube), more on Coleman Hughes and Michael Shellenberger13:27 - From the Season 2, Episode 22 show notes of Conversations With Coleman (YouTube): "My second announcement today is about my interview with Michael Shellenberger from a few weeks back. It seems that Michael made some very misleading or outright false claims about the connection between climate change and extreme weather events. Specifically, he said that climate change did not contribute to the intensity of wildfires in California and Australia. It was a surprising claim to me at the time, but I didn't push back in the moment. Although in retrospect, I should have because it turns out this is not the consensus of the climate science community. Some of his other claims, including that we're not in a sixth mass extinction are at the very least far more controversial than he indicated. So to rectify this, I'm going to get a mainstream climate scientist on the show very soon, and cover all of these topics in detail."13:34 - Factfulness by Hans Rosling22:04 - In his 2018 book Stubborn Attachments economist Tyler Cowen argues that “[t]he lives of humans born decades from now might be difficult for us to imagine, or to treat as of equal worth to our own. But our own lives were once similarly distant from those taking their turn on Earth; the future, when it comes, will feel as real to those living in it as the present does to us. Economists should treat threats to future lives as just as morally reprehensible as present threats to our own.”23:11 - See “The Brain Isn't Supposed to Change This Much” (The Atlantic, 2021)25:25 - Watch “Louis CK Everything Is Amazing And Nobody Is Happy” (YouTube)27:53 - See “How much plastic actually gets recycled?” (Live Science, 2020), “Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not” (New York Times, 2018),and “Is This The End of Recycling?” (The Atlantic, 2019)28:12 - See “Biden's fake burger ban and the rising culture war over meat” (Vox, 2021), and “Eating meat has ‘dire' consequences for the planet, says report” (National Geographic, 2019)29:24 - In Factfulness, author Hans Rosling lays out 10 “dramatic instincts” that often lead us astray, the first three of which he refers to as “mega misconceptions.” The first of these is what he calls “The Gap Instinct” or the mega misconception that the world is divided into two, to paraphrase Rosling he says we have a tendency to “divide all kinds of things into two distinct and often conflicting groups with an imagined gap...in between...the gap instinct makes us imagine a division where there is just a smooth range, difference where there is convergence, and conflict where there is agreement...in most cases there is no clear separation of two groups...the majority is to be found in the middle, and it tells a very different story.” To combat this instinct Rosling suggests recognizing when a story is about a gap and realizing that reality is often not polarized at all, and furthermore to beware of extremes, that although the difference between extremes is dramatic, the majority is usually in the middle where the gap is supposed to be.” For more useful information on the gap instinct and the other 9 dramatic instincts, see Factfulness at Gapminder31:50 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 06 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics from November 2020, and see Difficult Conversations by by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen34:18 - See Super Duper Food Trucks Catering, the spin off of Super Duper Weenie42:28 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy44:38 - As well meaning as we might be, it goes without saying that Jeff and I are hardly the first humans to engage in this kind of exercise, in fact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948, as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It was drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, and was it set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected, and is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels. The Declaration comprises 30 individual articles, the first of which states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” and the 25th of which states “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” For the other 28 Articles see the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (United Nations)46:31 - Watch the benefit song “U.S.A. For Africa - We Are the World (Official Video)” (YouTube) and read the Wikipedia entry, Bob Dylan appears at 3:4646:38 - See “We Already Grow Enough Food For 10 Billion People -- and Still Can't End Hunger” (Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 2012) and “Can we feed the world and ensure no one goes hungry?” (United Nations, 2019)50:28 - See “Building New Renewables Is Cheaper Than Burning Fossil Fuels” (Bloomberg Green, 2021), “Majority of New Renewables Undercut Cheapest Fossil Fuel on Cost” (International Renewable Energy Agency, 2021), and “Solar power got cheap. So why aren't we using it more?” (Popular Science, 2021)52:14 - See Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, “Exxon Knew about Climate Change almost 40 years ago” (Scientific American, 2015) and “How the oil industry made us doubt climate change” (BBC, 2020) 53:30 - Former Vice President Al Gore released his climate change documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 200655:22 - See “Why you think you're right, even when you're wrong” (TED Ideas, 2017)58:18 - The Progress Network1:00:24 - In his 1971 book Theory of Justice, philosopher John Rawls presents the thought experiment of the Veil of Ignorance, which allows us to test ideas for fairness when thinking about setting up a just society. For more see “The Fairness Principle: How the Veil of Ignorance Helps Test Fairness” (Farnam Street Blog) 1:00:43 - See “The Ship Breakers” (The Atlantic, 2014), “Inside the Shady, Dangerous Business of Shipbreaking” (Atlas Obscura, 2016), watch “Where Ships Go to Die, Workers Risk Everything” (National Geographic YouTube Channel), and see the Wikipedia entry on ship breaking1:02:35 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 12 - A New Enlightenment: The Age of Cognitivism from March 2021This episode was recorded in August 2021The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episodeSelected References:2:23 - Listen to Mindscape Episode 133: Ziya Tong on Realities We Don't See for an overview and discussion of ideas Tong presents in her 2019 book The Reality Bubble4:36 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 04 - Too Cultured from October 20206:10 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 01 - Why It's Pointless to Start a Podcast In a Pandemic from September 20207:52 - Factfulness by Hans Rosling8:00 - Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker9:39 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 12 - A New Enlightenment: The Age of Cognitivism from March 20219:56 - Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway10:35 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 13 - What We Talk About When We Talk About Politics Part 2: Just the Facts from April 202116:40 - See “Chickens have gotten ridiculously large since the 1950's” (Vox, 2014)18:50 - See the Wikipedia entry on the “environmental impact of meat production” and “Meat's Sustainability Problem” (The Good Food Institute, 2018)19:48 - Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett - “An organization called Seeds of Peace tries to change predictions by bringing together young people from cultures that are in serious conflict, like Palestinians and Israelis, and Indians and Pakistanis. The teens participate in activities like soccer, canoeing, and leadership training, and they can talk about the animosity between their cultures in a supportive environment. By creating new experiences, these teens are changing their future predictions in the hopes of building bridges between the cultures and, ultimately, creating a more peaceful world.”26:06 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 15 - The Mind of Gatsby: A Look Through the Cognitive Lens from June 202130:22 - The 2008 documentary Food, Inc. is an “unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.”30:27 - For more on Chinese surveillance see the “Mass surveillance in China” Wikipedia entry, “Facial Recognition And Beyond: Journalist Ventures Inside China's 'Surveillance State'” (NPR, 2021), “China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone” (The Atlantic, 2018), and “The Panopticon Is Already Here” (The Atlantic, 2020)30:30 - The 2020 documentary The Social Dilemma “[e]xplores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.”31:33 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 08 - System 2, Superman, & Simulacra: Jeff's Amateur Philosophy from December 202031:03 - See “Can Prairie Dogs Talk?” (New York Times Magazine, 2017) and “The Linguistic Genius of Prairie Dogs” (Animal Cognition) which discuss the work of animal biologist Con Slobodchikoff, who among other things claims that many animals have language and can talk33:08 - See the “Pain in animals” Wikipedia entry and “Animals can feel pain. A biologist explains how we know.” (Vox, 2017)35:22 - The Origins of Creativity by E.O. Wilson40:17 - The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich40:42 - Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harrari 42:15 - See The Secret of Our Success website43:09 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 16 - Partisan Pizza from July 202148:44 - 1491 by Charles C. Mann51:44 - Slight correction - the evolution of fish began about 530 million years ago, see the “Evolution of fish” Wikipedia entry for more54:20 - Watch a hilarious compilation from legendary comedian Mitch Hedberg and see “21 of the Funniest and Most Unforgettable Mitch Hedberg Jokes” (Vulture, 2020)1:02:30 - Candide by Voltaire1:03:15 - James Stockdale was a candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1992 presidential election, on Ross Perot's independent ticket.1:03:35 - Jim Collins discusses what he calls The Stockdale Paradox, which is based on the experience of James Stockdale who was a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War for over seven years, in his 2001 business classic Good to Great1:03:58 - In his 2018 book Stubborn Attachments  economist Tyler Cowen argues that “if we want to flourish, do what's best for the maximum amount of people and create a more pluralistic society. One of the most important building blocks of such a society is to have a stubborn attachment to economic growth (in its Cowen variety of Wealth Plus).Cowen defines Wealth Plus as “the total amount of value produced over a certain time period. This includes the traditional measures of economic value found in GDP statistics, but also includes measures of leisure time, household production, and environmental amenities, as summed up in a relevant measure of wealth.”” See “The Clear and Comprehensive Case for Growth” (Archbridge Notes, 2018)This episode was recorded in July 2021The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti 

