Experiencing a Deceleration in Human Advancement | Jason Crawford – Video

By Big Think 3 weeks Ago 6 Min Read

We are living through a slowdown in human progress | Jason Crawford

In the thought-provoking video “We are living through a slowdown in human progress,” Jason Crawford explores a pressing question: Are we losing faith in the very idea of progress? Historically, the concept of progress as an upward trajectory is a relatively recent one, emerging mainly in the West around the 1500s. This newfound belief flourished with the scientific revolutions and culminated in the transformative Industrial Revolution. Yet, the optimism surrounding technological advancements took a grim turn during the World Wars, leading to skepticism about modernity itself.

Contents

We are living through a slowdown in human progress | Jason Crawford

Watch the video by Big Think

Author Video Description

About Big Think

Crawford argues that this skepticism has recently manifested as a societal reluctance to pursue bold innovations. While the tech sector has thrived, overall progress in critical areas like energy and transportation has stagnated, raising concerns about whether we are, in fact, moving backward.

He emphasizes that progress is not automatic; it requires belief, investment, and a vision for the future. As we confront the costs and risks associated with technological growth, Crawford urges us to reclaim our confidence in progress, positing that future advancements—like fusion energy and artificial intelligence—could vastly improve human life.

Join Crawford on a journey through history, skepticism, and the potential of human innovation, as he challenges us to reassess our relationship with progress.

Watch the video by Big Think

Author Video Description

“People got skeptical, fearful, doubtful of the very idea of progress in the 20th century and we allowed that to slow down progress itself.”

Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1
Up next, Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime | Peter Leyden ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5k72A30kUc

Have we begun to lose faith in the future? The idea of ‘progress’ didn’t truly exist throughout the majority of human history. Most ages didn’t see history as an upward curve – they saw history as cyclical, full of ups and downs.

This belief only shifted around the 1500s, says Jason Crawford, founder of The Roots of Progress and the author of The Techno-Humanist Manifesto.

The idea that progress would automatically continue became widespread, until the first World War shattered the illusion that technology would bring peace and cooperation. Out of this rose a counterculture concern that modernity was a mistake, that progress itself was the problem. But was it? Are we now moving backwards? How can we regain trust in pushing forward?

00:00 Was modernity a mistake?
00:45 The history of progress
02:02 Francis Bacon
03:33 The Industrial Revolution
06:07 A period of optimism
07:25 Technology and world wars
08:29 The cost and risks of progress
11:46 What our future can bring

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/is-progress-inevitable/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description

———————————————————————————-

Go Deeper with Big Think:

►Become a Big Think Youtube Member
Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/

►Become a Big Think Web Member
Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more.

Big Think Membership

►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack
Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox.
https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/

———————————————————————————-

About Jason Crawford:

Jason Crawford is the founder of The Roots of Progress, where he writes and speaks about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. He is also the creator of Progress Studies for Young Scholars, an online learning program for high schoolers; and a part-time adviser and technical consultant to Our World in Data, an Oxford-based non-profit for research and data on global development.

Previously, he spent 18 years as a software engineer, engineering manager, and startup founder. From 2013–2018, he was co-founder & CEO of Fieldbook, a hybrid spreadsheet-database. He has also been an engineering manager at Flexport, Amazon, and Groupon, and a co-founder or early employee at other startups. Before that, he was a research engineer at D. E. Shaw Research, working on a new supercomputing architecture for computational biochemistry.

He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.

About Big Think

Big Think is the leading source of expert-driven, actionable, educational content — with thousands of videos, featuring experts ranging from Bill Clinton to Bill Nye, we help you get smarter, faster. Get actionable lessons from the world’s greatest thinkers & doers. Our experts are either disrupting or leading their respective fields.

Video “We are living through a slowdown in human progress | Jason Crawford” was uploaded on 11/17/2025 to Youtube Channel Big Think

Big Think 17 November 2025

20 Comments

@WhiteMouse77 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Well… How many of us noticed and recognized that it has been veeery long time since when we pay and lose as cost of progress much more than we get from it?
I mean for how long we may keep loosing before going existentially bankrupt?
Do you know to breathe in atmosphere containing the same volume of methane as oxygene?
I don't and it's even leathally toxic to me… is it to you as well?
BTW it's gonna overheat Earth surface up to 80°C too… Isn't it a bit too much?

Log in to Reply
@PabloIzurieta says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Crawford said something crucial: "progress depends on choices made". We are currently directing incredible amounts of resources to AI, social media, weapons, while at the same time annihilating the natural world.

Log in to Reply
@themaestrodamus says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

The problem is simple: Capitalism. And saying “only a small fraction of the world lives in extreme poverty” is a gross understatement. In America but that’s a common mistake; Americans – even the seemingly intelligent ones – always think America is the world.

Log in to Reply
@mininoble2253 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Technological progress is great, and while it does greatly vary in how much or little it happens over time, it is there. However, it is not sufficient to fix all of humanity's problems. People have fundamental limits in our nature and instincts that either we would need to change and no longer be humans as we are now, or work within. I like humanity as it is now, those hypothetical people would probably be a decent bit more like ants, very good at living cities, identifying strongly with their city, but with much weaker connections to the small group; immediate family, friends, or at forming close bonds with people from outside their city. Along with many other changes that would seem alien to us. I'd rather we just find better ways to make the small group dynamics we're already adapted for work better, that would probably mean we go back to smallholder farming but with better agricultural methods or a new industrial equivalent. In addition, If you're a fan of democracy option 2 is much more likely to sustain it. Smallholder farmers act as good stake holders in their communities and governments, creating stable republics.

