Jason Crawford writes about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. He joins Mark and Adam to talk about technologies like messenger RNA vaccines, nanotech, and supersonic jets. Plus society-level questions like whether we are in a period of stagnation, how we fund maverick ideas, and why we need hubris.

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Show notes

Jason Crawford / The Roots of Progress / @jasoncrawford
Fieldbook
A Small Matter of Programming
We Need a New Science of Progress
The Torch of Progress — Ep. 13 with Adam Wiggins
The Great Stagnation
Bessemer steel process
germ theory
We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters
The Rise and Fall of American Growth and Jason’s summary
Where Is My Flying Cars? and Jason’s summary
Luddites
Victorian-era concept of Progress
A Culture of Growth
Francis Bacon
growth mindset
The March of Progress
World’s Fair posters
phase 3 clinical trials
Hardcore History
techno-optimism
1927 Charles Lindbergh ticker-tape parade
Why haven’t we celebrated any major achievements lately?
Academy of Thought and Industry
Boom
747: Creating the World’s First Jumbo Jet
Concorde

19 // Progress with Jason Crawford

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