“If your view is that the future per se matters as much as the present, then you are led to maximizing sustainable economic growth.”In this episode, we are joined by Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University. Cowen writes the "Economic Scene" column for The New York Times and since 2016 has been a regular opinion columnist at Bloomberg Opinion.Here Cowen speaks about his book Stubborn attachments and argues that our reason and common sense can help free us of the faulty ideas that hold us back as people and as a society and makes the contemporary moral case for economic growth as well as provide inspiration and optimism about our future possibilities.Session Summary: Tyler Cowen, George Mason University | Stubborn Attachments - Foresight Institute Music:Intractable by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/I Knew a Guy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1987 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support.Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees, and shares this work with the public. She founded Existentialhope.com, co-edited Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy, co-authored Gaming the Future, and co-initiated The Longevity Prize. Apply to Foresight's virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was trying to find a short read on why economic growth is so important, but since it wasn't readily available, I decided to collate one myself. To d... Our World in DataStubborn Attachments4.4-timesRuss Robertspresented their casedo more with lessAlex KaschutaJim Rutt and Samo BurjiaJesse Walden on Means of CreationBitcloutCosignOn Deck Miamihiring a Chief of Staffidea

Tyler Cowen is an economist and public intellectual par excellence. Show notes Selected links •Follow Tyler: Website | Twitter | Podcast | Blog •Stubborn Attachments, by Tyler Cowen •Ideal Code, Real World, by Brad Hooker •Utilitarianism and Co-operation, by Donald Regan •Peter Thiel interview, Conversations with Tyler •The Great Stagnation, by Tyler Cowen •The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, by Benjamin Friedman •Fully Growth, by Dietrich Vollrath •'The Nobel Prize Isn't What It Used To Be', Bloomberg article by Tyler Cowen •'Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2020' •Superintelligence, by Nick Bostrom •A Tract on Monetary Reform, by John Maynard Keynes •Indian Currency and Finance, by John Maynard Keynes •Individualism and Economic Order, by Friedrich Hayek •The Rise and Fall of American Growth, by Robert Gordon Topics discussed •If God is dead, life is absurd and there are no rules, why shouldn't we just commit suicide? •Why should we care about the distant future? •Does rule utilitarianism collapse into act utilitarianism? •How can we make decisions at all without succumbing to moral paralysis and total uncertainty? •Why isn't the epistemic critique fatal to consequentialism? •Why didn't Tyler donate the proceeds of Stubborn Attachments to an effective charity? •What is the Great Stagnation? •Why was 1973 the breakpoint in western productivity growth? •Is the Great Stagnation overdetermined? •What metric would Tyler look at to determine whether the Great Stagnation had ended? •When did Tyler first become cognisant of the...

For exclusive member-only content become a CwC subscriber via https://colemanhughes.org/In this episode, Coleman interviews Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher, professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. Peter is known for his book, ‘Animal Liberation' in which he argues in favor of veganism, and his essay ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality' in which he argues in favor of donating to the global poor. During this episode they talk about whether moral obligations depend on where you happen to be in the world, whether human happiness is comparative or absolute, Tyler Cowen's book Stubborn Attachments, hedonic adaptations and whether the human race is happier now than it was a thousand years ago, and more.

For exclusive member-only content become a CwC subscriber via https://colemanhughes.org/ In this episode, Coleman interviews Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher, professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and a Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne. Peter is known for his book, ‘Animal Liberation’ in which he argues in favor of veganism, and his essay ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’ in which he argues in favor of donating to the global poor. During this episode they talk about whether moral obligations depend on where you happen to be in the world, whether human happiness is comparative or absolute, Tyler Cowen’s book Stubborn Attachments, hedonic adaptations and whether the human race is happier now than it was a thousand years ago, and more.

My guest for this episode is Mary Hirschfeld, Associate Professor of Economics & Theology at Villanova University. Mary has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD in Theology from Notre Dame. Her book, Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy, is the book we as a society need someone with that background to write. We talk about what an alternative universe of economics might look like if designed by the famed Catholic Theologian. The cheap reading of her book can sound just like another bunch of self-help moralizing about us needing to consume less and live better. In our conversation I even challenge her a bit and say this isn't particularly newsworthy, so why write the book? Mary's mission is deeper, though, she's out there to give us some new, more effective intellectual arguments for *why* our lives should be lived better. Even though we may already be looking for more fulfilling pursuits than the old rat race there is a surprising lack of intellectual underpinnings to this set of ideas, especially the economics of these ideas. Mary Hirschfeld to the rescue. Let me know how you think she does!This show is part of an on-again / off-again series I'm recording about the philosophical and moral foundations of economics. See my episodes with Tyler Cowen on Stubborn Attachments and Agnes Callard on What Philosophy Feels Like!See show notes here! https://notunreasonable.com/2022/01/07/mary-hirschfeld-on-aquinas-and-the-market/

Release date: 2020-06-14Notes from The Valmy:Source: YouTube (Stanford Ethics in Society) https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/essays/economic-growth-moral-imperativeRelease date: 2019-11-05

Podcast: FT Alphachat (LS 50 · TOP 0.5% )Episode: Tyler Cowen's stubborn attachmentsRelease date: 2017-04-28Economist and polymathic author Tyler Cowen talks to Cardiff about his essay, "Stubborn Attachments", in which he shares his vision for a free and prosperous society - and the philosophical foundations necessary to build it. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Release date: 2020-06-14Notes from The Valmy:Source: YouTube (Stanford Ethics in Society) https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/essays/economic-growth-moral-imperativeRelease date: 2019-11-05

Podcast: FT Alphachat Episode: Tyler Cowen's stubborn attachmentsRelease date: 2017-04-28Economist and polymathic author Tyler Cowen talks to Cardiff about his essay, "Stubborn Attachments", in which he shares his vision for a free and prosperous society - and the philosophical foundations necessary to build it. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Podcast: Conversations with Tyler (LS 63 · TOP 0.05% )Episode: Rob Wiblin interviews Tyler on *Stubborn Attachments*Release date: 2018-10-16In this special episode, Rob Wiblin of 80,000 Hours has the super-sized conversation he wants to have with Tyler about Stubborn Attachments. In addition to a deep examination of the ideas in the book, the conversation ranges far and wide across Tyler's thinking, including why we won't leave the galaxy, the unresolvable clash between the claims of culture and nature, and what Tyrone would have to say about the book, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Recorded September 21st, 2018 Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter  Follow 80,000 Hours on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox. 

