Roots of Progress Institute

Everyone loves writing annual letters these days—so here’s Jason Crawford's, including his annual reading highlights: https://lnkd.in/g5q9Symi

Jason Crawford's essay series The Techno-Humanist Manifesto has concluded, and you can read the whole thing online. We're pleased to announce that the series will be revised for publication as a book from The MIT Press (expected early 2027)! https://lnkd.in/gxjA4PSk

The links digest is back! Claude’s soul, industrial leapfrogging, slop from the 1700s, the genius of Jeff Dean, and much more Links and short notes, 2025-12-19: https://lnkd.in/gXYs358E

When the cost of creation falls, the volume of production greatly expands, but the average quality necessarily falls. This overall process, however, will usher in a golden age of creativity and experimentation https://lnkd.in/gEJJfe3f

Applications are now OPEN for a new career exploration program for high school students: *Progress in Medicine* is a great opportunity for teenagers to learn from experts and be inspired by heroic work in the past to tackle future challenges. In this summer program, high school students will explore careers in in medicine, biotech, health policy, and longevity. We will inspire them with stories of historical progress and future opportunities in medicine, help them think about a wider range of careers, and raise their aspirations about how they can contribute to progress in medicine. The program centers on this central question: People today live longer, healthier, and less painful lives than ever before. Why? Who made those changes possible? Can we keep this going? And could you play a part? High school students will get: • Weekly deep-dive case studies on topics from public health to to longevity. • Practical tools and strategies for building a meaningful life and career • A chance to explore hands-on skills that for a taste of medical training • A 4-day in-residency at Stanford & tours of labs and biotech companies • Practice writing a personal essay as prep for college applications We have a great group of experts lined up to speak to modern problems they solve, including: • Celine Halioua (CEO at Loyal, dog longevity drugs) • Amesh Adalja (Senior Scholar at John Hopkins University, infectious diseases) • Jared Seehafer (Senior Advisor, FDA Office of the Commissioner, accelerating life-saving technology) • Jacob Swett (CEO Blueprint Biosecurity, clean air for infectious disease preve This is a 6-week program. 5 weeks online, 2 hours/day via Zoom. 4 days in-residency hosted at Stanford dorms, with small-group tours to research labs and biotech companies in the Bay Area. Share with parents and high school students in your network. Apply now; priority application deadline is February 8th, 2026: https://lnkd.in/gZkNqVbf

Let’s shift from a static, passive framing of our relationship to technology, to a dynamic, agentic one. Instead of debating whether a technology is inherently good or bad, let’s discuss how to navigate new landscapes—and recognize the responsibility we all have to do so https://lnkd.in/e2QDtJcQ

The Techno-Humanist Manifesto, Chapter 10: The Grand Project Progress is a grand project for humanity: one with an illustrious past and a glorious future. And its heroes are the scientist, the inventor, and the founder https://lnkd.in/eUSqHQSG

Flush with the grand success of reason and science to improve human life, the 20th century stumbled into some critical errors. The resulting crisis of optimism posed a mortal challenge to the idea of progress: https://lnkd.in/ekVCdYxc

The 19th century enthusiastically celebrated inventive and industrial achievements: with parades and fireworks, in speeches and advertisements, in art and poetry, in World's Fairs. From Chapter 9 of The Techno-Humanist Manifesto: https://lnkd.in/ey2MKzim

The Techno-Humanist Manifesto, Chapter 8: The Unlimited Horizon, part 2 We are all poor by the standards of the future. But there is no bold, ambitious vision of the future in mainstream culture. Here is one, based on mastery over all aspects of nature https://lnkd.in/ePU6UP8q