Mindscape 283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Power

Change is scary. But sometimes it can all work out for the best. There's no guarantee of that, however, even when the change in question involves the introduction of a powerful new technology. Today's guest, Daron Acemoglu, is a political economist who has long thought about the relationship between economics and political institutions. In his most recent book (with Simon Johnson), Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, he looks at how technological innovations affect the economic lives of ordinary people. We talk about how such effects are often for the worse, at least to start out, until better institutions are able to eventually spread the benefits more broadly.

Daron Acemoglu received a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics. He is currently Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Econometric Society. Among his awards are the John Bates Clark Medal and the Nemmers Prize in Economics. In 2015, he was named the most cited economist of the past 10 years.

#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture

[garydecad]

Thank you Sean for this guest discussion with Daron. Mindscape is a treasure.

[bnightm]

28:39 What about the third option: Strive for the worker-less factories, but use our institutions to guarantee "factory owners" aren't the only people benefiting from them.

[nda]

Very interesting conversation!!! Very balanced perspective, worth listening to!

[saadibnasaadhusain]

I just started reading "Why Nations Fail".

[vogarner]

Great discussion. One thing we in the west forget though, is that the eventual correction to better conditions for western workers was made possible by continuing extraction, exploitation and violence in the global south. It is no coincidence that the prospering of the 1950s American middle class happened at the very time American Empire became hegemonic in its domination through the post war 'international order.' So the idea that capitalism can correct it's negative outcomes, hasn't really been proven. I think the argument might hold if it had happened at the expense of the western elites instead. Of course, then it wouldn't have happened at all.

[luizarthurbrito]

My goal in life is to have more citations than him. I'm first on a quest for the elixir of life. Wish me luck.

[jayvincent]

42:45 Best case scenario is the corporations have to pay a fine, then they go back to doing it again.

[adriancook]

I couldn't help somehow being reminded of Hannah Arendt talking about the banality of evil that is, "the good that capitalism does" not a direct quotation by the way.

[targetAGI]

Why technology, Innovations, intelligence and UNEMPLOYMENT as a consequence doesn't help us stopping Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide and Terrorism ??? ? (with references to ICC, ICJ and UN)

[jayvincent]

9:03 . Equality in any sense of the word, unfortunately is not ever going to be a realistic expectation. The people at the top are literally too powerful for us to hold them accountable..

[myczycz]

Thank you for this conversation! So it seems the only way to make our economic system less horrible for the ordinary people, is by institutions and political power... It will be a tough battle against populist right-wing forces, who only have the rich's interests in mind.

[АлександрГодзиковский-ьр]

Ain't seeing any changes between now and then, except may be that the same stuff is wrapped up and packed better 🤣

[jayvincent]

1:08:09 Free apps and games... All of them require access to your data. They don't need to charge you anything. They're making millions selling your data..

[julsius]

so taxing digital ads?
I think Bill Gates previously said tax robots.
more immediate problems than automation in the west include excessive immigration and rent-seeking making housing unaffordable.
so how bout taxing land values?
which both Adam Smith and Henry George (author of Progress and Poverty ) would've done.
I wonder if Mr. Acemoglu's book goes into the power of land monopoly?

[JoshuaAMartin]

Sorry I haven't been liking but Spotify hasn't got a like button, 👍🤙✌️

[jayvincent]

If a middle or lower class citizen doesn't pay their taxes it ruins their life. Right now there are thousands of extremely wealthy people who have a combined Billions owed to the IRS.

[sunroad]

The Magna Carta requires today overhauling adding to it the right for humans to understand what Energy really means before any other commandment.
"In any system of energy, Control is what consumes energy the most.
No energy store holds enough energy to extract an amount of energy equal to the total energy it stores.
No system of energy can deliver sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it.
This universal truth applies to all systems.
Energy, like time, flows from past to future" (2017).

[jayvincent]

Politicians don't have power . Power is the money behind them. Most of which is undisclosed. Specifically to shield the donors from being liable or responsible for the outcome.

[jayvincent]

37:38 Voting doesn't change anything.. As long as representatives aren't legally obligated to represent their constituents. 90 percent of a district can vote for someone, and their representative can vote for someone else.. As we've seen many times it's not easy to oust a representative.

[jirikivaari]

Meh, meager analysis by Acemoglu. No mention of many other terms of inequality that are much more valuable via revealed preferences such as genes, status, social influence, parents etc. It is just hypocrisy. Discussion focusing only on wealth inequality is what humans have always been good at, coming up with some overt moral violations so one group can coordinate extraction of resources from another.