The Human Progress Podcast

Jay Richards, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, challenges misconceptions about job loss due to robots and AI. He discusses the fallacy of fixed work amounts, the complexities of automation, and the potential of universal basic income to address job displacement. Richards critiques cash payments, advocates for fostering work motivation through disruption, and explores the impact of Moore's Law on technological progress. He emphasizes the evolution of the information economy, the value of human skills in the age of AI, and the importance of embracing a diverse skill set for future career success.

Leandro Prados de la Escosura, Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Carlos III University in Spain, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss long term trends in wellbeing, inequality, and freedom.

Travis Fisher, the director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent developments in U.S. energy and environmental policy.

Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst on Latin America at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the recent election of Javier Milei and what it means for the future of Argentina and the rest of Latin America.

Jack Solowey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute focusing on financial technology, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the potential benefits of cryptocurrency and the regulatory challenges it faces.

James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how we can reignite American optimism and build the sci-fi world we were promised.

Climate activism has a cult problem

David Ansara, the Chief Executive of the Free Market Foundation, a South African think tank, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss progress and problems in Africa. David Ansara has been Chief Executive at the FMF since 1 January 2023. He has 15 years’ experience working for think tanks, consultancies and trade associations. David was the Executive Director of the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) where he hosted the CRA’s YouTube Channel and the weekly podcast, Solutions with David Ansara. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, and a strong advocate for individual liberty and market-based approaches to public policy. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Cape Town. Learn more: https://www.freemarketfoundation.com/about-us-board-of-directors Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Erec Smith, a Professor of Rhetoric and the co-founder of Free Black Thought, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the problems with critical social justice and how we can pursue true empowerment through classical liberal ideas. Erec Smith is a Visiting Scholar of Politics and Society for the Cato Institute and an Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania. Although he has eclectic scholarly interests, his primary work focuses on the rhetorics of anti‐​racist activism, theory, and pedagogy as well as the role of rhetoric in a free, pluralistic, and civil society. He is a co‐​founder of Free Black Thought, a nonprofit dedicated to highlighting viewpoint diversity within the black communities. Free Black Thought includes a compendium of black artists, writers, academics, and public intellectuals not discussed in mainstream media. The Organization also has a Journal of Free Black Thought, that publishes anything–from poetry to scholarly work—that discusses or displays a variety of viewpoints within the black diaspora. Smith is the author or A Critique of Anti‐​Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment (2020), a book in which he scrutinizes contemporary modes of anti‐​racism in his field. The book was conceived after Smiths observations of his field led him to conclude that anti‐​racist initiatives did more to disempower students and faculty than empower them. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/erec-smith Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

Todd Myers, a director at the Washington Policy Center, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how technology empowers individuals to protect the environment without the need for top-down government programs. With more than two decades in environmental policy, Todd Myers’s experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including climate policy, forest health, old-growth forests, and salmon recovery. A former member of the executive team at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, he is a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council. Learn more: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/authors/detail/todd-myers Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett