TEDxMidAtlantic - Tyler Cowen - 11/5/09

Tyler Cowen occupies the Holbert C. Harris Chair of economics as a professor at George Mason University and is co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution. He currently writes the Economic Scene column for the New York Times and writes for such magazines as The New Republic and The Wilson Quarterly. Cowen is also general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

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[Gwern0]

Transcript: lesswrong . com/r/discussion/lw/8w1/transc­ript_tyler_cowen_on_stories/

[Jon Britton]

Cool story bro.

[sandspar]

I wouldn't, and that's no story...

[idontcarewtfwhat]

Jean-Francois Lyotard has explored the issue of narratives pretty extensively, though not exactly scientifically.

One of his more powerful ideas is that grand narratives (religion, Marxism) have lost out to a surfeit of "micronarratives" which we develop idiosyncratically in place of the larger tales that were told to us in centuries past. In other words, we were once provided narratives or at least the outlines of narratives; these days we have to manufacture them more individually.

[IrishDutchman]

I guess I could complain that you're oversimplifying my symplification of his oversimplification, but let's not open that whole 'nother can of worms. ;)

[Maxdwolf]

You're oversimplifying his oversimplification. :)

[bestjunky]

That's why I love Hayao Miyazaki. He always sets you up in the beginning with the good-guy bad-guy conflict, then he begins revealing motivations behind each character. In the end you realize that all sides are equal and that the morals are all subjective.

[IrishDutchman]

To be honest, I'm not impressed. He uses such a loose a definition of 'story' that applying it to all of our thought processes isn't very meaningful at all.

Basically, his point is: 'don't oversimplify or romanticize'. Nothing new, and not worth 16 minutes of my time.

[bonchbonch]

This talk is even more fascinating in light of the Mike Daisey controversy.

[thrillscience]

You would think Tyler Cowan would be invited to real TED and not one of the fake TEDs

[animalcolm]

...love the irony : telling good vs evil stories is EVIL!

great talk!

[1maxroman]

Sometimes it is a bit funny how people take some common things everyone does and name it somehow. I more often see this in computers. how just common sense takes and named as some kind of theory. ex: waterfall model of software development. of course people think in terms of stories. if they did not, they would think in some other way, and that way would have been described here huh. also sad that it is obvious from aside, but when it comes to me personally :) I am lost..