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Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 9, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Tyler Cowen linked Katja Grace’s “date me” doc on MarginalRevolution. Seems like an odd thing to post on an economics blog. I see three possible explanations:

  1. This is just quokkas being quokkas. There is no subtext. Everything in the links can be taken at face value because it was written by aggressively honest and straightforward people.

  2. Tyler is being an asshole and posting her info without permission. This seems the most unlikely to me. That would be a real dick move, but Tyler’s preemptive, “not interested in comments mocking Katja, put them somewhere else, I will delete them,” seems almost insulting, like he thinks she will definitely be mocked despite being a reasonably nice and attractive woman.

  3. Katja specifically asked Tyler to post it. Seems the most likely from an, “all of these people know each other” perspective, but I’m curious what she gains from this. I can’t imagine the MarginalRevolution readership will do anything but water-down her dating pool. Maybe women really do love attention that much?

Thoughts? What do you guys think happened here?

Tyler is being an asshole and posting her info without permission. This seems the most unlikely to me. That would be a real dick move, but Tyler’s preemptive, “not interested in comments mocking Katja, put them somewhere else, I will delete them,” seems almost insulting, like he thinks she will definitely be mocked despite being a reasonably nice and attractive woman.

He knows her so presumably he had her permission.

Probably the first, but if she is 36, interested in having children, smart, looks fairly normal, and has famous people in her friendship circle... why is she getting dates this way? Something seems to have gone wrong/weirdly here. Also, kind of wants children, but doesn't seem very serious still at 36 -- kind of poly, wants to sit in bed on her laptop a lot... thinks that's a reasonable combination of things to advertise upfront?

Edit -- which is to say that if Tyler is being helpful, this doesn't seem like a great way to go about doing that, but he might still be, since exposure is something anyway.

Probably mostly "discussing the general concept of date-me docs, which are popular among rats/EAs" with a hint of "she's a friend so more people seeing her doc = good"

Everything in the links can be taken at face value because it was written by aggressively honest and straightforward people.

This is consistent with my general impression of Tyler. The Conversations with Tyler podcast is the most straightforward interview style I've ever heard in my life.

That would be a real dick move, but Tyler’s preemptive, “not interested in comments mocking Katja, put them somewhere else, I will delete them,” seems almost insulting, like he thinks she will definitely be mocked despite being a reasonably nice and attractive woman.

I would not consider her an attractive woman. Some of the specifics of the date me doc are definitely mockable. I still think Tyler's statement is meant literally, that she's a friend and that he will not tolerate insults.

That all screams quokka to me, Tyler has always posted stuff his students/friends have done later even stuff that has nothing to do with Economics (like Megan McArdle's kitchen gift guide).

Turns out Katja tweeted that anyone can share it. That’s what I get for posting on mobile.