Tyler Cowen: The Graduate Student Crisis Destroying Academia

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Curt Jaimungal

Physics, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tyler Cowen exposes academia's graduate student crisis and argues for stronger mentorship structures. They argue for greater intellectual humility and stronger mentorship to build a more resilient academic environment.- 00:00 - Tariffs and Trade Policies- 01:21 - Economic Consequences of Tariffs- 03:07 - Canada as a 51st State?- 04:00 - Canada's Defense Spending Debate- 05:41 - Positive Aspects of Hostility- 06:35 - Transitioning to Theoretical Economics- 08:07 - The Role of Tenure- 11:43 - The Academy's Strengths- 13:04 - Problems in Academia- 14:08 - Understanding the Grant System- 15:10 - The Need for Grants- 16:33 - Is the Academic System Broken?- 17:18 - Improving the Academic System- 17:47 - The Role of AI in Academia- 22:39 - Exploring Deep Research- 29:32 - Writing as Thinking- 31:53 - Truth in Worldviews- 33:22 - Patchwork Theory of Reality- 34:11 - Economics and Theories of Everything- 35:07 - Disagreements Among Intelligent People- 37:48 - The Concept of Metarationality- 45:10 - Cultivating Metarationality- 46:55 - Distinction Between Stamina and Grit- 49:03 - Risk-Taking in Academia- 51:28 - Interviewing Style- 56:28 - The Value of Preparation- 1:13:33 - Critiquing Nassim Taleb- 1:18:23 - Public Debates vs. Private Discussions- 1:20:46 - Focus on Money- 1:22:45 - Healthy vs. Unhealthy Ambition- 1:23:49 - Complexity in Theories of Everything- 1:24:39 - The Importance of Mentoring- 1:26:08 - Current Projects and Interests- 1:31:15 - Advice for Students- 1:32:39 - The Future of Networking- 1:32:53 - Closing Thoughts and ReflectionsSPONSORS:- I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOERESOURCES:- Tyler’s website: https://tylercowen.com/- Tyler’s blog: https://marginalrevolution.com/- Tyler’s podcast: https://conversationswithtyler.com/- Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World (book): https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Identify-Energizers-Creatives-Winners/dp/1250275814- Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com- Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE- Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join- Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.8	There's plenty of truth, mistruth, and speculation about tariffs.
0:34.0	Now, from the perspective of an economist in the United States, by the way, I'm from Toronto,
0:38.3	so this affects both of us. What do you make of the proposed tariffs?
0:42.3	Well, Trump has inconsistent words on the matter of tariffs. He says he loves tariffs,
0:48.3	and if you listen to him going back to the 1980s, he's quite keen to have higher tariffs. So at first, as you know,
0:55.4	he threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and then he pulled back the threat. As we're
1:00.8	recording today, this morning in the middle of February 2025, he threatened reciprocal tariffs
1:07.7	on all countries putting tariffs on American goods.
1:15.5	Virtually all economists, myself included, think that tariffs are a mistake.
1:18.2	They do not help the distribution of wealth.
1:20.3	They make your economy less efficient.
1:21.9	They make prices higher.
1:23.2	They hurt innovation.
1:26.4	And consumers have somewhat lower standards of living.
1:29.1	We would all make exceptions for what are called cases of national security. So if a nation needs to build its own ships or drones,
1:35.3	if they would have some kind of protectionism to make that possible with domestic industry,
1:40.4	at least in principle, there's an argument for that, but otherwise, typically economists believe
1:45.5	in zero tariffs, and so do I. So I'm against all of those Trump trade policies.
1:51.5	So the Wall Street Journal said that it also has, or will have job creation inefficiency.
1:57.1	So, for instance, the machine washing tariffs cost something like $815,000 per job created, something like that.
	...

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