On optimism, progress in technology, drivers of stagnation, and how to think about innovation.
Jason Crawford is the founder of The Roots of Progress, a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century. He writes and speak about the history and philosophy of progress, especially in technology and industry.
He’s also the creator of Progress Studies for Young Scholars, an online learning program about the history of technology for high schoolers, and a part-time technical consultant and adviser to Our World in Data.
Formerly, he was a software engineering manager and tech startup founder. He was co-founder & CEO of Fieldbook, a hybrid spreadsheet-database.
He’s also been an engineering manager at Flexport, Amazon and Groupon, and was at a few other startups as co-founder or early employee. Long ago he helped build a biotech supercomputer for D. E. Shaw Research.
The Roots of Progress: https://rootsofprogress.org/
Jason’s Personal Site: https://jasoncrawford.org/
Find Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jasoncrawford