Tyler Cowen - The Great Reset

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

July 10, 2020

Duration

46m

Channel

Dwarkesh Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Tyler Cowen is Holbert L. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University and also Director of the Mercatus Center. Episode Website: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/tyler-cowen Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3AxN5wr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3KuDICx Follow Tyler Cowen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylercowen Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwarkesh_sp 0:00 The Great Reset 2:58 Growth and the cyclical view of history 4:00 Time horizons, growth, and sustainability 5:30 Space travel 8:11 WMDs and end of humanity 10:57 Common sense morality 12:20 China and authoritarianism 13:45 Are big businesses complacent? 17:15 Online education vs university 20:45 Aesthetic decline in West Virginia 23:20 Advice for young people 25:18 Mentors 27:15 Identifying talent 29:50 Can adults change? 31:45 Capacity to change men vs women 33:10 Are effeminate societies better? 35:15 Conservatives and progress 36:50 Biggest mistake in history 39:05 Nuke in my lifetime 40:35 Age and learning 42:45 Pessimistic future 43:50 Optimistic future 46:28 Closing

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Dwarkesh Patel

  host

• Tyler Cowen

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Dwarkesh Podcast, featuring Dwarkesh Patel and Tyler Cowen, Tyler Cowen - The Great Reset explores tyler Cowen on great reset, growth, nukes, and mentoring futures Tyler Cowen discusses how his earlier book *The Complacent Class* anticipated a 'Great Reset' and argues that COVID-19 has triggered it sooner than expected, exposing institutional decay but unleashing major biomedical innovation. He reconciles his belief in long-run economic growth (*Stubborn Attachments*) with shorter-run cycles of stagnation, emphasizing how culture and institutions can sustain progress over centuries despite crises and war risks. Cowen is optimistic about tech and biomedicine but pessimistic about government performance, long-run peace, and the inevitability of future nuclear use, while remaining skeptical of strong space colonization optimism. He closes with practical advice for young people—prioritizing mentors, small high-quality peer groups, and post-18 talent development—and reflections on education, big business, aesthetics, and the future trajectory of freedom and autocracy.

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