Jason Crawford

@jasoncrawford.eth

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@jasoncrawford.eth

Typed “morally ambitious” into a Google Doc; got a suggestion to correct it to “morally ambiguous”

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@jasoncrawford.eth

The combinatorial vastness of possibility space means that solutions are out there. The structure of that space, and the power of intelligence to navigate it, means that we can find them: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/the-problem-solving-animal-part-3

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@jasoncrawford.eth

One of my favorites… this is kind of the piece that got me into classical music as a teen

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@jasoncrawford.eth

The Techno-Humanist Manifesto, Chapter 7: The Problem-Solving Animal, part 2 In part 1, I argued that economic growth is not limited by resources—because growth is not driven by resources, but by ideas. One might well ask, then: will we run out of ideas? https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/the-problem-solving-animal-part-2

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iJust heard about this 1:1 online gifted math program this summer: “arithmetic to calculus in 8 weeks” It's for 6–17yo, or else I'd consider it for my daughter (she's 4) https://primemath.net/

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@jasoncrawford.eth

What mini apps should I try, and why?

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@jasoncrawford.eth

The Roots of Progress Institute is seeking to commission stories for a new article series, “Intelligence Age,” on future applications of AI. We are looking for stories of around 3k words, and will pay $2 per word. Details and apply within: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/we-want-your-stories-about-the-ai

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@jasoncrawford.eth

As long as people have noticed progress, they have wondered: will we run out of natural resources? But there are no natural resources. All resources are artificial: the product of knowledge https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/the-problem-solving-animal-part-1

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The Roots of Progress fellowship deadline is tomorrow! Also, I’ll be at Edge Esmeralda this coming week, find me there! Plus many more announcements, links, charts and more in the latest links digest: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/links-and-short-notes-2025-05-31

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@jasoncrawford.eth

I was initially skeptical about claims of stagnation, but I was eventually convinced by a systematic survey of the evidence. Progress has not ground to a halt, but in the US at least, it has slowed relative to its peak in the late 19th to mid-20th century: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/the-flywheel-part-2

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@jasoncrawford.eth

Where is the equivalent of the YIMBY movement for healthcare? Who is pointing out the gross violation of economic wisdom and common sense, or campaigning for reform against the worst inefficiencies? This field is wide open, and some smart writer or savvy activist should step in and fill the vacuum. https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/where-is-the-yimby-movement-for-healthcare

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Applications now open for the 2025 Roots of Progress Blog-Building Intensive! Improve your writing skills, learn from leading progress builders and intellectuals, and publish essays about progress: https://rootsofprogress.org/fellowship

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Impossible sci-fi nonsense, the shadow of the Great War, heliocentrism, the bottom-up abundance agenda, institutional sclerosis, and much more: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/links-and-short-notes-2025-04-23

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@jasoncrawford.eth

Why was progress so slow, for so long? And were the last few centuries a fluke, a lucky windfall of progress, after which we should expect a regression to the mean of slow growth? Or were they part of a trend that we can expect to continue? https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/the-flywheel

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Announcing Progress Conference 2025! Oct 16-19 in Berkeley, CA Speakers include Sam Altman, Tyler Cowen, Jennifer Pahlka, and Blake Scholl Last year several people said it was the best conference they had ever attended, full stop (!) Applications are open now! https://rootsofprogress.org/conference

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“Stopping climate change” is the wrong goal. It is an anti-human, anti-agency framing, focused on negating the impacts of human activity. The techno-humanist framing is that humanity should create *climate control* https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/we-should-install-a-thermostat-on

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My tentative bottom line is: solar + batteries can be great for specific applications that don’t need very high availability; and they can work as part of an overall system of supplying power to the grid; but they won’t supply all power to the grid in the foreseeable future. My current, partial understanding of a tricky question: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/how-much-does-it-cost-to-back-up

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The 150-year history of d/acc, a $120M progress fund, fertility on demand, 19th-century kids' sci-fi, the real lesson of Cassandra’s curse, giving the Devil the benefit of law, and more: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/links-and-short-notes-2025-03-18

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Here's the punchline from my talk for @vitalik.eth's d/acc Day: How each ~generation of the 20th century scored on the three core principles of d/acc. The talk was a whirlwind tour of how society has thought about progress, decentralization & risk over the last 150 years. Starts here, runs about 7 minutes: https://youtube.com/live/b45hakfN1cM?t=2939s

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@jasoncrawford.eth

d/acc Day livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/b45hakfN1cM @vitalik.eth starts us off at 10am Pacific; I'm slated for 10:40

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