Jason Crawford

@jasoncrawford.eth

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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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@jasoncrawford.eth

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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@jasoncrawford.eth

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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@jasoncrawford.eth

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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@jasoncrawford.eth

“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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@jasoncrawford.eth

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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@jasoncrawford.eth

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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@jasoncrawford.eth

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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@jasoncrawford.eth

I'll be speaking at @vitalik.eth's “d/acc Day” at Berkeley on Thursday My talk: “d/acc: The first 150 years.” A whirlwind tour of how society has thought about progress, decentralization and defense over the last century and a half Should be livestreamed and recorded https://lu.ma/o99rcou9

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@jasoncrawford.eth

A visible sonic boom, AI in SaaS, progress on permitting reform, fewer tornado deaths, the closing of the frontier, Rousseau and Kant vs. the Age of Reason, and more https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/links-and-short-notes-2025-03-10

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@jasoncrawford.eth

The Techno-Humanist Manifesto, Chapter 5: Solutionism (part 2) There is no tradeoff between health/safety and progress, because health and safety are a part of progress. But the technical work of health and safety has gone mostly unsung https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/solutionism-part-2

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@jasoncrawford.eth

Progress studies in university and high school, a positive supply shock for truth, the hinge of history, Elon in perpetual wartime, Dean Ball on AI liability, Kevin Kelly on the handoff to bots, and more: https://newsletter.rootsofprogress.org/p/links-and-short-notes-2025-03-03

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@jasoncrawford.eth

Save the date: Progress Conference 2025 will be October 16–19 in Berkeley, CA Hosted by the Roots of Progress Institute together with the Abundance Institute, the Foresight Institute, the Foundation for American Innovation, HumanProgress, the Institute for Humane Studies, and Works in Progress magazine. Speakers and more details to be announced this spring. https://rootsofprogress.org/conference

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@jasoncrawford.eth

3yo this morning: “There are two ways you can die. One is if your heart stops beating and stops pumping blood to your body. The other is if you turn sixteen.” 😳

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@jasoncrawford.eth

A crypto investor reached out to me and is interested in “funding a research paper about tokenization as a new mechanism for funding science moonshots.” He has some notes/ideas, but thinks it should be written up as an econ paper He has $40k to devote to this. DC me if interested or if you have a referral

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@jasoncrawford.eth

I gave a talk to high schoolers: The Future of Humanity—And How You Can Help We hear a lot about disaster scenarios, from pandemic diseases to catastrophic climate change. Is humanity doomed? Or can we solve these challenges, and even create a future that is better than the world has ever seen? I make the case for problem-solving, based on both history and theory, and conclude by pointing towards some of the most important problems and opportunities to work on, to create the best possible future for humanity. https://youtu.be/3Sm7qHd_Qy0

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@jasoncrawford.eth

On the “hinge of history”

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