Tyler Cowen

And then, like an economist, you would earn, like back then, maybe $40,000 a year.

Like two people, Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, had outside income.

And you had no expectation that you would ever earn more than that.

And I went into this with all of that, like relative to that, I feel so wealthy.

Just like, oh, you can sell some books, or you can give a talk.

I don't know, I just feel like I am...

a billionaire now, and if anything, I want to become what I've called an information trillionaire.

I'm not going to make that, but I think it's a good aspiration to have.

Just collect more information and be an information trillionaire, like Dana Gioia has that same goal.

He and I have talked about this.

I think that's a very worthy goal.

It was either economics or philosophy.

And I saw back then, this would be like the late 1970s, it was much harder to get a job as a philosopher, though not impossible, the way it sort of is now.

And they were paid less and just had fewer opportunities.

So I thought, well, I'll do economics.

But I think in a way I've always done both.

I'm not sure I'm the one to diagnose, but I would say when I'm in the Bay Area,

Like the people here, to me, are the smartest people I've ever met, on average.

Most ambitious, dynamic, and smartest, like by a clear grand slam, compared to New York City or London or anywhere.

That's awesome and I love it.