Description
What if the biggest risk from AI isn’t superintelligence gone rogue, but the inflexibility of our human institutions? My guest today, Tyler Cowen, thinks so. Tyler is a professor at George Mason university and one of the most celebrated economists in the world. And unlike many AI proponents, Tyler strongly challenges the idea that intelligence alone determines outcomes in society, and instead points to us humans as the real bottlenecks shaping our future, for better or worse. Together with my occasional co-host Igor Kurganov, we debate why he thinks diffusion and human adoption matter more than raw capability, and why markets remain one of the most under-appreciated signals in conversations about AI risk. Tyler also shares his views on economic growth, UBI, automation, persuasion, state capacity, why fears of mass unemployment and civilizational collapse are often overstated. And of course, we explore what it takes to design win-win systems that scale without collapsing under their own incentives. Oh and we discuss aliens too! A really fun one, hope you enjoy. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:40 – Market Driven Addiction 14:38 – Wealth Plus 17:28 – State Capacity Libertarianism 25:29 – Why Is Carbon Tax Failing? 27:14 – Climate Engineering 29:45 – Pharmaceutical Pricing 36:45 – Designing Incentives 37:24 – AI’s Impact on the Economy 53:24 – AI’s Impact on Tyler 55:25 – Universal Basic Income 59:25 – AI Timelines 01:10:45 – AI Risk Reflected in Markets 01:18:25 – Convincing Future Risk Scenarios 01:20:57 – AI as a Super Persuader 01:30:51 – Is Tyler Competitive? 01:41:39 – Strangest Beliefs & Aliens 01:46:14 – Rapid-Fire Predictions Links: ♾️ Tyler’s X: https://x.com/tylercowen?lang=en ♾️ Tyler’s website: https://tylercowen.com ♾️ Tyler’s blog: https://marginalrevolution.com ♾️ Meditations on Moloch: https://www.slatestarcodexabridged.com/Meditations-On-Moloch Credits: ♾️ Hosted by Liv Boeree ♾️ Produced by Luca de Vico The Win-Win Podcast: Poker champion Liv Boeree takes to the interview chair to tease apart the complexities of one of the most fundamental parts of human nature: competition. Liv is joined by top philosophers, gamers, artists, technologists, CEOs, scientists, politicians and more to understand how competition manifests in their world, and how to change seemingly win-lose systems into Win-Wins. Podcast links: ♾️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWgq0OZMtwtOIyMsVM_vksqdfWcM-b68S ♾️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/03bGVUaFZmJUmEvSHNDPdI?si=64379cc23696454f ♾️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/win-win-with-liv-boeree/id1724791350 ♾️ Pocketcast: https://play.pocketcasts.com/podcasts/7f708340-d17c-013b-f46e-0acc26574db2