Tag: Progress Studies

The 2020s, Economic Growth, and Deep Tech with Eli Dourado

Venture Stories | 23 March 2021 | 0h 53m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Eli Dourado of the Center for Growth and Opportunity discussing why he wants to radically increase GDP per capita and the current bottlenecks to achieving that; why he thinks the 2020s will be the decade of atoms; why amazing scientific breakthroughs like CRISPR haven’t translated into new products or treatments; why he’s excited about geothermal power and how it could change geopolitics if its potential is realized; his breakdown of his position as a technological optimist and cultural pessimist; where he agrees or disagrees with Tyler Cowen, Bryan Caplan, Peter Thiel, and Samuel Hammond; and why entrepreneurs shouldn’t shy away from areas with regulatory risk, since “that’s where all the action happens.”

Rethinking Industrial Policy…and Everything Else

ChinaTalk | 17 February 2021 | 1h 16m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Jose Luis Ricón Fernández de la Puente of the blog nintil.com. Discusses whether the state invented the iPhone, if the trends of history are pointing Taiwan’s direction, why the way we fund science is broken, what mass conversions to Mormonism would mean for the American economy, and how to live forever.

Culture, Innovation, and the Collective Brain

Many Minds | 3 February 2021 | 1h 29m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Michael Muthukrishna about why our brains got so big; how culture makes us smart; where innovation comes from; the cultural brain hypothesis; what this means for a general theory of intelligence across species; explaining the Flynn Effect; how group size and interconnectedness power culture; the evolution of brain size in humans & cetaceans; why psychology needs to become a historical science; and more.

This episode was so insightful that I went looking for more. The episode with Michael Muthukrishna on The Dissenter is also very good.

Where is My Flying Car? with J. Storrs Hall

Power Hour with Alex Epstein | 18 November 2020 | 1h 08m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with J. Storrs Hall about his book Where’s My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past. Discusses what has held back many forms of progress, including flying cars, over the last half-century. Backgrounds the Great Stagnation and discusses how government funding of research promotes stagnation; how green philosophy promotes stagnation; the regulatory stifling of nuclear energy; and how to liberate human progress from its political and philosophical strangulation.

Via the excellent book review at Roots of Progress.

Matt Ridley: Rational Optimism

The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast | 31 January 2021 | 1h 34m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Matt Ridley about ideas from his books The Origins of Virtue, The Rational Optimist, and How Innovation Works. Discusses economic optimism, trade through the reciprocity of nations, enlightened self-interest, how virtue relates to trade, feeding nine billion people, the triumphs of cities, escape of Malthusian population trap, and more.

Noubar Afeyan on the Permission to Leap

Conversations with Tyler | 13 January 2021 | 0h 55m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of Moderna and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. Discusses teaching entrepreneurship; predictions on the future of gene editing and CRISPR technology; why the pharmaceutical field can’t be winner takes all; why “basic research” is a poor term; the secret to Boston’s culture of innovation; the potential of plant biotech; the role of systematic processes that include embracing unreasonable propositions and even unreasonable people in exceptional achievement; why Montreal is (still) a special place to him; how his classical pianist mother influenced his musical tastes; his discussion-based approach to ethical dilemmas; how thinking future-backward shapes his approach to business and philanthropy; the blessing and curse of Lebanese optimism; the importance of creating a culture where people can say things that are wrong; what we can all learn by being an American by choice, and more.

Open: The Story of Human Progress

Cato Daily Podcast | 31 December 2020 | 0h 19m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Johan Norberg about his book Open: The Story of Human Progress. Notwithstanding the backlash against openness in much of the world, Norberg argues that humanity’s embrace of openness is the key to our success.

Philip Coggan: How Did the World Get So Rich?

Political Economy with Jim Pethokoukis | 18 November 2020 | 0h 27m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Philip Coggan about his book More: A History of the World Economy from the Iron Age to the Information Age. Reflects on the history of the global economy and the lessons we can learn for today. Argues that it is the increased connection between people that resulted in increased trade, specialization, freedom, and ultimately, increased prosperity.