Hear This Idea

Jason Crawford on Progress Studies

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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