Key concepts every Progress researcher should understand
Key concepts every Progress researcher should understand
They are foundational to our understanding of progress
This article is part of my ongoing series on Progress Studies. You can read more on the topic in the following posts:
Key concepts every Progress researcher should understand (this article)
I believe that Progress Studies researchers need to behave as if they belong to an established academic discipline. I believe that Progress Studies is more than that, but this is a solid foundation to start from.
The first step for anyone who wants to be accepted into an established academic discipline is to prove that you have done the work. By that, I mean that you have read and are fully acquainted with all the key concepts and can discuss them with other members of the discipline.
For most academic disciplines, this knowledge is most easily acquired in a university. However since Progress Studies is not yet an established academic discipline, the first generation must find alternative paths.
For each of the concepts below, I will link to the book summaries in my library of online book summaries, as well as articles that I have written on the subject. I go into much more detail in my book, From Poverty to Progress. In fact, I think that I can honestly say that this book was my attempt to integrate all that was useful about all these concepts together into one big theory of human material progress.
Here is a list of concepts and processes that I believe every Progress studies researcher needs to fully understand and apply to their research:
Progress
(well, duh!) The inclusion of this concept is obvious, but most Progress Studies researchers do not yet have a firm grasp of what the discipline is about. Fortunately, that is pretty easily remedied by reading the links in this article.Evolution by natural selection
Many (most?) progress researchers believe that progress is an evolutionary process. By that, I mean that it is not directed by any one man, government, institution, or God. Nor is it controlled by any groups of the above.
Progress is the largely accidental outcome of millions of people. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is a powerful explanation for how complexity can emerge from simplicity. It is also very applicable to technological innovation. These articles are not explicitly about natural selection, but they do show how biology impacts human history.Cultural Evolution
To explain modern progress, one must also have a basic understanding of how human societies changed before the advent of modern progress. I believe that the concept of Cultural Evolution is by far the most useful concept in doing so. Cultural Evolution essentially combines biology and culture and shows how the two forces interact to explain why societies change over time.Geography and its impact on how societies change and, more importantly, do not change.
The vast majority of Progress researchers and economists ignore the importance of geography to explain the starting point of societies before the Industrial Revolution. I believe that that leads to incomplete explanations for modern events.Food production & Energy
It may not be obvious, but food and energy are essential for understanding how complexity emerges from simplicity. And more importantly, how progress emerges from complexity. Quite simply, one cannot innovate unless one can survive first, and most of human history has been a struggle to acquire enough food to survive. This also explains why food production and energy technologies have had such transformative effects on human societies. This is why I have so many articles on energy and food, and plan to write many more.Society types
Another key concept that enables us to understand how human societies changed before the advent of modern progress is society types. It nicely ties food and energy together with societal change. This perspective was very popular in the Enlightenment and 19th Century and has since lost popularity. I believe that we must rediscover the value of this concept.
I have an entire ongoing series of posts, including an introductory article and how it helps us to easily conceptualize all of human history so I will not explain further here.Commercial societies
Now we are getting to where progress actually started. Commercial societies are a specific type of society where most humans acquire the majority of their food calories by working in the marketplace and then using the earned money to purchase food.
This may sound obvious today, but it was revolutionary at the time (as still is). I believe that Commercial societies invented human material progress. What distinguishes Commercial societies from today’s Industrial societies is the lack of widespread use of fossil fuels.
I will be writing more about Commercial societies in future posts. The top right of this graphic gives you a sneak peek of what I am going to say (or you can buy my book!)Industrial Revolution
Now we are getting to a topic that most Progress researchers are very familiar with. The Industrial Revolution was one of the four great transformations in human history. Fortunately, we have hundreds of books and thousands of articles on the subject. There is no way I can possibly summarize the ever-expanding literature here. I am going to write many posts on the topic.I believe that the fundamental problem with the current literature is that, because they are unfamiliar with the concepts listed above, economic historians have come to the wrong conclusions as to why the Industrial Revolution took place where and when it did. They have also mistakenly assumed that the Industrial Revolution was the beginning of progress.
