Progress Problems - Dialogue 2022

Within the wake of a world-historic pandemic, during an ongoing land war in Eastern Europe, and amidst the effects of climate change might strike some as an odd time to dwell on, let alone celebrate, progress. Yet the chorus of the card-carrying "progress community" has only grown in recent years. As regular followers of the Breakthrough Institute's work will recognize, there is good reason for this. The centuries since the Industrial Revolution have witnessed unprecedented material and social progress. But with that progress came devastating ecological impacts, climatically and otherwise, as well as escalating institutional sclerosis and cultural tension that have threatened the very processes and institutions that drive progress in the first place. Meanwhile, many have come to question the virtue of our modern, atomized, consumptive society, materially and scientifically abundant though it may be. Can we agree on the causes and goals of a progress movement, what obstacles it faces, and what institutions might best sustain it?
Featuring:
Caleb Watney, Co-Founder, Institute for Progress
Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, Professor of Public Policy, University of Southern California
Yascha Mounk, Professor, Practice of International Affairs, John Hopkins University
Alex Trembath, Deputy Director, Breakthrough Institute