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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Emily St. John Mandel on Fact, Fiction, and the Familiar

8 Apr 2020 29 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Emily St. John MandelTyler Cowen

Claim mix

belief 13evaluation 8uncertainty 4recommendation 2observation 2

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

29 published records

02 / belief

I think that in the same way that in our modern, hopefully still pre-apocalyptic world, some people are content to live their entire lives in their hometowns, while others get out, really, as soon as they possibly can, and that was me.

“I think that in the same way that in our modern, hopefully still pre-apocalyptic world, some people are content to live their entire lives in their hometowns, while others get out, really, as soon as they possibly can, and that was me.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

04 / belief

I believe in my work, but I’ve always been aware that there are any number of books in the world that were at least as good as Station Eleven, if not better, that didn’t sell nearly as many copies.

“I believe in my work, but I’ve always been aware that there are any number of books in the world that were at least as good as Station Eleven, if not better, that didn’t sell nearly as many copies.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / observation

There are cargo ships that will accept passengers on a very small scale, and there’s nothing luxurious about it. The point is that it’s not a luxury cruise, that you are on a cargo ship.

“There are cargo ships that will accept passengers on a very small scale, and there’s nothing luxurious about it. The point is that it’s not a luxury cruise, that you are on a cargo ship.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

06 / uncertainty

I don’t know if it’s a manifestation of guilt, this subconscious desire to be caught and to face consequences, but it would not be difficult for these people to flee, and yet they usually don’t.

“I don’t know if it’s a manifestation of guilt, this subconscious desire to be caught and to face consequences, but it would not be difficult for these people to flee, and yet they usually don’t.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

10 / belief

” I don’t think it’s quite as severe as any kind of disassociation syndrome, but it is this idea that plays at the back of my mind sometimes. So I think that absolutely comes out in my fiction.

“” I don’t think it’s quite as severe as any kind of disassociation syndrome, but it is this idea that plays at the back of my mind sometimes. So I think that absolutely comes out in my fiction.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

13 / belief

When I see many novels — and this, I think, is true for many of yours — there will be the title of the book, and then below it, in smaller print, or on Amazon, it will say “A Novel.

“When I see many novels — and this, I think, is true for many of yours — there will be the title of the book, and then below it, in smaller print, or on Amazon, it will say “A Novel.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

16 / uncertainty

I did think in the back of my mind that setting so much of Station Eleven in Toronto would make people in Canada think of me more as a Canadian writer, and I don’t know if it did or not, to be honest.

“I did think in the back of my mind that setting so much of Station Eleven in Toronto would make people in Canada think of me more as a Canadian writer, and I don’t know if it did or not, to be honest.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

17 / belief

You see the towers falling, and you think, “This is my opportunity,” and you disappear. So I think if life presents some horrific moment like that, then faking your own death would not be difficult.

“You see the towers falling, and you think, “This is my opportunity,” and you disappear. So I think if life presents some horrific moment like that, then faking your own death would not be difficult.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

18 / belief

I think that’s a simplification, but, God, that’s a depressing environment, so I would expect there to be a much higher baseline level of depression in the population in prison.

“I think that’s a simplification, but, God, that’s a depressing environment, so I would expect there to be a much higher baseline level of depression in the population in prison.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

22 / evaluation

I read that when I was about 15, and it blew my mind. It’s a very different apocalypse than Station Eleven, but I think of it as the book that made me first think about what a postapocalyptic world might look like.

“I read that when I was about 15, and it blew my mind. It’s a very different apocalypse than Station Eleven, but I think of it as the book that made me first think about what a postapocalyptic world might look like.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

24 / evaluation

Exactly. But what I realized, in buying Contagion, was — which I haven’t watched yet; I came to my senses — there’s just such a longing in times of uncertainty to see how it ends.

“Exactly. But what I realized, in buying Contagion, was — which I haven’t watched yet; I came to my senses — there’s just such a longing in times of uncertainty to see how it ends.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

25 / evaluation

Definitely in the literary community, I’ve seen a lot of people really trying to support their independent bookstores, which has always been a thing. But I think there’s been a greater awareness that if you don’t buy your books from your independent bookstore — and by the way, they do all sell online mostly — then that store might not be there when all of this ends.

“Definitely in the literary community, I’ve seen a lot of people really trying to support their independent bookstores, which has always been a thing. But I think there’s been a greater awareness that if you don’t buy your books from your independent bookstore — and by the way, they do all sell online mostly — then that store might not be there when all of this ends.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

28 / evaluation

The fisheries collapsed, and it was devastating economically there. So there’s a dark sense of humor and way of getting by happily in difficult circumstances that, I think, offsets it a little bit from the rest of Canada.

“The fisheries collapsed, and it was devastating economically there. So there’s a dark sense of humor and way of getting by happily in difficult circumstances that, I think, offsets it a little bit from the rest of Canada.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
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