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There are probably good reason to criticize this pick. You have not presented any of them. By your own admission, you don't even know what RFK Jr's stance on vaccines is (though you can probably guess it's not "ban them all"). Your linked twitter thread is about nothing more than the announcement hurting pharma stock, with the claim (from Taborrak) that "Pharma stocks nosediving means your life expectancy is nose diving." This is a silly claim on its face and Taborrak gets dunked on for it.
As George Carlin once said: “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
But that doesn't really have much to do with RFK Jr., who may be crazy but isn't stupid.
Aside is it just more or is Taborrak way better in podcast than text? I don't usually enjoy his posts on Marginal Revolution but think he's good on podcasts. I don't know what that says about me... but he's not the first person I've encountered that with.
Is he better in longform? Maybe this is just “twitter brings out the worst in people.”
He puts up much longer posts than Tyler does. My hunch is in light listening he just confirms my priors more. I think we're both keeping it a little more surface level.
Taborrak tends to justify his points in a very academic style with lots of citations to studies and statistics. Tyler lives on vibes and has strange infatuations with people like Girard and Zizek, not to mention his continual infatuation with Austrian economics. His greatest weakness is his belief that any prominent public intellectual actually has something meaningful to say and isn't just a charlatan.
Man, lately Tyler just seems so off the mark. He keeps talking about AGI in the most head-in-the-sand, dunky and dismissive way without even making clear claims or any concrete arguments. I think AGI doom is one of the most mind-killing topics out there amongst otherwise high decouplers.
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