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The Roots of Progress

Jason Crawford, Ben Thomas, Emma McAleavy, Andy Hall
Hundreds of paid subscribers

The history of technology and the philosophy of progress, plus announcements from the Roots of Progress Institute

Platform
Substack
PricingFreemiumPublishesWeekly
Issues245Founded4 years agoLast Issue6 days ago
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Latest Issues

Get your fine, handcrafted artisanal essays right here

I don’t use AI to draft my writing. These are fine handcrafted artisanal essays, every word placed individually with loving care.

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Blog-Building Intensive Applications Due Monday!

You have 3 more days to submit your application to the Blog-Building Intensive program, a writing intensive for aspiring progress writers.

You can read more about this year’s program or apply here. The application deadline is this Monday,...

19 days ago
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Join us today on Substack Live to learn about the Blog-Building Intensive Fellowship

We’ll be hosting a Substack Live event at 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET this afternoon. Come learn more about the nuts and bolts of the Blog-Building Intensive Fellowship.

Join us on Substack Live

You have 5 more days to submit your application to t...

21 days ago
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What is happening in the world

AI, stagnation, populism, my theory of wokeism, and more

At a Roots of Progress annual team meeting, I gave a short presentation on the state of the world. It was informal, opinionated, mostly off-the-cuff, and not fact-checked. Here’s wha...

a month ago
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Paid

Announcing Progress Conference 2026

Announcing the third annual Progress Conference! The pace of technological change feels faster this year, and the progress movement is growing too. Gathering people together helps build community and establish a movement’s identity. We want...

2 months ago
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Authors

The writers behind this newsletter.

  • Jason Crawford

    Founder, Roots of Progress Institute (rootsofprogress.org). I write about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress.

  • Ben Thomas

    Building the progress movement. Learning by doing! Economics, math, distance running, books, dogs, and more.

  • Emma McAleavy

    Growing the progress studies talent pipeline.

  • Andy Hall

    Experiments to preserve liberty in an algorithmic world. Prof @ Stanford GSB & Hoover.

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