Tyler Cowen
About
Economist and podcast host
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Claims by Tyler Cowen (20 of 1,310)
Mycroft Holmes as Autobiographical Fantasy
Cowen reads Abdul-Jabbar's novel as a coded autobiography in which the author is both Mycroft Holmes and Cyrus Douglas, rewriting colonial history so a Black Trinidadian and a Victorian Englishman interact as equals, with embedded clues (the James Cowles Prichard reference, the Rossini Figaro tune) revealing the real Kareem as novelist.
Deregulate Dense Housing to Mix Schools
Deregulating high-density residential construction in cities like San Francisco could produce more residential mixing and thus more racial mixing in school districts—but only works if it can be enforced, since people pay lip service to ideals while reality falls short.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Among Best 19th-Century Novels
Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of the best American novels and among the three or four best of the 19th century—gripping, manipulative, and interesting in informative ways—yet it has been reduced to a schoolkid's assignment that nobody actually reads.
Native American History Offers No Political Redemption
Native American history is politically difficult to integrate into American discourse because there is little chance of redemption—there are hardly any heroes and no president who can be praised on net for the treatment of Native Americans—so the subject makes everyone look bad with no clear remedial path.
Hold Off on Regulating AI but Keep Option Open
Because AI is changing faster than Congress can act intelligently—and Congress may not be able to act intelligently at all right now—the prudent stance is to hold off on regulation for now while leaving open the option to regulate in important ways if needed.
Trumpism Is Equilibrium, Reaganism the Bubble
Cowen argues that classical liberalism/Reaganism (roughly 1980-2016) was an odd, illusory bubble rather than the norm, and that current Trumpist populism represents a return to the real, late-19th-century state of American politics—negative emotional contagion from random bad events (9/11, COVID, the Great Financial Crisis) pushed people toward worse ideas in a self-reinforcing rut.
Taiwan Outperforms China Proving Capitalism Wins
Capitalist Taiwan has achieved French-level per capita income, single-payer health insurance, gay marriage, full liberal democracy, and cleaner air over 30 years, while Communist-adjacent China has dirtier air and only Mexico-level per capita income—making Taiwan the success and China the failure, and thus a vote for capitalism over Communism.
Communist Nations Were the Worst Polluters
The threats Zizek raises—ecology, surveillance, genetic engineering—are precisely the domains where Communist or quasi-Communist regimes have been the worst offenders: Communist nations were the worst polluters, China is the worst at surveillance, and China is likely to be the biggest offender in genetic engineering and reshaping mankind.
Communist Label Is Nostalgia Like Spreewald Pickles
Zizek's attachment to the Communist label is a form of nostalgia—like East German women loving their Spreewald pickles and Trabi cars, or Zizek's enjoyment of old Stalinist movies and Communist songs—an emotional attachment he doesn't actually believe is superior, which he should cast aside to live free.
Zizek Has Right-Wing Humor and Gender Views
Zizek has the humor of a right-wing moderate—insight-based rather than canned jokes—and his views on gender are more right-wing than left-wing, while the contemporary left has become humorless and restrictive; left-wing humor is now only about politics, whereas right-wing friends' jokes resemble Zizek's.
Future Prediction Is Very Hard So Stand for Values
Because we know from Philip Tetlock's work that it is very hard to predict the future, one should not bet on speculative theories like 'Trump will revitalize the left' or 'Communism names a needed radicalism,' but instead stand directly for the right values—exemplified by Greta Thunberg's unambiguous, to-the-point climate message.
Singapore's Success From Investing in Human Capital
Singapore succeeded despite having no natural resources because, although the Chinese who emigrated there were initially seen as poorly educated peasant 'losers,' the Singaporean government chose to invest in human capital, combined with a busy nodal trading port and English legal institutions.
Liability should be choked off and isolated
Liability is getting out of control in many cases and should be choked off and isolated from the mainstream legal system—an AI company like Anthropic should not be liable 30 years out for harms by a distant offshoot agent; instead require that an independent agent be somewhat capitalized or get hunted down and shut off.
Six competitors approximate perfect competition
As argued in a paper by Vernon Smith, once a sector approaches six or more competitors it essentially behaves like perfect competition even if not exactly so—raising the question of how AI firms can behave ethically above the minimum needed to stay in the market and earn profit.
AI use follows a barbell pattern
Cowen's own AI use follows a barbell pattern—either going somewhere very distant and using AI to learn about it (e.g. birds of a region) or staying at home—which makes intermediate commuting (like driving 35 minutes to DC) seem less appealing than before.
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