
What Could Go Right?
What if instead of being on the brink of disaster, we’re on the cusp of a better world? No one can deny the challenges the world faces, from pandemics to climate change to authoritarianism. But pessimism and despair are too easy a response. Each week, Progress Network Founder Zachary Karabell and Executive Director Emma Varvaloucas convene a diverse panel of experts to discuss the central issues of our era, including sustainability, polarization, work, and the economy, and make the case for a brighter future. They emerge from their conversations with a counterintuitive but informed take: progress is on its way.
Latest episodes

Jun 22, 2022 • 1h 13min
The New Space Race with Ché Bolden
Will space travel and exploration be left to the 'billionaire boys club'? Executive Director of the Inter Astra group and 26-year Marine Corps veteran Ché Bolden shares with us his views on the future of space.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 15, 2022 • 1h 9min
Facing America's Biggest Challenges with Victoria Pratt & Lauren Leader
After a string of heartbreaking news in the United States, are we doomed to fear, anger, and a descent into gridlocked politics? Today, Judge Victoria Pratt, an advocate for reforming the criminal justice system, and Lauren Leader, the cofounder and CEO of All In Together, discuss America's biggest challenges and how each have enacted change in large, complex systems.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 8, 2022 • 1h 6min
The Interfaith Imperative with Eboo Patel
How can we live with people who are different from us? Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America and former faith adviser to President Barack Obama, believes that interfaith living is essential to our collective well-being in an ethnically, racially, and ideologically diverse democracy. And in the United States, we actually do it quite well already.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 1, 2022 • 1h 9min
Wisdom for Smart Tech with Ayesha Khanna
Web3 is seen by many as the future of the internet. Others understand the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) as the first step to a robot takeover. Where's the balance between these two reactions? This week, AI expert, CEO of ADDO AI, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Media, Entertainment, and Culture Ayesha Khanna joins us to wade through the hype around cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, robots, and more and talk through global leadership on new tech rollouts.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 25, 2022 • 1h 2min
Race in America, 2 Years After George Floyd with Theodore R. Johnson
How do we grapple with the most challenging issues surrounding race, political division, equality, and more? Theodore R. Johnson, author, senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and retired commander in the US Navy, joins us to make a compelling case for a national solidarity necessary to mitigate racism and fulfill the American Promise.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 18, 2022 • 1h 13min
The Philanthropic Moment with Rachel Pritzker and David Callahan
Is philanthropy helpful? Looking at the giving data during the pandemic as well as the billionaire class philanthropy trends and small-dollar individual political donations, what are the pros and cons of philanthropy? Joining us in this conversation are Rachel Pritzker, founder and president of the Pritzker Innovation Fund, and David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy, to talk through some of the advantages and disadvantages we see in today's giving economy.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 11, 2022 • 1h 3min
Global Trade: The Race to the Top with Gregg Easterbrook
Are we in an unprecedented era of military peace on the seas? Gregg Easterbrook, a prolific author and a writer and editor at The Atlantic for over 40 years, shares how the Navy, innovation, space travel, and prosperity go hand in hand.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 4, 2022 • 1h 10min
Pandemic "Retrospective" with Nicholas Christakis and Ezekiel Emanuel
Are we moving "out of the pandemic phase" of COVID-19? Today we talk with the Director of the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, Nicholas Christakis, and Special Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization, Ezekiel Emanuel, about what we've learned over the past two years and where we can go from here.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 27, 2022 • 1h 5min
The Information Horizon with Tyler Cowen
What's coming next? We sit down with a modern renaissance man, economist, and podcaster Tyler Cowen to participate in what he calls his greatest pleasure: information extraction. We pick his brain on everything from mRNA to housing bubbles to literature. "The world," he tells us, "has never been more optimistic than it is now."What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 20, 2022 • 1h 9min
The World Post-Putin with Anne-Marie Slaughter
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been framed as a global inflection point. It may or may not be in actuality, but it is certainly a moment that challenges our assumptions of how we view the current world order and opens questions about what the next one would best look like. Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America and a Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, joins us to discuss what is happening now in Ukraine and where the future of defense is going.What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices