Progress studies is an interdisciplinary field focused on understanding and enhancing societal progress, investigating technological innovation, economic development, scientific discovery, cultural and social factors, innovation ecosystems, and historical precedents. It aims to identify the drivers of progress and formulate strategies to optimise them in response to concerns about potential slowdowns in technological and societal advancements. Scholars in progress studies engage in discussions around the concept of "accelerating progress" and explore the roles of education, public policy, research and development, and collaborative efforts among various entities in fostering positive societal advancements.
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(highlight:: Effective approaches to identify and train talented young individuals.

1. Strategies for small groups to efficiently exchange and disseminate ideas.
2. Designing incentives for diverse participants in innovative ecosystems, such as scientists, entrepreneurs, managers, and engineers.
3. Understanding the varying levels of productivity among different organisations and the factors influencing these differences.
4. Methods for selecting and funding scientists.
5. Exploration of other related issues.)
   - View Highlight
   - ideas/progress-studies,
   - [note::Small group performance/innovation, designing high-output innovation ecosystems, & effective org design all resonate to me]

Organisations such as Y Combinator, Entrepreneur First, and NASA have shown time and again to catalyse progress that affects wider society. It would be very impactful to understand what sets these organisations apart from others, and implement interventions that increase the efficiency, productivity, and innovative capacity of our organisations.
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- [note::This is something that The Smart Mission book (Larry Prusak) dances around, but it doesn't really discuss the concrete factors (e.g. org structure) that makes NASA so influential.]

Engineers are in a good position to contribute to literature on progress studies. Engineers understand how technologies get developed and implemented and are generally excited about technological advances. To contribute to this literature, it is a good idea to start writing early so you can build up your writing skills. Eventually, you might be able to contribute to places such as the Institute for Progress or join the Roots of Progress Fellowship.
- View Highlight
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(highlight:: Many traditional VC funds are not adequately equipped to evaluate the potential impact and performance of technical startups. This is because they lack analysts with science or engineering backgrounds who have the requisite skills to conduct in-depth technical assessments of the product or service being developed.

1. One downside is that VCs don’t generally fund very speculative or immature technologies, or technologies that don’t have a high earning potential, so you may not gain the skills needed to evaluate these unproven technologies.)
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You might not agree with the intense focus on economic growth, which is often used as a proxy for innovation and progress, and has become the default goal. You may also have other philosophical disagreements with Progress Studies, as it tends towards techno-utopianism (”critics claim that techno-utopianism’s identification of social progress with scientific progress is a form of positivism and scientism”; “they also point out that it has little to say about the environmental impact of technology and that its ideas have little relevance for much of the rest of the world that are still relatively quite poor” – Wikipedia).
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- [note::Generally agree with this - I believe that for many social/societal problems, we already have the tools and technologies needed to solve them. We just need to find the right ways to tailor and apply them.]

Depending on what you count as progress, it may not solely hinge on new discoveries and inventions; progress can also result from improved distribution of their benefits. Some argue that enhancing the quality of life can be most efficiently achieved by widely disseminating existing technologies rather than constantly pursuing new innovations. If you lean towards this perspective, your focus might be on global health and development rather than progress studies, which primarily emphasises advancing cutting-edge technologies in affluent, democratic nations like the US, rather than facilitating catch-up growth that uplifts poor countries.
- View Highlight
-

Progress studies is an interdisciplinary field focused on understanding and enhancing societal progress, investigating technological innovation, economic development, scientific discovery, cultural and social factors, innovation ecosystems, and historical precedents. It aims to identify the drivers of progress and formulate strategies to optimise them in response to concerns about potential slowdowns in technological and societal advancements. Scholars in progress studies engage in discussions around the concept of "accelerating progress" and explore the roles of education, public policy, research and development, and collaborative efforts among various entities in fostering positive societal advancements.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Effective approaches to identify and train talented young individuals.

1. Strategies for small groups to efficiently exchange and disseminate ideas.
2. Designing incentives for diverse participants in innovative ecosystems, such as scientists, entrepreneurs, managers, and engineers.
3. Understanding the varying levels of productivity among different organisations and the factors influencing these differences.
4. Methods for selecting and funding scientists.
5. Exploration of other related issues.)
   - View Highlight
   - ideas/progress-studies,
   - [note::Small group performance/innovation, designing high-output innovation ecosystems, & effective org design all resonate to me]

Organisations such as Y Combinator, Entrepreneur First, and NASA have shown time and again to catalyse progress that affects wider society. It would be very impactful to understand what sets these organisations apart from others, and implement interventions that increase the efficiency, productivity, and innovative capacity of our organisations.
- View Highlight
-
- [note::This is something that The Smart Mission book (Larry Prusak) dances around, but it doesn't really discuss the concrete factors (e.g. org structure) that makes NASA so influential.]

Engineers are in a good position to contribute to literature on progress studies. Engineers understand how technologies get developed and implemented and are generally excited about technological advances. To contribute to this literature, it is a good idea to start writing early so you can build up your writing skills. Eventually, you might be able to contribute to places such as the Institute for Progress or join the Roots of Progress Fellowship.
- View Highlight
-

(highlight:: Many traditional VC funds are not adequately equipped to evaluate the potential impact and performance of technical startups. This is because they lack analysts with science or engineering backgrounds who have the requisite skills to conduct in-depth technical assessments of the product or service being developed.

1. One downside is that VCs don’t generally fund very speculative or immature technologies, or technologies that don’t have a high earning potential, so you may not gain the skills needed to evaluate these unproven technologies.)
   - View Highlight
   -

You might not agree with the intense focus on economic growth, which is often used as a proxy for innovation and progress, and has become the default goal. You may also have other philosophical disagreements with Progress Studies, as it tends towards techno-utopianism (”critics claim that techno-utopianism’s identification of social progress with scientific progress is a form of positivism and scientism”; “they also point out that it has little to say about the environmental impact of technology and that its ideas have little relevance for much of the rest of the world that are still relatively quite poor” – Wikipedia).
- View Highlight
-
- [note::Generally agree with this - I believe that for many social/societal problems, we already have the tools and technologies needed to solve them. We just need to find the right ways to tailor and apply them.]

Depending on what you count as progress, it may not solely hinge on new discoveries and inventions; progress can also result from improved distribution of their benefits. Some argue that enhancing the quality of life can be most efficiently achieved by widely disseminating existing technologies rather than constantly pursuing new innovations. If you lean towards this perspective, your focus might be on global health and development rather than progress studies, which primarily emphasises advancing cutting-edge technologies in affluent, democratic nations like the US, rather than facilitating catch-up growth that uplifts poor countries.
- View Highlight
-