261 - Tyler Cowen: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence

Go to https://surfshark.com/robinsonerhardt and use code robinsonerhardt at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!

Tyler Cowen is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and faculty director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. A dedicated writer and communicator of economic ideas, Tyler is the author of several bestselling books and is widely published in academic journals and the popular media. In this episode, Robinson and Tyler discuss the economics of artificial intelligence. More particularly, they touch on whether AI will destroy humanity, how it will affect employment, whether there will no longer be a place for art in the marketplace, and more. Tyler’s latest book is Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World (St. Martin’s Press, 2022).

Marginal Revolution: https://marginalrevolution.com

Tyler’s X: https://x.com/tylercowen

Talent: https://a.co/d/ftqNWcn

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:03 What is State-Capacity Libertarianism?

00:04:32 Should Government Regulate AI?

00:05:54 Is AI an Existential Threat to Humanity?

00:07:33 The Fallacy of Mood Affiliation

00:11:11 AI Music and the Velvet Sundown

00:15:03 Is AI Ending America’s Great Stagnation?

00:19:45 How Will Top-Tier AI Cognition Impact the Labor Market?

00:30:17 How Will AI Transform Education?

00:42:15 Does AI Doom Human-Generated Research?

00:45:21 Why Is AI Taking Off So Slowly?

00:48:39 Does AI Mean the End of Lawyers?

00:51:41 Is Harvard Just a Dating Hack in the World of AI?

00:54:53 Does AI Help or End Social Mobility?

00:57:03 How We Should Write When AI Is Reading It All?

01:02:24 Will AI Enable Us to Eat All We Want?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.