A diavlog full of fascinating ideas. Definitely buying Tyler's book. No surprise to hear that Tyler feels he shares some aspects of the autistic cognitive profile, especially in his ability to absorb and retain information. Watch him when he is listening to Will expound on an idea - sometimes he goes a minute without blinking, but during more regular conversation he blinks much more frequently. You can practically see his brain absorbing and storing information. The cognitive profile idea has profound implications for the delivery of education - I wish they had discussed that.

I loved this conversation and this sounds like a very smart book. The diavlog gave lots of new ways to think about things or should I say frame things. For instance…1)the idea that we sometimes feel that other people’s consumption choices make us victims without agency (keeping up with the Joneses?). 2)The idea that division of labor can be not only in the form of different professions but also different cognitive profiles. 3)Love the idea of thick ties and ecological mismatch or disorder. 4)ADHD, cognitive advantage? 5)Dyslexia is characteristic lots of entrepreneurs have. 6)The mind is a consuming organ. 7)Narrative tropes, story arcs, what is an elevator story? I liked the observation that people who blog have a desire for debates in the real world…..as contrasted with academics. Both said that the narrative of good guys/bad guys doesn’t help when trying to understand complex policies and further, distorts the issues. This is something I see very clearly, for instance, on this forum. Interesting that Cowen sees the internet as a place where global warming can be debated. I thought the debate was over!?!

I wrote some thoughts on what I find to be the well-intentioned but ultimately counter-productive evolution of how autism is considered here.

How do I pay my rent with "attention"?

Quoting Markos: How do I pay my rent with "attention"?

You don't have to. Inequality doesn't matter anymore because now you can watch youtube videos at the library with all the other homeless folks! Economic growth solves everything.

I have always really liked Tyler Cowen on BhTV. I try to be really good about buying books from the BhTV crowd, so one fine weekend a few months ago I went to the bookstore wanting to get a Tyler Cowen book. The one they had was his last book, about your inner economist. I stood and read a selection from it, which turned out to be about how you should look for good ethnic restaurants in low-rent strip malls, because they are better there. I thumbed around and got the impression this was the general level of the whole book, so I put it down and got something else. Sincere question: did I get the wrong impression about that book and judge it not up to my snuff unfairly? Is the new book, or any of his older books, aimed higher?

Quoting osmium: Is the new book, or any of his older books, aimed higher?

I didn't read every word of his new book, but I at least skimmed every page. Anyhoo, his new book is mostly about autism. It's kind of an autistic pride parade. Lots of "did you know this famous person might have been autistic?!" I'm a programmer, and autistic/aspergers people are a big part of my tribe (some of my best friends, etc), so I'm happy to have Cowen out there rooting for them to that extent. However, I think Will and Tyler are both guilty of trying to patch up the deficiencies in their economics and their politics by telling people they should be more like autistic people. I think everybody has a lot to learn from everybody else, but trying to get people to conform to homo economicus sounds a lot like the New Soviet man stuff, and that didn't turn out so hot. We're better off just taking people, in all their diversity, as they are, and adapting our politics and economics to that instead of the other way around.

The one they had was his last book, about your inner economist. I stood and read a selection from it, which turned out to be about how you should look for good ethnic restaurants in low-rent strip malls, because they are better there. I thumbed around and got the impression this was the general level of the whole book, so I put it down and got something else.

My favorite restaurant in Los Angeles is in a strip mall but none of the others in my top five are. Go figger. Re: Tyler's views on autism - he implies that autistics are less prone to make irrational choices. I don't disagree but since autistics (due to their condition and its manifest inhibitions) presumedly would also be much less likely to deviate from a fairly rigid daily regimen and would probably refrain from exercising choice to a normal degree, that may be more of an explanation (and I'm basing this only on my very limited knowledge of the autistics I've known). It's like suggesting that since people who are afraid the cross the street are much less likely to be

Great discussion. Perhaps ideas like this are the future for an autism-inclusive economy.

I really enjoyed this. Just to prove Tyler's point, though, re. diversity among autistics, I don't like atonal music one bit. (But I hate the sappy, stereotyped narratives of country music, so I guess that fits his description).

One of the best diavlogs I've seen.
I think I'll go to amazon now and buy Tyler's book, and a David Hume book.

I thought that this was the best discussion that I've heard on BlogTv. I learned a lot. I intend to buy Tyler's book. Me too on David Hume.

Nice one. I think Tylers point about not considering autism to be a disorder but a profile is a little superfluios though. Of course its a profile, its merely a profile that is a detriment in most ecological niches.
P.S.
I really hope that having "narrow interests" is not used as a diagnostic tool. To my untrained eye, that seems to be a very subjective metric. Groups always have delinations that are not apparent to those outside the group. The same applies to interests. For example, some would blaspemously lump togethor photonics and optics, while others would lump marginilism with Keynesian economics. It all depends on your set of interests. Edit:
Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit Wilkinson is a good interviewer.