Podcast: Elucidations Episode: Episode 118: Tyler Cowen discusses Stubborn AttachmentsRelease date: 2019-09-12In this episode, Tyler Cowen lays out an interesting normative ethical theory according to which we should be utilitarians, but with a twist: we should be utilitarians who care just as much about the humans of the future as we care about people now. Re-emphasizing our commitment to future people, he argues, has the effect of allowing us to embrace utilitarianism wholeheartedly without having to feel like we aren't doing enough. Why? The best way to make life better for future generations is to help bring about economic growth, and we have good reason to think that a lot of what we're already doing is pretty good for economic growth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Podcast: Elucidations (LS 46 · TOP 1% )Episode: Episode 118: Tyler Cowen discusses Stubborn AttachmentsRelease date: 2019-09-12In this episode, Tyler Cowen lays out an interesting normative ethical theory according to which we should be utilitarians, but with a twist: we should be utilitarians who care just as much about the humans of the future as we care about people now. Re-emphasizing our commitment to future people, he argues, has the effect of allowing us to embrace utilitarianism wholeheartedly without having to feel like we aren't doing enough. Why? The best way to make life better for future generations is to help bring about economic growth, and we have good reason to think that a lot of what we're already doing is pretty good for economic growth. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Podcast: Conversations with Tyler Episode: Rob Wiblin interviews Tyler on *Stubborn Attachments*Release date: 2018-10-16In this special episode, Rob Wiblin of 80,000 Hours has the super-sized conversation he wants to have with Tyler about Stubborn Attachments. In addition to a deep examination of the ideas in the book, the conversation ranges far and wide across Tyler's thinking, including why we won't leave the galaxy, the unresolvable clash between the claims of culture and nature, and what Tyrone would have to say about the book, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Recorded September 21st, 2018 Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter  Follow 80,000 Hours on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox. 

In this episode, Tyler Cowen lays out an interesting normative ethical theory according to which we should be utilitarians, but with a twist: we should be utilitarians who care just as much about the humans of the future as we care about people now. Re-emphasizing our commitment to future people, he argues, has the effect of allowing us to embrace utilitarianism wholeheartedly without having to feel like we aren't doing enough. Why? The best way to make life better for future generations is to help bring about economic growth, and we have good reason to think that a lot of what we're already doing is pretty good for economic growth. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Friedman (daviddfriedman.com), economist and author, joins Erik on this episode. He is the son of Milton Friedman and the father of former guest, Patri Friedman.They cover a lot of ground in this episode, including:- The rationale for privatizing government and the failures of the existing system.- What it would look like to have a fully privatized government, including how a private substitute for police and defense would work.- Why he is not a utilitarian and the framework he uses to figure out what is right and wrong.- How he would approach collective-action problems like global warming and nuclear proliferation.- His perspective on inequality and his explanation for why people look to relative measures of affluence rather than absolute measures.- How you would deal with punishment and criminals in a market-based society.- And much more, including Glen Weyl’s Radical Markets, Tyler Cowen’s Stubborn Attachments, fake news, ISAs and restorative justice.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

David Friedman (daviddfriedman.com), economist and author, joins Erik on this episode. He is the son of Milton Friedman and the father of former guest, Patri Friedman.They cover a lot of ground in this episode, including:- The rationale for privatizing government and the failures of the existing system.- What it would look like to have a fully privatized government, including how a private substitute for police and defense would work.- Why he is not a utilitarian and the framework he uses to figure out what is right and wrong.- How he would approach collective-action problems like global warming and nuclear proliferation.- His perspective on inequality and his explanation for why people look to relative measures of affluence rather than absolute measures.- How you would deal with punishment and criminals in a market-based society.- And much more, including Glen Weyl’s Radical Markets, Tyler Cowen’s Stubborn Attachments, fake news, ISAs and restorative justice.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

In this episode, MLI Munk Senior Fellow Sean Speer is joined by Tyler Cowen to discuss his latest book, “Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals.” A leading US economist and intellectual, Dr. Cowan was ranked among the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy Magazine. Dr. Cowen describes Stubborn Attachments as a defence of a free society with a particular emphasis on long-term thinking and the power of compounding economic growth. He argues that decreasing growth in the US economy is largely to blame for the zero-sum thinking that marks today’s political climate. The conversation also touches on the future Canada’s economy, the geography of political gridlock, effective philanthropy, and the current health of civil society. Tyler Cowen holds the Holbert C. Harris chair in economic at George Mason University and serves as Chairman and Faculty Director of the Mercatus Centre. He is also co-author of popular economic blog Marginal Revolution, co-founder of online education platform Marginal Revolution University, and hosts Conversations with Tyler, a diverse and wide-ranging podcast that “engages today’s deepest thinkers.”

In his latest book, Stubborn Attachments, Tyler Cower lays out a moral vision for the future. He joins Amit Varma in episode 106 of The Seen and the Unseen to explain why future lives matter as much as present ones, and why our priorities should be centered around sustainable economic growth constrained by negative rights. Also check out: Stubborn Attachments by Tyler Cowen. Marginal Revolution. The Marginal Revolution University Reasons and Persons by Derek Parfit. The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the new and improved IVM Podcast App on Android: https://ivm.today/android or iOS: https://ivm.today/ios

Tyler Cowen’s book Stubborn Attachments outlines a framework that individuals can use to make decisions grounded in economic philosophy. In his previous books, Tyler examined recent economic history. Stubborn Attachments gives his perspective for navigating the future. Tyler is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He is also the host of Conversations with The post Engineering Philosophy with Tyler Cowen appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

Tyler Cowen’s book Stubborn Attachments outlines a framework that individuals can use to make decisions grounded in economic philosophy. In his previous books, Tyler examined recent economic history. Stubborn Attachments gives his perspective for navigating the future. Tyler is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He is also the host of Conversations with The post Engineering Philosophy with Tyler Cowen appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.

