Derek talks to economist and writer Eli Dourado about the most exciting scientific and technological discoveries of the year, from the AI toys that everybody seems to be playing with to lesser-known breakthroughs in bioscience, clean energy hardware, and precise atomic manipulation.Due to the holidays, we will be skipping our Friday episode this week. However, we’ll be back next Tuesday to revisit one of our favorite interviews from the past year as we inch closer to 2023.Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Eli DouradoProducer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eli Dourado, Senior Research Fellow at The Center for Growth and Opportunity, discusses his international upbringing, supersonic airplanes, The Center for Growth and Opportunity, and the potential great stagnation.

My guest today is Eli Dourado, economist and senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. In our discussion, we touch on the ongoing stagnation in labor productivity, the system constraints, and some of the innovative technologies that could reverse this trend. While Eli identifies as an economist, his wealth of knowledge on biotech innovation, alternative energy, and the space opportunity are sure to leave you craving more. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Eli.  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.------Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes[00:03:28] - [First question] - Why he’s interested the great stagnation[00:05:41] - Is a fair analog for total factor productivity technology?[00:07:29] - Leading theories for the stagnation in TFP[00:09:05] - Analysis of why growth is good, and stagnation is bad[00:10:19] - Rate limiters that are a key part of calculating stagnation[00:11:43] - Signs that we may be returning to a higher degree of TFP returning[00:12:24] - Exciting developments like MRNA in biotech that may lead to an explosion of innovation[00:16:16] - Functions of a protein and their role in advances in biotech[00:17:55] - What CRISPR is and what it unlocks for the future of humanity[00:19:31] - The pace of progression when rolling our clinical trials of cellular engineering[00:21:36] - How biotech may play a role in TFP as a proxy for progress and growth[00:22:51] - Interesting observations about potential innovation in the energy sector[00:24:10] - What currently requires energy that could be optimized if they had a lower energy cost[00:25:34] - Sources that could provide cheaper and more efficient energy[00:27:13] - Sage Geosystems and the future of the geothermal space[00:27:43] - The importance of batteries in the modern era[00:29:02] - Why energy should be a more pivotal focus in our future[00:29:41] - What’s interesting in the world of transportation writ large[00:31:02] - Boom’s story, supersonic air travel, and why concord shut down[00:34:55] - Mach 5 and March 12 supersonic air travel[00:36:19] - Second-order effects of reducing the time cost of air travel[00:38:19] - Liftoff, SpaceX, and the future of the space sector[00:43:07] - Other key players in space people could study; Blue Origin and Relativity Space[00:45:15] - What will we do in space once we can travel there cheaply[00:46:39] - What he’s most curious about in IT that could drive productive societal growth[00:50:07] - Ethereum and how a decentralized blockchain could change the world [00:51:19] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Eli Dourado, Chief economist at the Abundance Institute, discusses non-TFP econ metrics, the search for new ideas, the influence of Tyler Cowen, culture's impact on growth, role of education, investing in tech, government's tech involvement, talent in tech, AI advancements, societal collapse risks, and advice for growing the economy.

Derek Thompson, a journalist at The Atlantic, teams up with Eli Dourado, an economist at the Center for Growth and Opportunity. They dive into the challenges surrounding the diffusion of new ideas versus invention. Is it getting harder to find innovative concepts? They discuss how crises can catalyze effective implementation and the significance of navigating obstacles to scientific breakthroughs. Additionally, they analyze the importance of equitable development in technology and the need for innovative approaches to drug approvals.