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Tyler Cowen

Signaling: The Language Peacocks, Gazelles, and Humans All Speak

Signaling and countersignaling are hidden methods of communicating with each other. We do it all the time as a way to “prove” we are who and what we claim to be. *** The Basics We are constantly …

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Average Is Over: Why The Skills Required For Great Jobs Are Changing

[quote]”Knowing one’s limits is more important than it used to be.”[/quote] “Welcome to the Hyper-Meritocracy,” Cowen writes in his latest book Average Is Over. This is an …

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The Impoverishment of Attention

“While the link between attention and excellence remains hidden most of the time, it ripples through almost everything we seek to accomplish.” *** Focus matters enormously for success in …

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The best non-fiction books of 2013

Economist Tyler Cowen, who was named one of the top 100 influential thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine, offers some interesting picks: Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschmann. A …

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How You Can Make Brainstorming Better

Brainstorming – getting a group of people together to come up with as many new ideas or solutions to a problem as possible – is a common fixture in many organizations. Generally …

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Tyler Cowen on The Dangers of Storytelling

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” – Joan Didion Tyler Cowen with an excellent TED talk on the dangers of storytelling: So if I’m thinking about this talk, I’m …

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Opinion Warning Signs

Robin Hanson makes a list of “Signs that your opinions function more to signal loyalty and ability than to estimate truth:” You find it hard to be enthusiastic for something until you know …

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