The Gray Area with Sean Illing What counts as progress?
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Dec 1, 2025 J. Bradford DeLong, an economic historian and UC Berkeley professor, dives into the perplexing paradox of wealth versus true well-being. He explores how technology impacts our lives, with AI promising both productivity and distraction. DeLong discusses the importance of stable politics in addressing rapid changes, noting a growing divide in the workforce as creative destruction affects even white-collar jobs. He argues the 21st century will hinge on attention management amidst information overload and highlights the crucial need for effective policies to support displaced workers.
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Progress Beyond Material Scarcity
- Progress should primarily free people from dire scarcity so they can live wisely and well.
- Once basic material needs are met, accumulating more stuff is a poor proxy for a better life.
Freedom Is Eroded By Systems And Attention
- Modern life offers choices but often reduces real freedom through psychological dependencies and systemic pressures.
- Attention hacking and large social systems constrain people's ability to live as they wish.
Generational Doubling And The One-Fifth Problem
- Technological change doubles productive capacity each generation and upends about one-fifth of the economy.
- Managing the displaced workers from that disruptive fifth has been the central political-economic challenge since 1870.