Edit:
Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit Wilkinson is a good interviewer.

Yup. Will is probably the best interviewer on BHTV. Bob Wright and Carl Zimmer would also be at the top of the list, IMO. [Rob Farley too!!]

Quoting Starwatcher162536: Edit:
Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit Wilkinson is a good interviewer.

Agreed, totally.

This sounds like an interesting book. I've listened to this a couple times now. I get what Tyler is saying about not defining autism by outcomes. However, I wonder if autism is the right word for this cognitive profile then. Like, don't we need a word for the people who don't have a good outcome, and isn't that how the word "autism" generally gets used? I remember there was an autistic kid in my elementary school growing up: he was skinny and kind of stretched out, and carried himself in a weird way with his hands off to the side up by his shoulders. (I think this is the "fragile x syndrome" Tyler mentions.) The teachers called him autistic, I guess to distinguish him from the special ed kids who were retarded or had down's syndrome. So if Tyler Cowen has elements of this cognitive profile that, when extreme, leads to autism, is it precise to call that autistic? Like, is autism the underlying element, or the outcome? Seems to me like the word means the outcome. If Cowen is autistic, then how many other people are? Am I? Can 10% of the world be autistic? Did that make any sense? I think I react to this

I agree with your comment. Autism is a non-specific term that includes those with a disorder, who have significant functional impairment, and those who are part of a continuum with shared cognitive profiles but that can function within normal limits. Tyler uses the term in the more general way and he emphasizes the strengths that have been classically described as somewhat of an oddity, but not given enough credit. I found the idea of mismatch with the environment interesting, but, not particularly novel. Great diavlog.

Quoting osmium: The one they had was his last book, about your inner economist. I stood and read a selection from it, which turned out to be about how you should look for good ethnic restaurants in low-rent strip malls, because they are better there. I thumbed around and got the impression this was the general level of the whole book, so I put it down and got something else.

You have ADHD and, according to this diavlog, you should read most books in that manner...

ha ha ha ha you are a crack-up of a crackpot. you make me think of a dog chasing his own tail - and you go out and do it for everyone to see! its just hilarious. I especially liked the "Joker" part paired with "throwing the uninsured under the bus". which is it? is it an evil plot to kill the old people (Joker) - or obama failing to pass legislation that would really help people? i guess either way - you win! and thats whats important, after all.

Quoting popcorn_karate: ha ha ha ha

you are a crack-up of a crackpot.

you make me think of a dog chasing his own tail - and you go out and do it for everyone to see! its just hilarious.

I especially liked the "Joker" part paired with "throwing the uninsured under the bus". [...]

And don't forget the "with Wright" part. Our poor little kidley has metastasized from someone who prose was merely occasionally purple into an automatic phrase aggregator emitting exclusively in the near-ultraviolet -- if it's something that he thinks will carry a negative connotation about Obama, into the hopper it goes. He's become as much of a word salad shooter as his hero, the Wasilla Windbag. I'm surprised he forgot to include "pallin' around with terrorists."

Quoting bjkeefe: word salad shooter

I'm using that one.

The deranged KS aside, this has been an extremely disappointing roll-out of the Democratic health care plan. What? Did they think the insurance and drug companies would be less devious? Did they think grassroots and racist Repubs. wouldn't be led to the brink of insanity (and beyond) by the likes of Glenn Beck, Hannity and LImbaugh? Did they think upscale Repubs (Frum types that don't like to get their hands dirty with Limbaugh) wouldn't do everything in their power to sabotage any major Obama legislation? Did they think their own party wouldn't fracture and chicken out at the slightest threat of losing a vote back home? This is bad politics heading for another achieve-nothing fiasco; or worse, a shitty bill that only Baucus and Arlen Specter will love.

Quoting nautirony: You have ADHD and, according to this diavlog, you should read most books in that manner...

Quoting kidneystones: Eeeek! BTD ...

Yeah, when you want a credible opinion on Barack Obama, nothing beats kidneystones pull-quoting Big Tent Democrat ("Armando Llorens.") Up next, Orly Taitz and Lou Dobbs examine what is known about the President's early life, and then we'll move onto Michele Bachmann discussing the objectivity of the mainstream media. With Sarah Palin.

Quoting bjkeefe: Yeah, when you want a credible opinion on Barack Obama, nothing beats kidneystones pull-quoting Big Tent Democrat ("Armando Llorens.")

On a related note, here's Roy Edroso:

I had so little hope for health care reform that I suspected Obama's rush to pass it was an intentionally Pyrrhic plan to marginalize his enemies. If I was right, he's certainly getting his money's worth.

The above is from a post that describes the rightosphere's almost certainly temporary effort to distance themselves from the Obama=Hitler!!!1! meme. Yeah. That meme.