digamma.net - notes

I absolutely adore Tyler Cowen’s work on the cultural effects of globalization. For the Readers’ Digest version of his ideas, check out this Reason interview, or if you don’t hate PDF’s like me, this transcript of his debate with Rutgers expatriate Benjamin Barber.

At the end of an insightful Volokh Conspiracy post on French and French-Canadian attempts to defend their culture from outside forces, Cowen drops this gem:

I despair for the future of international cultural cooperation. America, France, and Canada have far more in common than their points of difference. We all need to drop our memes of symbolism and self-righteousness, and resume building the great project which is Western civilization.

Testify.