What is a Crusonia plant? Where did prosperity come from? Can  Jonah get a laconic libertarian to digress? Tyler Cowen, George Mason University economics professor and author of Stubborn Attachments, joins the Remnant to answer these and other questions. Show Notes: Stamps.com, enter DINGO. Conversations with Kristol  The Complacent Class – Tyler Cowen The Great Stagnation – … Continue reading Episode 75: Stubbornly Attached→ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When your life gets too comfortable, you stop taking risks. Loss aversion takes hold and you become complacent. You stop innovating. You stop being dynamic. By the time you realize you've become irrelevant, it's already too late to change. This is one of the main themes behind the work of Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen). Tyler writes one of the most influential economics blogs in the world – if not THE most influential – at marginalrevolution.com. He's also an economics professor at George Mason University. In Tyler's book, The Complacent Class, he argues that Americans are getting too comfortable, and not taking risks – or, as the title would imply, they're getting complacent. Average is Over – another of Cowen's books argues. The complacency of Americans is leading to The Great Stagnation, another of Tyler's books. Instead of being stagnant, we should be dynamic. Keep learning, take risks, and step out of your comfort zone. This, Tyler believes, will lead to economic growth, which Tyler argues is a good thing in his latest book, Stubborn Attachments. I was thinking about the theme of taking risks and stepping outside of your comfort zone just before I wrote this intro in a cafe in Chicago. Moments prior, I was thinking about how – out of all of the places in the world – this cafe was not where I wanted to be in that moment. Not only had my Colombian visa application been rejected, but my first AirBNB stop in Chicago turned out to have a bedbug infestation – so I had to hastily move to a different one. But then I realized that while my life is riddled with problems in recent months – and if you're interested in details, listen to my recent notes right here on this podcast, especially "An Update on My Colombian Visa." While my life has these problems, these problems lead to growth. They're problems that lead to a lifestyle that I have built and that I continue to build. I could avoid all of these problems by living a more comfortable and stable lifestyle, but that wouldn't help me grow in the ways I want to grow. It would cause me to stagnate. Critically important, I've designed my life and work to withstand volatility – whether that's political, financial, or emotional volatility. Not only can I withstand that volatility, I can grow from it. I've built this outlook with the support of Tyler's thinking. I find him to have a holistic view of the economics that rule our world – with uncommon emphasis on art, culture, and creativity. So, this is perfect timing to have Tyler on the show. In this conversation, we'll explore: Why should you move? Tyler says that even if you're merely considering a change, that probably means you should make that change. He explains the data that tells you why. Is there a "next Austin" just waiting to explode in growth? Find out where that "next Austin" might be so you can get there first and take advantage of the opportunity. One way we get complacent is by trusting algorithms to make all of our decisions for us, whether that's on Netflix or Facebook or Amazon. How can you be "anti-algorithm", and how can being "anti-algorithm" help you be more dynamic. Image credit: [Politics and Prose Bookstore](https://www.flickr.com/photos/politicsandprose/5907532234/in/album-72157627002886179/ ). Love Your Work is now available on Pandora! Pandora recently launched a podcast genome, and Love Your Work is one of the few hand-picked podcasts included in the public beta. To sign up for the beta, go to https://pandorapodcastbeta.splashthat.com Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy. Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net.     Sponsors http://audible.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/tyler-cowen-interview/

In this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler’s book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there’s a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn’t as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he’s “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments. They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn’t as big a deal as it’s made out to be.Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.Tyler’s own podcast Conversations with Tyler has been a big inspiration to Erik and Venture Stories, so Erik concludes with an homage with a round of overrated vs. underrated and by asking Tyler what his production function is for the podcast.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

In this extended episode of Venture Stories, Erik interviews Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen), professor of economics at George Mason University. They discuss about a wide range of topics, including Tyler’s book Stubborn Attachments, the value of watching sports, travel, Bitcoin, the Knicks, and Effective Altruism — among many, many others.Tyler explains why he has only two “stubborn attachments” — human rights and economic growth. He takes us through his argument that there’s a moral imperative for economic growth. He talks about why economic growth is the greatest force for good in the world, why redistribution isn’t as effective as Effective Altruists would like, and why we dramatically underestimate the effects of compounding. He discusses some of the reactions to the book and why he says he’s “poked the left in the eye and poked the right in the eye” with Stubborn Attachments. They discuss the reasons for the extraordinary economic growth of East Asian countries and what kinds of lessons the West could take from those examples. Tyler talks about whether religion has an impact on economic growth and why inequality isn’t as big a deal as it’s made out to be.Erik asks Tyler what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and change a number of entities, including the US healthcare system, the Knicks, and the Department of Education. Tyler tells Erik whether he would buy Bitcoin and gives his thoughts on central banking and Austrian economics. He also explains why travel is so valuable and why “at the margins people should be more like anthropologists.”Erik asks Tyler where his views diverge from those of a number of prominent intellectuals, including Thomas Piketty, Russ Roberts, Ayn Rand, and Glen Weyl. Tyler explains why he suspects the environment in which someone grew up influences their thinking style.Tyler’s own podcast Conversations with Tyler has been a big inspiration to Erik and Venture Stories, so Erik concludes with an homage with a round of overrated vs. underrated and by asking Tyler what his production function is for the podcast.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Every time we develop a new technology, we take a risk. Some technologies are dangerous and it may be that sometime in the future we will develop a technology which will mean the end of humanity. In a recent paper Bostrom makes this point by using the analogy of drawing balls from an urn. Progress means drawing balls from the urn, and as a result means running this risk.  This is unfortunate because for many people also think growth and progress are the best ways for creating the world we want. Among them, Tyler Cowen who recently published the book Stubborn Attachments. In this episode I compare and contrast these two views. Perhaps we can have growth and avoid bad technology, but as far as we can tell, no one ever has...

Tyler Cowen is an American economist, academic, and writer. He is the author of books like The Great Stagnation, Average is Over, The Complacent Class, and more. He occupies the Holbert L. Harris Chair of economics, as a professor at George Mason University, and is co-author, with Alex Tabarrok, of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. Cowen and Tabarrok have also ventured into online education by starting Marginal Revolution University. He currently writes a regular column for Bloomberg View. He also has written for such publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Time, Wired, Newsweek, and the Wilson Quarterly. Cowen also serves as faculty director of George Mason's Mercatus Center, a university research center that focuses on the market economy. In February 2011, Cowen received a nomination as one of the most influential economists in the last decade in a survey by The Economist. He was ranked #72 among the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" in 2011 by Foreign Policy Magazine "for finding markets in everything." His newest book (subject of conversation today) is Stubborn Attachments. It took him almost 20 years to write it. A few practical tips by Tyler: You should re-read the best books; you should have hobbies that make you think more, and you should argue for what you think is correct, but also understand it’s likely that you’re wrong. Then we talk about big picture things, like: What is Tyler’s view of economic growth and how it happens? ­Have we seen the majority of economic growth from the Internet, or is most of it yet to come? What are the 2 things we—as a society—should prioritize above all else. And also: When should we prioritize economic growth over the redistribution of wealth by government? What are the 3 things scarce in today’s economy? How will future cities look different in 20-30 years from now? And, will the future economy reward generalists or specialists? Learn more about Tyler: On Twitter Marginal Revolution (economic website) Conversations with Tyler (podcast) Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide Amazon Page ============= If you enjoyed this discussion: *Subscribe to Future Skills on: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Spotify *Join our newsletter for weekly summaries of the episodes.  *Apply for the Future Skills Program Email us at admin@futureskillspodcast.com

