What's coming next? We sit down with a modern renaissance man, economist, and podcaster Tyler Cowen to participate in what he calls his greatest pleasure: information extraction. We pick his brain on everything from mRNA to housing bubbles to literature. "The world," he tells us, "has never been more optimistic than it is now." What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 27
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been framed as a global inflection point. It may or may not be in actuality, but it is certainly a moment that challenges our assumptions of how we view the current world order and opens questions about what the next one would best look like. Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America and a Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, joins us to discuss what is happening now in Ukraine and where the future of defense is going...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 26
What is happiness, and why does it feel so difficult to find? The path to purpose, meaning, love, and contentment is actually no mystery, says Harvard University social scientist Arthur C. Brooks. He shares the research for how to invest in a thriving “happiness 401k.” What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Work ain’t what it used to be—just ask the millions of Americans who are part of the “Great Resignation.” Venture capitalist and head of Bloomberg Beta, Roy Bahat, is looking to shape work for the better, from new forms of labor organizing to remote-friendly tech. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 06, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Is progress still possible? We believe so, and we're not alone. Jason Crawford, founder of The Roots of Progress, sits down with us to talk about the possibilities of the future and makes a case for optimism in the face of pessimistic predictions about tomorrow. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 30, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 23
It might seem counterintuitive to ask in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, but is humanity winning the fight against infectious disease? Charles Kenny, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, says we are. But we must continue availing ourselves of the solutions that have led to this progress if that answer is to stay. In this interview, Kenny speaks with The Progress Network Executive Director Emma Varvaloucas about his new book, The Plague Cycle, outlining the immense headway hum...
Feb 23, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 22
The United States is a country divided, characterized by collapsing levels of trust in our institutions, in our politics, and in each other. How did we get into this mess, and how do we get out? Join The Progress Network for a conversation with TPN Members David Brooks and Theodore R. Johnson, hosted by our founder, Zachary Karabell, centered around this question. They examine ideas for how to bridge our divides at both an individual and collective level. This conversation was recorded on Decemb...
Feb 16, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Are we on the brink of a population explosion with untold global consequences? On the contrary, a growing number of experts argue that we are headed for a worldwide decline. Hear from Empty Planet authors John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker on how this could bring with it many benefits as well as surprising disruptions. This recording was first released on March 5th, 2019. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...
Feb 09, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 20
What do university students in Britain and Trump voters in the United States have in common? They're lonely. In fact, Noreena Hertz says, loneliness is the defining feature of this century, thanks to a host of drivers ranging from the technological to the economic. The Progress Network founder Zachary Karabell joins Noreena, an economist and author of The Lonely Century, as she elucidates whether we're really more lonely than we used to be, what has led, pandemic aside, to our current state of h...
Feb 02, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 19
It's no secret that social media is politically divisive. What we may not be as aware of is how our own behavior feeds into a positive feedback loop that leaves both sides progressively more outraged and more extreme in their beliefs. What should we be aware of before we like, share, and react to politically inflammatory content online? What techniques do we have at our disposal to improve our online behavior? The Progress Network Member Robert Wright, president of the Nonzero Foundation and a l...
Jan 26, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 18
What are we to make of the social and financial phenomenon of cryptocurrency? Will it spell the democratization of money free from government control, or is it simply a bubble that is going to pop? The Progress Network founder Zachary Karabell sits down with Wences Casares, a technology entrepreneur and one of the early advocates of Bitcoin, who believes that it will prove to be bigger than the Internet. This recording was first released on January 23rd, 2018. What Could Go Right? is produced by...
Jan 19, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Ideas start wars and movements, undergird societies and governments, and shape the daily experiences of our personal lives. We ignore or underestimate the power of ideas to our detriment. And yet they can feel slippery to reckon with; difficult to see, tougher still to understand their complex movement through the world. Join The Progress Network for a wide-ranging discussion on ideas—which ones are significant now, which may be significant in the future, and how we can participate in ideas' pow...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 16
At its worst, today’s capitalism is risky, reckless, and rapacious, unmindful of its impact on society and addicted to the motto that more is always more. Surrounded by these conditions, we might forget that it doesn’t have to be this way—today’s capitalism is just one of many capitalisms, and we can choose to swim in new waters instead. Editor-at-large for the Financial Times (US) Gillian Tett and The Progress Network Founder Zachary Karabell discuss. This conversation was recorded on June 10, ...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Is higher education due for a makeover? The pandemic has only accelerated the trends disrupting the traditional model of higher ed. So it’s an opportune time to look ahead and discuss what's coming next, from closing the gap that has opened between elite schools and the rest to the waning of standardized admissions tests to the rise of online and hybrid learning from the fringe to the center. Along the way, of course, we'll be answering the ever-acute question of what it is all supposed to be fo...