Log in to Reply
@immemoria says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Slightly concerning the lack of an actual definition of the word 'progress' here. For the majority of this piece it feels like he's just assuming there's a general consensus that 'progress' means the development of increasingly complex machines…

Log in to Reply
@georgiakic says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

I don't understand why his only definition of progress seems to be in terms of technological progress? Like yes, there is an argument for there not being nearly as much technological progress in the last 50 years compared to the 50 years prior. But how about the social progress we've made in that time? How about the progress we've made in terms of viewing the environment as a necessary and important factor to consider? Slowing down technological progress doesn't mean we're overall living through a slowdown in human progress.

Also, hate the aspect ratio.

Log in to Reply
@luizpereira7165 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

This discourse might have made sense a few years ago, but it certainly doesn’t now. We are living through what is perhaps the most disruptive decade since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. AI, robotics, starships, automotive electrification, renewable energy cheaper than oil, EVTOLs—it's all unfolding simultaneously. We are experiencing our own version of the Roaring Twenties, but for the 21st century.

Log in to Reply
@ScootinUrCoot1738 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Bacon has a book called the new Atlantis…I believe he assumed america was the new Atlantis. Its a fascinating book, however incorrect it might possibly be

Log in to Reply
@MiatasAndOtherThings says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

We turn progress into misery, not just prosperity. Humanity turns the invention of the sowing machine into sweatshops, the invention of the internet into an ad- and bot-riddled nightmare, the discovery of nuclean fission into a bomb. These are all stemming from the endless hunger for power, money and growth from a small minority. If we do not solve this problem, our progress is going to be the end of us sooner rather than later. We will pollute our planet with our progress, we will keep waging war with our increasingly deadly technologies and we will create a power structure that will drain humanity and the earth of all its beauty and dignity so a small group can build their ballrooms…

Progress under capitalism and the now once again growing totalitarianism not only stagnates, it deteriorates. It will not take limits into account because it cannot do so in a system of infinite growth. It will plunder and kill and it will carelessly take the entire planet and humanity with it to achieve its cancerous goal. We need to reassess our economical system and our political systems to unlock progress once again. To get the smart minds thinking of solutions for climate change instead of making poluting chatbots to beat each other's net worth and shake pennies from the pockets of the poor. To get our children educated again, properly and free of charge, so we can have these big revolutionary discoveries again next generation, instead of breaking down our educational systems because they go against the (lack of) morals of a single leader. To use our brilliant discoveries for good instead of purely for profit. To stop the endless overflow of consumption that is literally killing our planet and our people.

But we won't. At least not until the doomsday clock has ticked way past midnight. Most people are too busy running in the rat race to even know they're a rat. Others like being in this horrendous system because they personally thrive in its harsh cruelty, or they are brainwashed to think it's the only thing we can be. "It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism".

We could be more, but not if we stay on our current path. This is a pivotal moment. Stop simping for a broken system and start pushing (or at the very least voting) for change.

Log in to Reply
@find2hard says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Progress becomes harder as all the low hanging fruit has been picked, but not impossible.

Log in to Reply
@mariamorgan8447 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Agree

Log in to Reply
@fredseiler9109 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Excellent video! When will Jason Crawford’s book become available?

Log in to Reply
@JamesStiling1985 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Has technological progress made people happier, feel more at peace? Sure, we live longer but technological progress has helped the wealthy become much more wealthy on the backs of normal hardworking people. Real wealth is being present, breathing fresh air, self-expression. Power structures ruin any "progress" that we may havr.

Log in to Reply
@mihugong3153 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

"Scientific, technological and economic progress"? We already have the technology to transfer Earth into a paradise. What we're doing with it instead is because we lack psychological maturity as a species. That is where we need to progress most urgenty before we ruin the planet.

Log in to Reply
@jenniferritter4806 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Define progress. Human wellbeing, human flourishing? Which humans? Those mining our rare earth minerals? What about the “natural” world? Natural is in quotes because humans are a part of the natural world whether we acknowledge that or not. The non-human natural world is in crisis. Anti-flourishing if you will. So who is going to gain what from “progress”, whatever you mean by that

Log in to Reply
@harrypearle9781 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

"PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT" (Vince Lobardi, Football Coact)
Jewish Talmud, Rabbi Preida, Eruvin 54B Repeat Lessons 400 X, or more
=========================================================== TNX Jason
Hope to hear back from you. Incredible Incites, H

Log in to Reply
@robwyyi says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

Is it a slow down or settling down to reasonable rate.

Log in to Reply
@kylechristian6902 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

You didn’t have that revelation first buddy, the ruining of human progress started over a decade ago minimum

Log in to Reply
@dr.rubaiatrubaiatjoy says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

I think his word is good but I will say progress is good but not in the price of human mental health ,all those era provided that but our modern information technology has been a puppet of dividing people and creating unequal distribution , and the threat to our mind .if we balance this our progress will be outstanding in history

Log in to Reply
@henrythegreatamerican8136 says:

17 November 2025 at 21:34

You forgot the biggest breakthrough between 1970 and today.

Financial engineering!!!! It helped create the richest people the world has ever known and might give rise to the first trillionaire in human history.

Log in to Reply