Economics, like other sciences (social and otherwise), is about what the world does; but it's natural for economists to occasionally wander out into the question of what we should do as we live in the world. A very good example of this is a new book by economist Tyler Cowen, Stubborn Attachments. Tyler will be well-known to many listeners for his long-running blog Marginal Revolution (co-created with his colleague Alex Tabarrok) and his many books and articles. Here he offers a surprising new take on how society should arrange itself, based on the simple idea that the welfare of future generations counts for just as much as the welfare of the current one. From that starting point, Tyler concludes that the most moral thing for us to do is to work to maximize economic growth right now, as that's the best way to ensure that future generations are well-off. We talk about this idea, as well as the more general idea of how to think like an economist. (In the second half of the podcast we veer off into talking about quantum mechanics and the multiverse, to everyone's benefit.) Tyler Cowen is the Holbert C. Harris professor of economics and General Director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is the author of over a dozen books and many journal articles, and writes frequently for the popular press. His blog Marginal Revolution is one of the leading economics blogs on the internet. He is widely recognized for his eclectic interests, from chess to music to ethnic dining. Website Home page at George Mason Mercatus Center web page Marginal Revolution Marginal Revolution University Twitter Bloomberg Opinion columns Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide Wikipedia page Amazon books

In this special episode, Rob Wiblin of 80,000 Hours has the super-sized conversation he wants to have with Tyler about Stubborn Attachments. In addition to a deep examination of the ideas in the book, the conversation ranges far and wide across Tyler's thinking, including why we won't leave the galaxy, the unresolvable clash between the claims of culture and nature, and what Tyrone would have to say about the book, and more. Transcript and links Order Stubborn Attachments from Stripe Press here. Follow Rob on Twitter Follow Tyler on Twitter More CWT goodness: Facebook Twitter Instagram Email

Economist and New York Times Bestselling Author, Tyler Cowen, on Stubborn Attachments, how stories can inspire questions that make life better for all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special interview for me because Tyler Cowen has been an enormous intellectual and moral influence on me over the last ten years or so. I'm not alone. Tyler blogs with Alex Tabarrok at marginalrevolution.com, which is usually ranked as the top economics blog and Tyler as one of the most influential economists of the day. Tyler's books (see my blog post) are also enormously influential and you name your favorite economic or financial public intellectual and they probably read Tyler every single day. The interview I've wanted to do with Tyler has been the "who is Tyler" conversation. Luckily he just wrote an entire book on what he values and why. That new book, Stubborn Attachments, is the foundation for Tyler's entire value system. What an opportunity to dig in. And yet I am so immersed in Tyler's thinking that it's hard for me to appreciate that you might not yet see why I think he's worth understanding (and he is!). So please visit my blog post for a podcast transcript and a quick run-down and reading list of some ideas and books that will help prime you for this conversation. Are you an actuary? Someone you know? Check out the Not Unprofessional Project, for the price of a CAS webinar you get unlimited access to content dedicated to Continuing Education Credits for Actuaries, especially Professionalism credits. CE On Your Commute! Subscribe to the Not Unreasonable Podcast in iTunes, stitcher, or by rss feed. Sign up for the mailing list at notunreasonable.com/signup. See older show notes at notunreasonable.com/podcast.

Over the past two years, Illinois has taken multiple steps to reform how it regulates occupational and professional licenses. Illinois’ reform efforts are part of a broader national movement reexamining the ways in which we license certain professions. In other words, how state governments decide who’s allowed to work in what jobs. Here to do that, we have the perfect panel for today’s topic: Secretary Bryan Schneider from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation From the same Department, we’re also joined by the Director of the Professional Regulation Division, Jessica Baer Matt Mitchell, who directs our research program on government granted privilege here at Mercatus   Want to get your hands on a signed copy of Tyler Cowen's new book Stubborn Attachments before it hits bookstores on October 16th? Rate and review your favorite Mercatus podcast, including the Mercatus Policy Download, Conversations with Tyler, the Hayek Program Podcast, or Macro Musings on Apple Podcasts and you'll be entered to win! Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadMReese. Today's What's on Tap beer is from Manor Hill Brewing in Ellicott City, Maryland. Check out their selection of beers here! As our guests noted in the show, you can learn more about state occupational licensing reform efforts by visiting the National Conference of State Legislatures' Occupational Licensing Project, or the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Facebook page.

Brad Setser is a senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations where he works on macroeconomics, global capital flows, and financial crises. Brad also served as a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2011 to 2015 where he worked on Europe’s financial crisis, currency policy, financial sanctions, commodity shocks, and Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. Brad joins the show today to talk about global economic imbalances and why we should care about them. David and Brad also discuss emerging market tensions in Turkey, the implications of running current account deficits, and the economic dangers accompanying the existence of a monetary superpower. Brad’s blog: https://www.cfr.org/blog/Setser Brad’s Twitter: @Brad_Setser Related Links: *Putin’s Unlikely Ally in His Standoff With the West: His Central Banker* by Anatoly Kurmanaev https://www.wsj.com/articles/putins-unlikely-ally-in-his-standoff-with-the-west-his-central-banker-1534773380 *Exchange Arrangements Entering the 21st Century: Which Anchor Will Hold?* by Ethan Ilzetzki, Carmen Reinhart, & Kenneth Rogoff http://www.nber.org/papers/w23134 David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Want to get your hands on a signed copy of Tyler Cowen’s new book Stubborn Attachments before it hits bookstores on October 16th? Rate and review your favorite Mercatus podcast, including Macro Musings, Conversations with Tyler, the Hayek Program Podcast, or the Mercatus Policy Download on Apple Podcasts and you’ll be entered to win: get.mercatus.org/podcastcontest/