Dec 15, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 14
When we think about our environmental future, it's no wonder that many of us feel an overwhelm bordering on defeat. We've been hearing for years about the damage humanity has done to our world and the coming climate apocalypse, which if you listen to some is now impossible to avert. There's no denying that climate change is a real and significant issue. But is the narrative of climate catastrophism accurate, and is it doing us any good? Join The Progress Network for a conversation with Ted Nordh...
Dec 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 13
We're back with part 2 of our Web Summit episode, bringing you conversations with people who are trying to make the world a better place. Today we talk with Sonia Jorge, Executive Director for Alliance for Affordable Internet and Head of Digital Inclusion Program at Web Foundation, to hear how they are creating the conditions for affordable Internet in countries worldwide and what they have learned along the way. Next, we sit down with Robert Barrow, the CEO of MindMed, a company that researches...
Dec 01, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 12
We recently attended Web Summit, a conference that brought together more than 30,000 people and over a thousand startups of all sizes. While we were there, we sat down to talk with a few people whose companies aim to make the future brighter. Our first conversation is with Donnel Baird, the founder of BlocPower, an NYC-based company that "turns buildings into Teslas." BlockPower retrofits residential buildings to wean them off dirty energy and make them green. The second is with Bobby Healy, the...
Nov 24, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 11
We all want a more generous world, but how do we design the future we want? In our Season 1 finale, Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter and founder of The Bento Society, talks with us about rethinking our self-interests and imagining and creating a better tomorrow. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 27, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Does it feel impossible trying to maneuver through the minefield of free speech, inclusivity, and "wokeness"? Or are we experiencing a much-needed disruption to the status quo? Today we're joined by Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, the leading human rights and free expression organization, to talk about navigating and defending free speech and free expression while also cultivating a more inclusive public culture. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network an...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 9
How do global changes affect us on the local level, and vice versa? Today, writer and journalist James Fallows, and the founder of FutureMap, Parag Khanna, join us to discuss the interplay between the tectonic forces of geopolitics and the specific currents of the everyday. They contrast the narratives that are animating different regions of the world—especially in the United States and Asia around inequality, optimism, and defeatism—and forecast a future of migration and climate change adaptati...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 8
The list of urgent things to fix — climate change, inequality, poverty — is long. In a world where every problem seems top-priority, what does it actually look like when we get together to solve complex, thorny issues? Today, we're talking with John McArthur, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution, about how nations and governments push forward on "all the big stuff." He reminds us that we have made surprising progress on some things on the list, and that...
Oct 06, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Life has gotten a lot better for a lot of people. But the story of upward movement, while true overall, is not felt equally across society. We see the consequences of that playing out in the United States, where tension over our immediate failures, not celebration over our big-picture successes, carries the day. In this episode, we speak with public intellectual John Wood Jr, a national leader at Braver Angels, an organization dedicated to depolarizing politics, about the power of inner transfor...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 6
When you hear the word "economics," do you hit the snooze button? Yet, how we structure our economies, whom they serve, and even what we decide to measure has an enormous impact. A few changes could mean the difference between a world we've sucked dry and one where we all flourish. We talk through the unknown outcomes of a post-COVID economy and why we need to move beyond GDP with Diane Coyle, co-director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, who conducts int...
Sep 22, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 5
If politics is the new religion, we're in desperate need of reform. Alison Goldsworthy, CEO of The Depolarization Project, and Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School, examine how we've landed in the middle of a polarization hurricane and how we can get out if it. In the long run, they tell us, things are likely to settle. But short-term, Gen Z in particular might be in for a rocky ride. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The ...
Sep 15, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Not too long ago, the Internet was seen as humanity's great hope. Today it feels more like our undoing. We see social media amplifying negative voices and harassment and producing political partisanship and interpersonal dysfunction, and it seems like no one knows to fix it—except maybe these two. Today we're joined by Danielle Keats Citron, a leading expert on information privacy, free speech, and civil rights, and Eli Pariser, co-founder of Upworthy and the author of "The Filter Bubble," who n...
Sep 08, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 3
The way we work is in constant evolution. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, do we have a chance to redesign the workplace and workforce for the better? Or will we go back to the way things were before the world locked down? Zeynep Ton, president of the nonprofit Good Jobs Institute, and Joan C. Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, join us to examine how we might improve the future of work. What Could Go Right? is produc...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 2
The bad news? The social contract is broken. The good? It can be mended. An entrepreneur working at the intersection of geopolitics, markets, and technology, Alec Ross has traversed the private and public sectors in his varied career, including a stint as Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Obama administration. In his new book, "The Raging 2020s," he looks at how we might restore the balance of power among government, citizens, and business. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Net...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 1
