Tag: Marginal Revolution

Tyler Cowen on Willie Mays

June 22nd, 2024

I recall as a young boy owning some Willie Mays baseball cards. He simply seemed classier and more special than the other players, as if he had some magic, secret power that others did not.

– Tyler Cowen

GOAT.

Cowen, Tyler. “Thursday Assorted Links.” Marginal Revolution (blog). June 20, 2024. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/06/thursday-assorted-links-457.html.
The strength of the eccentric

February 2nd, 2024

In this age, the mere example of nonconformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigour, and moral courage which it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time.
– John Stuart Mill

Had to capture this one…

H/T Marginal Revolution
Sam Altman’s What I wish someone had told me list…

December 23rd, 2023

13. Inspiration is perishable and life goes by fast. Inaction is a particularly insidious type of risk.

16. Get back up and keep going.
– Sam Altman

Christmas is the time for lists, and this is a good one – Sam Altman’s What I Wish Someone Had Told Me. My two favorites are above.

Read the rest in full here.

H/T Marginal Revolution
Marginal Revolution Celebrates 20 years

August 28th, 2023

Last week the blog Marginal Revolution celebrated it’s twentieth anniversary.

Can a blog change the direction of your life?

TABARROK: To see people who began reading us at a younger age and then turn into a Vitalik or something like that — that’s one of the biggest thrills Tyler and I can possibly have. I mean, it’s incredible. We’ve had students at George Mason who come and, “I’ve been reading you since I was 12.” Now they’re getting their PhDs. That’s mind-blowing.
– Alex Tabarrok

Yes.

What have I learned from Marginal Revolution?

Ambition is ok.

Have a moonshot. If your interested in an idea or subject, pursue it. Don’t wait for permission.

A little bit of work every day adds up.

The key word is “every day”. You have to do your work everyday. Ditto Paul Graham

What you do is more important than what you say.

Even after posting every day for twenty years, the example Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen have lived out in their careers is probably as important, or more important than MR itself. Their list of projects is astounding: Emergent Ventures, Marginal Revolution University, Project Warp Speed, the textbooks, their moonshots. Fast grants. General teaching. Graduate student funding. Their work at the Mercatus Center…

They are without peer when it comes to setting the example of just do it. Don’t wait. Do it.
The internet at its best. Scott Cunningham’s new syllabus: the Economics of ChatGPT.

August 25th, 2023

One of my favorite things about being a professor is learning. I love to teach because I love to learn. And I love to do that with students who do as well.
Scott Cunningham

If chatgpt is of interest download his syllabus here. H/T Marginal Revolution.

I think the syllabus is an underrated learning tool. If there’s a subject you’d like to learn creating your own syllabus would be an excellent starting point. Maybe a micro-syllabus?

There’s 6 assignments for the podcast class. The first I call “Memento Morit and the 20-year plan”. Memento Mori is latin for “remember you’re going to die. And so from that, I ask students to think about what goal they have for what they are doing in 2043, and why. Try to understand precisely what it is about that goal that matters, what feeling does it produce, and how would they feel if that feeling wasn’t produced, and then work backwards to 6 months from now. Then select an interviewee and write a short biography about them.
Cunningham, Scott. https://causalinf.substack.com/p/my-new-syllabus-for-my-new-class

I love how he’s incorporating a podcast assignment into his course. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

The Memento Mori exercise is one for (nearly) any age. What is your goal for what you’ll be doing in 2043?

Memento Mori.
Brasilia, Brazil: Nature Sanctuary? Notes from the Mystical Silicon

July 30th, 2022

In my mind Brasilia has always been a cinderblock sprawl. Never would I imagine Brazil’s capital as a nature sanctuary. But apparently Brasilia is a menagerie!

Why is this?

A surprising fact about Brasilia (probably because Rio and São Paulo dominate the travel conversation), is that Brasilia is surrounded by wilderness. This surrounding natural environment feeds into the urban one.

As the Mystical Silicon reports:

Zoology, geology and botany also let you enjoy every walk. In the most nondescript suburbs live the most amazing animals – parrots and macaws fly overhead, monkeys sometimes visit for afternoon coffee or steal snacks at parks, little owls can sometimes be found standing outside your house.
Brasilia: life amidst modernism. Gasga, David, Mystical Silicon, July 20, 2022

The Capybara, a metropolitan Guinea pig, are now residents:

There are also capybara spread through the city. They look like giant, cute pigs. They also swim, so sometimes you’ll see them on little islands. Their droppings look like enormous mice poo. Apparently capybara are now everywhere in Brasilia as suburban sprawl pushed out their natural predators (pumas and some form of local wolf).
Brasilia: life amidst modernism. Gasga, David, Mystical Silicon, July 20, 2022

Another surprising fact about Brasilia is her location in relation to the African savanna. They share the same latitude, which according to the Mystical Silicon, keeps Brasilia’s African Zoo animals plump and happy:

If you go to the zoo, the African animals are the happiest ones I’ve ever seen outside of Africa. This zoo is by no means fancy (it hasn’t been fixed up much since the 1960s or so and it’s $1 entry per person!) but the hippos looked amazing. Perhaps it’s because Brasilia is the same latitude as the African savanna… Perhaps it’s because they like the vibes… Whatever the reason, the animals here look fantastic.
Brasilia: life amidst modernism. Gasga, David, Mystical Silicon, July 20, 2022

Lastly, not a point about nature, but a note on travel worth keeping close:

So much of travel is finding positive wherever you are. You have a choice when traveling: you can choose the path of complaining (there is always something you wish was different; something that is better at home) or you can choose the path of gratitude, wonder, adventure and appreciation.
Brasilia: life amidst modernism. Gasga, David, Mystical Silicon, July 20, 2022

Read the post in on full here.

H/T Marginal Revolution
A Friday Morning Gift: Tim Ferris interviews Tyler Cowen

March 6th, 2020
An incredible way to start Friday. Tim and Tyler cover:
- Tyler’s Emergent Ventures program
- His writing process
- And what your open browser tabs say about you
Do have a listen: