Tyler Cowen: Be Suspicious of Stories

In this insightful Ted Talk , Tyler Cowen, an economist and author of the New York column's Economic Scene, discusses how we, humans,  should treat stories with more caution. Specifically, he believes that humans are biologically wired to transmit stories with utmost ease, and not question the specifics. This leads to how stories with the most irate plots are the most dangerous to us, and how humans rationalize stories into a broader concept when really, they can be stripped down into seven major themes.

Cowen is credible, despite the lack of information given through his introduction.  And though it was hardly mentioned, he is an economist. This mean that he deals with social sciences, and studies humans; he looks at patterns, numerical data, and studies that indicate relations between economy and the lives of humans. This is reflected throughout various points in his speech where he uses a variety of examples to enhance his topic.

He introduces his topic with a quote ("A stranger came to town"), and moves into Christopher Booker's   book that splits stories into seven themes. In his next several statements, he tries to evoke emotion by surprising his audience by arguing how we tell ourselves the same thing everyday. Cowen then follows with a set of data collected about how people feel about their lives, and to his bewilderment, nobody said their life was a "mess".  He makes an assertive statement, practically accusing everybody by saying, "You view your life like "this" [ a story]  instead of the mess that it is or it ought to be". 


The purpose of this was for Cowen to illustrate how people view their lives as a story, because stories don't incorporate "messes'.  Making it personal also enhances his argument, because it insinuates that the people need to think about themselves and about what they do and how they do it.

 "I used to think I was within the camp of economists," Cowen says. " I was one of the good guys, and I was allied with other good guys, and we were fighting the ideas of the bad guys. I used to think that! And probably, I was wrong! Maybe sometimes, I'm one of the good guys, but on some issues, I finally realized, "Hey, I wasn't one of the good guys." I'm not sure I was the bad guys in the sense of having evil intent, but it was very hard for me to get away with that story." 

Here, Cowen describes his job as one of the typical stories that humans are endowed  with- the concept of good versus evil. He makes his job into a "story" and shows how easily it is for him to do so. And then at the end of his Ted Talk, he says an array of mind blowing sentences all about his own Ted Talk.

"One story you might take away is the story of the quest. "Tyler came here, and he told us not to think so much in terms of stories..... Another possibility is you might tell a story of rebirth.  You might say, "I used to think too much in terms of stories, but then I heard Tyler Cowen, and now I think less in terms of stories!..... You also could tell a story of deep tragedy. "This guy Tyler Cowen came and he told us not to think in terms of stories, but all he could do was tell us stories about how other people think too much in terms of stories." 

In this excerpt, Cowen takes his Ted Talk and turns it into a quest; he turns it into a story of rebirth; he turns it into a tragedy. He takes one story and manipulates it to fit the needs of one particular theme of stories. 

So, why did I chose a Ted Talk that refutes the idea of a "story"? As I was browsing the Ted Talks, I found myself thinking about how- all throughout my life- I have been taught how storytelling is creative and innovative; it creates or dilutes reality, or it embellishes a life lesson, and makes it more appealing. And throughout all my life, I haven't ever once questioned a "story".  I chose it because I wanted to have a different perspective on what I never thought about, so if you're looking for something like this, this is the Ted Talk for you!