Here’s a true conversation between me and Tyler Cowen, filtered through several years of memory:
Tyler: People like to think they’re special, but we’re all pretty much the same.
Me: No we’re not. Some people are really great; others are simply awful.
Tyler: That’s just the kind of thing people say to make themselves feel special.
Me: You don’t really believe that.
Tyler: Do too.
Me: What if we use the metric of your willingness-to-pay to spend an hour with a person? There are a few awesome people you would pay thousands of dollars to meet. But you’d pay hundreds of dollars to avoid an hour with most people.
Tyler: [3-second hesitation.] Well, it’s not clear why that should be the relevant metric.
Me: But it’s your metric!
Tyler: What’s so special about my metric?
Me: What’s so special about it? By definition, that metric captures everything that you think matters. And by that very metric, people are not “pretty much the same.” They’re incredibly different.
I don’t remember what Tyler said next. I’m sure, though, that it wasn’t “You’re right, I take it all back!” But shouldn’t it have been?
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This is a very subjective way of looking at it. There are people that Tyler Cowen enjoys spending time with, and there are people that different people enjoy spending time with! (I’m not saying that everyone is equally special, just that this argument is weak.)
Shouldn't it have been? Yes. But as you well know, Tyler has trouble backing down from assertions.