Listen Here: iTunes | Overcast Subscribe to my Monday Musings Newsletter to Keep Up with the Podcast Tyler Cowen is an economics professor at George Mason University. He runs the Mercatus Center, which bridges the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems. He blogs every day at Marginal Revolution, writes for Bloomberg, and hosts his own podcast called Conversations with Tyler. He writes about economics, arts, culture, food, and globalization.   As I prepared for this episode, I settled on three things that I wanted to focus on: how Tyler thinks about travel, the rise of China and India, and how he learns so much. Enjoy this exploration of knowledge and culture, and I hope you laugh with us along the way.  I particularly recommend Tyler’s most recent book, Stubborn Attachments. Transcript David:             Tyler Cowen, welcome to the North Star. Tyler:              Thank you for having me. David:              So tell me a little bit about where you grew up in northern New Jersey. What was growing up like for you and what were you into as a kid? Tyler:              I was born in Kearny, New Jersey, Hudson county, which was a blue collar town, and my father climbed some kind of career ladder from having been bankrupted at thirty, to being upper, upper middle class, so I caught different parts of that income stream. I went to a great high school where I had four or five close friends who were super smart and had a blast. We were like a nerd fest before nerds were cool and I learned something every day but not from the teachers. I loved it and I just knew New York City. David:              Well, let's dive into it. I think that one thing that's really interesting about the Internet is I like to say it rewards obsession in a way that the world didn't use to and I think a byproduct of that is nerd culture is, is cool now. Tyler:              You know, I specialized in the style of learning before there wasn't an internet and then when the Internet came along, I feel it made me like 20 times more productive. So I'm very lucky to have gotten this extreme productivity boost at about age 40, which is very rare in careers. There are people who might have some kind of productivity turning point when they're 29 or 22, but to get it at age 40, it's given my life a very different trajectory. David:              So I know you wrote a book about that, but talk about what was that productivity boost like, how do you think about productivity, and how did that boost manifest itself? Tyler:              Well, I worked very hard for years at trying to absorb more information and absorb it quickly and order it effectively and when the way you do that is driving around to used bookstores and carry used books home and read them, well, that's a wonderful thing to do, but when you can just go to your iPad or your laptop and whoosh, it's all there, you're going to do a lot better. Tyler:              Whereas people who say do research, they've been made more productive by the Internet in other ways, but they're less concerned with absorbing information. So I feel I've gotten a relative gain compared to many other people. David:              So does that mean that you're hopping around between different subjects? Like if I go on marginal revolution, I could go from traveled economics to then yesterday, right, about North Korea and America. So are you hopping around or how has that style of learning changed over the years? Tyler:              I have long-term study plans, like part of my long-term study plan is to understand India and China much better. So that's kind of a 10 year project that I'm always in the middle of, but of course using the Internet to help me makes it much easier. Plus travel, travel being a key to learning. We'll get back to that. Uh, and then during the day I just try to keep up with the flow, the flow of good articles and new ideas. Tyler:              And you know, the flow always beats me. But you wake up at seven, you go to bed at 11:00 PM, there's interruptions, you exercise, you eat, but the day is the flow, the flow is your day, like it or not. David:              Dodging bullets and trying to survive. So there was analogy I got a couple months ago of if, if you're learning is a ship, when you try to steer something for long-term, so say that you want to learn about India in the next 10 years. The advice that I got which I thought was quite good was just steer your ship. So change your twitter feed, change your social streams one or two degrees. How do you think about it? Tyler:              I view myself as a prisoner of my passions. So what helps me is to be very motivated to do what I do. So I don't sit down and strategize like what's my optimal career plan? Tyler:              I just think what'll keep me involved and I figure they kind of compound interest on that learning will just accumulate and as long as I'm having fun, I'll stay motivated like way past other people and that's going to go well for me. So it's almost a deliberate absence of strategy except for motivating me. Compounding fuels success in almost anything. Albert Einstein once called it the 8th wonder of the world. pic.twitter.com/1QcE9Q1hsU — ᴅᴀᴠɪᴅ ᴘᴇʀᴇʟʟ ✌ (@david_perell) October 23, 2017 David:              What are those core passions? Tyler:              Travel of course, food, just social science and generally walking through the world on a given day and you see things like you go to Barnes and Noble, they offer like a loyalty card, buy more books with us, we'll give you a discount and you think, well, why are they doing that? How does that make economic sense? And you want to try to figure it out so you just want to try to figure things out. It's almost a Sherlock Holmes like game and there's always more and more and more and more and more and it drives you crazy, but it's fun. David:              What is it about China and India in particular that appealed to you? Tyler:              Obviously they're two highly populous countries. The US could have a billion more people and we'd still be, you know, the third most populous country in the world. China now by at least one measure has the world's largest GDP and I'm an economist. India is probably headed to having the world's largest GDP. So it does go back and think, imagine you're a British person in 1910, like what should you study? Where should you travel? Well, the United States. To complain that you don't like the pollution or not all the food is what you expect. It's irrelevant, right? You go to the United States, if you don't, you're kind of a dummy. So for me right now, China, India, that's like the United States in 1910. I feel obliged to learn it more by obligation, but it's fun. It's also a passion. David:              So when you're going about learning something like China, India, of course you'd go to the Bloomberg New York Times, but I think that there is, to back to nerd culture, there are probably certain sections of the Internet of the world that will give you a very rich experience that the average person wouldn't get. David:              You seem to be very good at that. How have you been thinking about studying China in India in a way that most people wouldn't think about? Tyler:              China and India I consider hard to learn because when you read about their histories, things don't fall into intuitive categories that maybe they do for Chinese people for instance, but all the different dynasties, they tend to blur together. You could read the same Chinese history book a bunch of times in a row and at the end you're still confused and you don't really know how to place it all, so to pick some side areas, so for me, Chinese food or Indian classical music or certain features of Chinese geography or ethnic regional culture and to learn those well and just keep on attacking the elephant from all these different sides rather than just, "Oh, I'm going to sit down and read this book on Chinese history.". Tyler:              That tends not to work. It works really well for like Paris or the Florentine Renaissance, but for unfamiliar parts of the world and I look for these sideways in the door. David:              Well, let's dive into China first. Where in China have you been and what have the really striking experiences been for you during your travels set? Tyler:              My goal is to go to all the provinces in China in a significant way and not just putting a toe in. I'm past the halfway point. My favorite part of China is the west and the southwest, especially Yunnan province. It's highly exotic. It's about half regional minorities. That has some of China's best food. It's extremely reasonably priced that has remarkably little pollution by Chinese standards. People are very friendly, uh, there are actually quite pro-american because of the history of America. Helping them out in the war against Japan is just amazing fun. Tyler:              I think right now it's probably the best trip in the world is to go to western China. David:              Wow. So western China and eastern China, of course, because we're just talking about GDP, it seems like most of that would be concentrated in eastern China. So let's start with western China. What is it about it that makes it so interesting and is it authentic to what's happening in China because it is so different demographically. Tyler:              Authentic is a tricky word. So if you go to Oregon is not authentic America. Well yeah, but it's not typical either. Nor is New Jersey. So southwestern China, it's just accessible and it's fun. So Beijing I love. It's fantastic. Everyone should go multiple times, but in some ways it's a tough slog. A lot of the city is ugly. The pollution can be awful and it's so large. It's not really walkable for the most part, although it's walkable within neighborhoods. Tyler:              You can go to Beijing and think you don't really like China. That's the wrong impression. So I would say Udon, it's like this backdoor into China and it will open up ways of thinking about China and then when you go to Beijing you'll like Beijing a lot more. So you know, to get to Udon, you probably have to go through Beijing to fly there. So yeah, stop in Beijing for a day, but find the back doors that get your passions and that's going to be western China. David:              And now in terms of what I would consider, I don't know if this is totally true, but that's how I model China. There are four big mega cities. You know there's, there's the manufacturing center, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. Can you talk about the differences between them? Tyler:              Well, Guangzhou and Chongqing are also mega cities.  Some people believe Chongqing, which now has been made its own province is bigger than any other locality in China. We don't even know because there are so many people who are within China, in essence, illegal migrants. We're not sure how many people are are there. The different parts of China until recently have not been economically integrated, so they have cuisines that are quite unlike each other, maybe more unlike each other than different European cuisines. Visually, some parts will look the same because these mega cities have been built up recently using more or less common patterns so you can have the deceiving impression that you're going to the same place over and over again, even though you're traveling to many parts of China, but European say that about the US often like "Oh, the whole country feels the same." If you live here, you know, it's not true, right? There aren't really significant differences. Tyler:              So to go to Hunan Province or to go to Shenyang in the northeast, which is near North Korea, or go to, you know, Chengdu in Sichuan and forgive all my pronunciations which are not proper Chinese. Uh, you're seeing much more diversity than anything you're likely to do in either Europe or the US. You're seeing what's now the world's most important country. Again, I can't stress how favorable the prices are. You can stay in a five star luxury hotel in most parts of China other than Beijing or Shanghai for less than $100 a night and it will be, you know, a wonderful quality experience and the best food in the world, you know, a meal will never have to cost you more than $20 unless you order a highly unusual dish like shark fin soup. So if you're on any kind of budget, there was no reason not to go. Tyler:              Crime is close to zero for women overall it's quite safe. I mean everywhere it has some problems, but as the world goes, one of the best areas to travel in solo if you're a woman. The main reason not to go is air pollution. But again in the west that's a much smaller problem. David:              Right. I was reading that there have been 16,000,000 new bikes installed in China in the last year and a half