Why did Europe get rich first?
This topic is closely related to the last topic, but even more sizeable. Some of the best books ever written deal with this topic. Those who ask this question tend to go back much further in history than those who research the Industrial Revolution. The researchers in this area tend to be historians without a background in economic history. This gives them a broader understanding of progress and a willingness to use non-economic causes, theories, and methods.Technological Innovation
This is what I believe the vast majority of Progress researchers focus on, although many of them are not familiar with the previous literature on the topic. I think the focus is justified, as technological innovation is the single most important factor in how progress works in our daily lives. It is, however, not the only factor. Technology and Innovation are two different disciplines, but they are closely related. Books on technology tend to be more specific and less abstract. Books on innovation tend to be more theoretic and general. I think understanding both is essential for Progress researchers.
One of the reasons why I do not touch on the subject much in this Substack is because I am deliberately trying to emphasize topics that I think other Progress researchers unintentionally deemphasize (largely because of not understanding the literature and concepts listed above).Big History
Perhaps I should have started with this topic, but I decided to push it down the list, as its connection with progress is not obvious. For those who do not know, Big History is history that includes all human history and everything that came before it. It goes all the way back to the Big Bang!
I believe that human material progress is the unintentional outcome of an evolutionary process that started with the Big Bang. You do not have to agree with that statement, but if you believe that progress is an evolutionary process, then you need to understand how progress evolved from non-progress. A basic understanding of Big History makes this much easier.Microeconomics and price theory.
I know less about this topic than the others on this list, but it is essential nonetheless. I do not have a specific list of books on this important field. Perhaps you have some suggestions. I just don’t see how anyone can make contributions to understanding progress without a basic grasp of markets, information, prices, and related concepts. Not understanding the basics here can lead you massively astray.Impact of Institutions on economic growth
Probably the dominant explanation of modern economic growth within the field of economics and political science is Institutionalism. Institutionalists argue that economic growth arises when nations organize their institutions to promote the rule of law, low corruption, freedom, democracy, and relatively free markets. When you get the institutions right, economic growth will follow. Get the institutions wrong, and you will get little if any economic growth.Economic Complexity
Progress Studies is adjacent to economic history, and I believe that the most exciting field in economic history is Economic Complexity. It explains how nations and industries gradually ratchet their way up to manufacturing value chain. This is particularly key to those who want to understand industrialization and developing nations.Other fields?
There are plenty of other fields that are useful, but I think the above list is a great place to start. I have many more concepts on this list down towards the bottom.
I am not saying that these are the only concepts that Progress Studies researchers must understand, but I do believe that they are the most important.
So what do you all think? Are there any concepts that I have underestimated? Are there any that I missed?
This article is part of my ongoing series on Progress Studies. You can read more on the topic in the following posts:
Key concepts every Progress researcher should understand (this article)
I am not sure if this is relevant, but there is a new (old?) approach to economic progress that some second world countries rely upon. And that is progress focused authoritarianism. China has been using this approach over the last 30, Russia is using it currently. It works under certain conditions producing impressive economic results. “We don’t need democracy, we don’t need political freedom, we will just promote economic growth through government programs designed by the best and the brightest.” Maybe it only works short-term (as long as society tolerates it), but it does seem to be working. Maybe this approach to progress is also worth studying, especially considering the growing belief in authoritarianism in US.
Awesome summary. I will break my comments up by topic.
I think one field that is substantially under emphasized here (and in most progress studies) is Coordination. Progress is a wide scale outcome based upon the combined efforts of a population (preferably humanity in total). We can do infinitely more together than apart, and separately we are prone to interference, conflict and zero/negative sum exploitation. Thus coordination (a much broader term than cooperation), is absolutely essential in progress.
The study of coordination starts with game theory, the study of evolutionary transitions (to higher levels of coordination such as cells, eukaryotes, multicellular life, colonies, etc), and then extends/builds into models of human cooperation, social organization, economics, politics and so forth.
I can provide extensive referrals to the best sources on this topic.