Social Progress

Social Progress

After 10,000 years of civilization, have we figured out what virtue is?
Women have made incredible gains into STEM fields, but they continue to face gender biases in the workplace.
workplace inclusion
6mins
An inclusion expert explains why women of color are held back.
Progress got derailed somewhere between indoor plumbing and the flying car. Why?
We asked 11 experts about the future of progress for humanity.
About the project The goal of driving more progress across the world—scientifically, politically, economically, socially, etc—is one shared by many. And yet, debates about the best way to maximize progress […]
About the project The goal of driving more progress across the world—scientifically, politically, economically, socially, etc—is one shared by many. And yet, debates about the best way to maximize progress […]
If our goal is to effect the greatest possible progress, what would it look like to approach this holistically? What might need to dispositionaly in how we approach solving our most important problems—at an individual level, a community level, or at a civilizational or global one? We asked our experts to think big picture about how what new thinking would be required to create a larger pro-progress framework.
As with any "big idea" progress means a lot of different things to different people and not everyone comes into the discussion with the same priors. Some experts are primarily focused on material progress while others emphasize the importance of moral progress. So to start the discussion, we asked each expert to define the term as they see it from their specific vantage point.
Books that were rarely taught in 1963, when baby boomers were students, became classics when those same boomers were teachers and parents.
An interview with filmmaker Jason Sussberg about his new film about Stewart Brand and the importance of culture in achieving progress.
5mins
An interview with economist Tyler Cowen on why American progress has seemed to stall and how we can get it back on track.
coronation
Televising the coronation was thought to be an affront to the dignity of the event.
6mins
WIRED founder Kevin Kelly explains why progress often looks like dystopia to the untrained eye.
metaverse
14mins
Why should anyone care about the metaverse? Expert Matthew Ball explains what it is, what it isn’t, and why it matters.
When justice isn’t tempered by something such as mercy, forgiveness, or nonviolence, efforts to make society more equitable often backfire.
John Templeton Foundation
It is wrong to think that these three statements contradict each other. We need to see that they are all true to see that a better world is possible.
Peaky Blinders Tommy Shelby
The Netflix show about a Birmingham crime family and their personal demons concluded earlier this month. 
deaths of despair
Deaths of despair are skyrocketing in the U.S., while at the same time, they are falling in other wealthy countries. What are we doing wrong?
Privateers pillaged British merchant ships in the name of liberty — and profit.
"I believe our society's gotten to the point where you can't question. You can't provoke. You just have to adhere to consensus."
Stand Together
predict who wins the bachelor
The researchers consumed a lot of wine while watching 15 seasons of the show.
Satire and an inflated sense of self-importance collide in a series of maps that goes back more than 100 years in American history.
success
The only way to support someone’s success is to understand how they define it.
Stand Together
Are we close to the end of poverty? Two people look over a neighborhood in Bogota.
The decline of global poverty is one of the most important achievements in history, but the end of poverty is still very far away.
Just don't expect the apocalypse to look like it does in the movies.
Santa Claus in his workshop
In her 2020 book, "The Alchemy of Us," Ainissa Ramirez explores how important material inventions shaped the course of human experience.