and, and a lot of people are saying that the changes in transportation there may do something at least to help boost the air pollution, which I thought was interesting, but I want to dive into infrastructure. How has being in China, uh, changed the way that you think about infrastructure and sort of the way that you think about how development happens? Tyler:              Infrastructure is their specialty. They have, what is one of the world's two or three best train systems given how large the country is, that's important. A remarkable thing about traveling and mainland China is you can wake up in the morning and one city and be in almost any other part of China the same day just by taking a train trip and you'll see amazing things on the way. But in terms of planning your journey, everything is within a day without having to mess around with flights and with flights, you don't see what's in between. So you can go like Beijing to Shiyan see the terracotta warriors, that's maybe about six hours. So there's this remarkable sense of freedom you have because of the infrastructure. Along so many dimensions, now they are probably more innovative than we are. And to see that is impressive, we Americans are so complacent and smog. We think where the world's innovators, the Europeans lag behind true on average, but China does something like the payment system. Tyler:              There's this way quicker and much better and you'll come back here and curse, like having a, you know, stick your chip in the thing and it doesn't always work. They're rebuilding their world in some ways. They're outdoing us. David:              In terms of innovative. How do you define innovative and in what sense do they have an advantage by by not having had the PC and being able to jump straight to sort of a mobile first world? Tyler:              In some cases, they're just not locked into older systems as you mentioned. Also, this is more disturbing. We should be bothered by this by having less rule of law. They can just "do things and get them done" and that's not always a good thing. A privacy law. They don't have the concerns you would have in Europe or the United States, but a Chinese payment typically is you take out your smartphone, you scan a qr code, it can be done in a second and a half. Tyler:              The error rate seems to be very low. Uh, it's processed perfectly well. It's cheaper, better, quicker and more convenient than what we do and they beat us and we're not really catching up. And we need, uh, to absorb that lesson for the first time maybe ever. But at least for a long time, the US now has a peer country. Like Soviet Union was never that peer, only with weapons were they a peer. China in terms of creativity and GDP. Arguably right now is a peer. You ought to go and learn from your peer, right? How can you not do that? David:              Yeah. I couldn't agree more. I was talking to a friend last night. I think Hong Kong might be a good place or Shanghai might be a good place to spend a couple of years, but I want to talk about travel in terms of how do you think about travel? David:              So I'll be honest, I did a euro trip recently and I didn't get quite the experience that I wanted because before we had never really come to a consensus on what does travel mean and it's not something that a lot of younger people, at least in my, in terms of my friends really think about. So how do you think about travel and what are you looking to do when you do travel? Tyler:              I like to go weird places. So I did a European trip this summer. It was in August. I went to Macedonia. The country where people hardly ever go. Most of the tourist are either Russian or Serbian. Uh, but certainly not many Americans are there. Again, it's completely safe. Prices are very favorable. I had perfect weather, beautiful sights, tenth century monasteries, all kinds of sculpture. Remarkably good cheeses, breads and meats, wonderful food, wonderful lake fish. A lot of history. A lot of geopolitics you understand much better why the Balkans are messed up and just like how Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo fit together together. Tyler:              I've tried reading that in books. I can't grasp it. I go there, but the mix of going there and the books, somehow it all works and you see this country where the politics are so different from what we're used to in Europe. You just again have to reexamine everything. So I say to people like, go weird, like yes, at some point you should see Paris, but if all you do is see Paris, maybe you'll be a little bored. Where did you go? David:              In Europe? Tyler:              Yeah. David:              We went to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Tyler:              You should have seen Paris! Those are all the same, it's like an airport shopping mall. David:              I couldn't agree more and exactly. And then, so over the new year's I was in Chile. Tyler:              One of my favorites by the way.   David:              So my dad is a total nut. And so what we did was, it was new year's day and we went to go see some hieroglyphics up in the Atacama desert in the northern part of the country. It's the driest place in the world. Tyler:              And one of the best trips you can take. David:              Yes, it was wonderful. So it's new year's day and we'd go to the person at the front of the hieroglyphics and we say at where's the closest place to get lunch? And he said, it's new years day, it's all closed. So he said, but I have a friend, she can cook you food. So we go into this little town, all adobe houses, just a gravel streets. And this woman, Sherry and her husband had left her. She was quite lonely unfortunately, but we spent the entire afternoon with her. She, you know, she had chickens in the backyard, llamas in the backyard and it was the richest experience I had in a long time traveling. Tyler:              And the food there is excellent, right? It's quite safe. Infrastructure is surprisingly good given how remote it is and there's some magic to Chile, some kind of warmth but also efficiency where it just hits that sweet spot and it's both familiar and exotic at the same time. David:              Yeah. All right, back to India. So, now we'll get into India. So how have you been thinking about learning about India? I know at least in India is much, it's very different in terms of there's a lot of different languages, lots of different cultures. I think a lot of westerners don't realize that. Tyler:              I've been quite a few times to India. I've never gotten sick. I'm very fortunate. Some people do. I'm not sure how to weigh this risk, but I've done all kinds of things. Eating what I've wanted and just been fine every day. Maybe it's just because I travel a lot. Indian classical music I think is one of mankind's greatest creations ever. I would say going to the classical music festival in Chennai in December, I took my daughter to that. We both loved it. For food, India and China. Clearly the two best countries in the way better than any Michelin Guide and way cheaper. Everything is new and fresh and undiscovered and diverse. India's tough in a way that China isn't. So, China is poorer than what we're used to, but there's some grinding poverty in the countryside, but for the most part going around is not depressing. In India it can be. The air pollution can be worse than in China. The population density, the cities are out of control in a way you would not say about China. Chinese cities are way less dense than outsiders expect. Tyler:              Hong Kong is much denser than most parts of the typical Chinese city would be. So being in a Chinese city is a lot more pleasant than people expect, especially, uh, if it's not a major city, but India, my goodness, traffic, monsoon, disease. But there's something about the notion of ideas there. The religion, spirituality kind of syncretic something that is just magic and creative and nowhere else in the world do you get it and you're just bombarded with it the whole time. And people fall in love with India and they should. And you will. It's tough. I could, you know, you gotta be ready. David:              Talk more about the spirituality aspect because it's almost become trendy to talk about the eastern thought and, and, and whatnot. And I'm not discrediting it, but I think it's miss misinterpreted by many westerners. Tyler:              Keep in mind, I'm not myself a religious person. I wouldn't even say I'm spiritual. I don't really believe in anything in particular. So when I say it's rich in religion and spirituality, that for me actually has mixed sides and it may be partly a reason why India is not richer or has problems with public health, but the old saying when it comes to religion, every Indian is a millionaire, maybe is true, but don't think it's an entirely positive thing. But the ways in which religious ways of thinking suffuse the entire culture, uh, there are few other countries where that runs so deep and so thick and also in a diverse way. You have multiple religions including Christianity. And to learn those by going to India is one of the things you get there. It's one of the world's largest countries with Muslims, right? Maybe it's number three and I think. Indonesia number one, Pakistan, number two. Tyler:              I'm not sure if India is ahead of Bangladeshi behind it for Muslims, but obviously it's significant for Muslim culture. Janes, different kinds of Hindus, Sikhs and every city, every state is so different in a way people will engage with you is so fresh and this kind of deep burning curiosity to somehow incorporate what you know into what they think. Uh, to me there is very strong and I find very attractive. David:              This is going to be sort of part of a broader question. Are you reading books, blogs and we'll start there and then we'll get to the distinction between books and blogs and different forms of media. Tyler:              If it's India and China, uh, I take very different approaches. India, I find reading books much more useful than for China. Maybe it's because of the history intersects with European history more. But reading books on India, a lot more sticks with me than with China. Uh, I haven't found that many good blogs on India. It may just be my defect, but if you just read plenty of books on India and go and in terms of cinema and music and cuisine, try to actually learn things about those before you go. Fashion, design, textiles, studying history of Indian textiles is one of the best ways to learn Indian history and it can structure your tourism and where you go and maybe even what you buy. So there were more entry points for India. Whereas for Chinese music, I mean I've tried, I liked Chinese opera, but I don't find it that useful. A lot of it to me, I just don't enjoy Chinese popular music. I enjoy much less than Indian popular music. So for China it's much more important that I be there and talk to Chinese people, which you can do here as well of course. Tyler:              So I approached those two countries in a very different way. And India also I find I have a kind of stamina problem. I'm in very good health. I walk a lot, travel a lot, but it's hard for me day after day to be outdoors in Indian cities all day long. Just like pollution, noise, different indignities. I can't do it. Uh, with China, unless it's a very smoggy day I can. In India I paced myself much more. I spent a lot more time indoors. It's a little bit inefficient. David:              So let's get back to different forms of media. How do you think about books versus blogs? It's something that I debate a lot with my friends. Um, how do you think about it and what advice would you give to younger people as media begins to shift like it is. Tyler:              I mean mostly books are still better. There's way more knowledge in books than blogs and it's easier to find out how good a book is by reading reviews. Not that reviews are perfect, but you get a sense, you know, maybe blogging peaked about 10 years ago and I'm happy that I'm still blogging. Like our readership actually is not down at all. It's maybe up a little, but I don't think in general, blogs are a good way to learn about countries. They're very good for a particular food scenes. Like where should I eat in Mumbai? There'll be a food blog about Mumbai that will be way better than any book and then use the blog. But history of India, you know, just read some good books and they're there, read Indian fiction. Find these other entry points, like history of Indian textiles. David:              That's interesting that you talk about entry points. Is that something that you apply in other domains? Tyler's secret to learning: Don’t try to learn things head on. Look for entry points instead.

