Hear This Idea

#47 – Jason Crawford on Progress Studies

May 12, 2022

01:50:02

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

You Don't Need It to Be a Requirement to Advance Science or Math, Right?

02:05

I Think It's Important to Like Think About the Big Problems in the World

02:59

What Is the Thing About Progress?

05:10

Introduction

3min

Progress Studies

3min

The Great Stagnation

4min

The Progress Studies Community Focus Is More on Frontier Growth Than Catch Up Growth

4min

Is It a Theory of Change?

4min

The Problem of Fertilizer in the Atmosphere

5min

The Ultimate Resource Is Our Intelligente

3min

Is There a Risk to the Billiards Industry?

5min

How to Use Money to Solve a Problem

3min

10.

The World's Number One Problem?

4min

11.

When Does It Make Sense to Use Grants?

3min

12.

Is There Anything We Can Do to Accelerate Progress?

6min

13.

Is Progress Slowing Down?

4min

14.

Are We Going to Be Good or Evil With It?

4min

15.

Are Certain Kinds of Progress Really Desirable?

3min

16.

What Is the Motivation for Innovation?

2min

17.

You Can't Stop Running

6min

18.

Is Progress Going to Slow Down?

4min

19.

Is There a Future for Transportation?

5min

20.

Is There a New Philosophy of Progress for the 20th Century?

3min

21.

What Is the Thing About Progress?

5min

22.

The History of Progress Is Progress in Safety

1min

23.

Is There a Moratorium on Flying Machines?

3min

24.

Is There a Risk of Climate Change?

3min

25.

Is There a Difference Between Progress Studies and Progress Studies?

2min

26.

Applied Intelligence - Is There a Way to Make the Difference?

4min

27.

The Evolution of the E a Community

2min

28.

Is It Really Possible to Make the World Go Best?

3min

29.

I Think It's Important to Like Think About the Big Problems in the World

3min

30.

You Don't Need It to Be a Requirement to Advance Science or Math, Right?

2min

31.

What Do You Think of as Progress?

4min

Jason Crawford is the founder of The Roots of Progress, a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century. He writes and speaks about the history and philosophy of progress, especially in technology and industry.

In our conversation we discuss —

What progress is, and why it matters (maybe more than you think)
How to think about resource constraints — why they are sometimes both real and surmountable
The 'low-hanging fruit' explanation for stagnation, and prospects for speeding up innovation
Tradeoffs between progress and (existential) safety
Differences between the Progress Studies and Effective Altruism communities

You can read more about the topics we cover in this episode's write-up: hearthisidea.com/episodes/crawford

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