Here is a rough paraphrase of my words yesterday to one of my doctoral students:
"It is not I, Tyler Cowen, your doctoral advisor, who will give you the most aid on this dissertation. It is the Phantom Tyler Cowen inside your head. You have a model of me, a pretty good one, and you know what I will object to and what will delight me. The Phantom Tyler Cowen objects, in your head, before the real Tyler Cowen has much of a chance.
That is why the real Tyler Cowen is sometimes so silent."
Sometimes the Phantom Tyler Cowen blogs inside my head.
What if the student has only Phantom Tyrone in his head?
Tyler, can I have a nightlight ? There’s an economist under my bed, and on dark moonless nights I can hear him slurping pho…
“The Phantom Tyler Cowen objects, in your head, before the real Tyler Cowen has much of a chance.”
A true case of spectral analysis.
By the way, if Phantom Tyler supplies the objections, who provides the constructive suggestions?
Maybe you need to hand out “WWTC Do?” bracelets.
“What if the student has only Phantom Tyrone in his head?”
Nobel Prize, baby!
Poker players understand this concept well. Players have to consider how others will react to each move; the best players have highly accurate versions of Phantom Others in their heads.
I know this because Tyler knows this.
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