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and the co-host of the blog Marginal Revolution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Stubborn Attachments, his book-length treatment of how to think about public policy. Cowen argues that economic growth--properly defined--is the moral key to maintaining civilization and promoting human well-being. Along the way, the conversation also deals with inequality, environmental issues, and education.

Economist and polymathic author Tyler Cowen talks to Cardiff about his essay, "Stubborn Attachments", in which he shares his vision for a free and prosperous society - and the philosophical foundations necessary to build it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Mike talks with Tyler Cowen, a professor of Economics at George Mason University, blogger at Marginal Revolution ( https://marginalrevolution.com/ ) , host of the ' Conversations with Tyler ( https://conversationswithtyler.com/ ) ' podcast, regular contributor at ' Bloomberg Opinion ( https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AS6n2t3d_iA/tyler-cowen ) ', and author of a number of books including The Great Stagnation ( https://www.amazon.com/Great-Stagnation-America-Low-Hanging-Eventually/dp/0525952713/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544979211&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+stagnation ) , Average is Over ( https://www.amazon.com/Average-Over-Powering-America-Stagnation/dp/0142181110/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= ) , The Complacent Class ( https://www.amazon.com/Complacent-Class-Self-Defeating-Quest-American/dp/1250153778/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= ) , and most recently Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals ( https://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Attachments-Prosperous-Responsible-Individuals/dp/1732265135/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= ). *Topics Mike & Tyler discuss include: * Why we should focus more on economic growth. The importance of sustainable growth. How future people should be valued. Why human rights should trump even economic growth. Economic growth and human happiness. Tyler's specific policy recommendations. *Follow Tyler on Twitter* ( https://twitter.com/tylercowen ) *Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible*. If you're interested in supporting the show, go to politicsguys.com/support ( http://www.politicsguys.com/support ). Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-politics-guys/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Mike welcomes George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen back to the show to discuss his latest book, Big Business: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero ( https://www.amazon.com/Big-Business-Letter-American-Anti-Hero/dp/1250110548/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=big+business+tyler+cowen&qid=1562441357&s=gateway&sprefix=neal+stephenson&sr=8-1&x=0&y=0 ). As you may know, Tyler is a very busy guy - in addition to his academic position, he runs the Marginal Revolution ( https://marginalrevolution.com/ ) blog  and Conversations with Tyler ( https://conversationswithtyler.com/ ) podcast. He's also regular contributor at Bloomberg Opinion ( https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/AS6n2t3d_iA/tyler-cowen ) and has written multiple books, including two Mike previously spoke with him about on the show: Stubborn Attachments ( https://politicsguys.com/tyler-cowen-on-stubborn-attachments-to-prosperity-and-freedom/ ) and The Complacent Class ( https://politicsguys.com/economist-tyler-cowen-on-the-complacent-class/ ). Topics Mike & Tyler discuss include: * fraud in the business world * if big business is more honest than people in non-business settings * why top CEos may actually be underpaid * work vs leisure * monopolies, with a focus on Facebook, Google, and Amazon * problems with the finance industry * crony capitalism * how much political influence big business really has * why we personalize big business, and why we shouldn't *follow Tyler Cowen on Twitter* ( https://twitter.com/tylercowen ) *Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible*. If you're interested in supporting the show, go to patreon.com/politicsguys ( https://www.patreon.com/politicsguys ) or politicsguys.com/support ( http://www.politicsguys.com/support ). Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-politics-guys/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy