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Welcome to @jasoncrawford.eth!

Jason is the founder of The Roots of Progress, a non-profit dedicated to progress studies. In addition, he has served as an advisor for Our World in Data and as a guest lecturer at MIT.

His essay, We Need A New Philosophy of Progress, is one of the best arguments for techno-optimism that I've read: https://rootsofprogress.org/we-need-a-new-philosophy-of-progress/

He has agreed to do an AMA for the /books channel as part of the ongoing Silicon Valley Canon course.

Reply with your questions. :)

Founder, The Roots of Progress (rootsofprogress.org). I write about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. Former tech founder.

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Hi @jasoncrawford.eth, thanks for taking the time to answer questions. Progress/innovation is one of my favourite concepts to think on, so I'm curious to hear where your head is at:

In a world filled with moral panic at the slightest hint of the "new", how can we build enough optimistic momentum to reach any sort of collective critical mass to actually enact global progress to the next form of "enlightenment"? 

I see the digital renaissance/ownership progressing via blockchain as one path, while progressing AI in parallel for automation of base knowledge work/menial tasks, but where does this leave the average person in 10-20 years? The average knowledge worker? People see such change as a drastically new path from their current one, triggering the panic in the first place, so I'm curious what your strategies/tactics are for helping modify the mass public perception towards a positive one.

Any thoughts are much appreciated 🫡

I don't think it's as bad as “filled with moral panic at the slightest hint of the new.” Our society is *conflicted* about progress. There's lots of it that we love, from new iPhones to cures for diseases. But there's a lot of fear and skepticism as well.

Turning this around is a long process, a generational one. We need to build out an intellectual foundation for the progress movement, and then get those ideas out to the world via education, media, and art. I wrote some about this here:

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I think that's fair when it comes to progress in the form of new iPhones (improvements) or inherently beneficial medical progress (longevity), but I'm thinking in the form of quantum jumps of novel technological development. 

I know chatGPT gave many people existential crises (I was working as an IP lawyer/patent agent at the time and saw it everywhere, and these are people who live in innovation). tbd on where AGI fits in, but it feels as though the type of progress that we'll see in the next 10 years will be potentially more drastic than even the Internet. 

Just read your article above and agree with your structure, thanks for all of the additional resources! One reason I quit my law/patent agent job was to prepare educational materials for people in the creator economy. 

On that note, what do you see the highest impact of education being as it relates to practical steps in people's lives? Or, at least, which realm of technological development are you most excited about at the moment?

I don't think it's as bad as “filled with moral panic at the slightest hint of the new.” Our society is *conflicted* about progress. There's lots of it that we love, from new iPhones to cures for diseases. But there's a lot of fear and skepticism as well.

Turning this around is a long process, a generational one. We need to build out an intellectual foundation for the progress movement, and then get those ideas out to the world via education, media, and art. I wrote some about this here: https://blog.rootsofprogress.org/a-thriving-progress-movement