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I am not sure whether Substack notified you, but I cross-posted this article today. It is part of my series of cross-posting what I believe to be the best progress-related articles.

I am looking forward to reading your future posts on progress.

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author

I didn't get a notification about that as far as I can tell. But that's much appreciated! Now you've raised the bar even higher for me next time 😉

very glad to be able to contribute to the progress studies movement and your publication too, though.

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An outstanding essay! One of the best that I have ever read on human material progress. Very impressive.

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Do you plan on writing more posts on topics related to human material progress? If so, would you like me to add your column to this list?

https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/subscribe-to-progress-related-substacks

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author

I do! Although I have other topics that I write about as well, I often come back to progress related ideas in various ways. In any case, some progress related topics I hope to explore in 2024 are Nuclear power, tech policy and regulations in Europe, AI and its implications, among others. So while I don't wanna "limit" my newsletter to strictly progress related matters, it will be a recurring theme for sure. And feel free to include me in that list!

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Will do.

Being on the list in no way obligates you to limit your newsletter exclusively to the topic of progress, as long as the topic is a recurring theme.

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We are biologically wired to think like a Malthusian. Many aspects of "Progress” are deeply counterintuitive to our nature.

I do wonder, though, if we are unable to sustain our rate of innovation, if blocked via growing regulations, slowing population, or otherwise...if we may fall into a new Malthusian trap in this century.

Maybe there is more than one trap and we only escaped the first?

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author

Yes that's actually one of the major risks we face, ironically.

Good question. Maybe that would be something like the civilizational trap of the great filter a lá Fermi? But I think, like you suggested that the biggest concern might be that society just falls back into a malthusian world, the centuries pass and we collectively forget about growth and progress.

By the way, thank you for the Thanos analogy, got that one from your post! 😉

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Dec 31, 2023Liked by Philip Skogsberg

The Thanos analogy, alas, does not come from me, it comes from the book Superabundance. I did come up with the distinction between dematerializing things rather than people, however. :)

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