All of Tony Morley's Comments + Replies

O’Shaughnessy Fellowship Application

That's very kind; thank you very much. If you'd like to help, please consider copying that comment onto the original Twitter post application with a like or share. The VC fund head is tagged in the post, so it's always great for them to see the support. https://twitter.com/tonymmorley/status/1613513285881720839?s=20

I hope I'll hear back on my application soon. Thank you again. 

Now is the best time in history to love and be loved. 💖

Absolutely, so many people, so many stories. It's beyond challenging to fit a grand narrative into 1,500 words or less, and then pass it through professional editors. As I wrote I thought you myself, "this could be a feature length book in itself." Some of the story is clearly not the full story, but I stand behind the overarching narrative.

Starting the Journey as CEO of the Roots of Progress

Hey Heike, welcome to the community. I've taken you up on the opportunity to reach out, and I've dashed you an email this afternoon, your time. You're embarking on an important and much-needed scope of work, helping shape the future zeitgeist of humanity. One of the existential risks that are little spoken of, is a global culture that's willing to throw in the towel on civilization, to turn its back on progress, and embrace a return to the dark ages of deglobalization, and anti-solutionism.

There are many roadblocks to solving the great challenges of civili... (read more)

Tyler Cowen AMA

Preface: If we assume that a global zeitgeist of degrowth, anti-solutionism, pessimism, national tribalism, de-enlightenment, and de-globalization — creates a non-trivial risk to future human progress, then

Q: What might reasonably be done by the progress studies community to move the zeitgeist? Or is it too little, by too few, coming too late? It's sometimes difficult not to see the entirety of the progress movement as a drop in the ocean of doom-centric media.

3Tyler Cowen1yProgress has its own fans, namely those who drive it and benefit from it. So I think the Zeitgeist is not entirely against us. It is a better situation than it looks from the so-called "world of ideas" alone.
10 km2 Progress Survey: Concept

Hey mate, thank you kindly for the comment. With a budget of $100k, you could certainly do a lot. The team at Gapminder put together a data collection package for their Dollar Street project, which is an excellent basic starting point. A few interesting developments from the last post, 1. I submitted an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship application to dedicate a year to progress studies, and 2. I was offered a possible opportunity by a friend and coworker to receive some ground support via himself and his family in Rwanda, possibly in June of 2023, opening a window... (read more)

O’Shaughnessy Fellowship Application

Well, I used the Progress Forum to open-source my O’Shaughnessy Fellowship Application. I don't know if that's allowed, but I thought it was a really interesting way of putting my application forward; here goes nothing. Could a progress gap year be in the works? Fingers crossed, I get an interview. 

The Global Zeitgeist of Progress in 2023 is Broken; this One Media Trick Could Help

Thank you kindly for your warm response; most welcome indeed. I think one of the grand challenges for media is that we're physically and chemically wired with an innate negativity bias, part of the inescapable condition of being human. Thus anything that smacks of untempered optimism activates our biochemical red flag system. 

The current media, however, has exploited this doom-bait hack to maximum effect, supersaturating content with the triggers that fire our negativity response and keep us wondering whether we have enough pasta to survive the first ... (read more)

Tony Morley's Shortform

You could buy 208kg, 458 pounds, of Cottee's Breakfast Marmalade

"A pound of orange conserve costs 3 shillings, as much as a skilled labourer earns in nine days. Can you imagine working for nine days for one pound of orange marmalade" "Small wonder that the poor skip breakfast." — Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England, Ian Mortimer Source: shorturl.at/iknX9 

Currently, with the median 2022 Australian employee earnings of $1,250/week, you could buy 208kg, 458 pounds, of Cottee's Breakfast Marmalade from Amazon, with free shipping, for nine days equi... (read more)

The Global Zeitgeist of Progress in 2023 is Broken; this One Media Trick Could Help

Agree, building a new platform from the ground up would be an expensive and difficult undertaking. But I'd argue that established operations, like Big Think, Free Think, Human Progress, Warp, Progress Network etc, already have established brands and modes of communication. I think in a perfect world, a Big Think, Free Think like website would be the perfect platform as a template for a stand alone site. It's even got a perfect name, "Pivot."

I'm not sure what the best answer is, but that's why I wanted to write about it, to continue the conversation.

Peter Thiel’s Pessimism Is (Largely) Mistaken

Great to see you here, Marian; I enjoyed this op-ed from you and Gale Pooley; and shared it here and here. What's next for https://www.humanprogress.org/, or yourself, anything interesting on the horizon the progress studies community should be looking out for in 2023?

Note: Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley recently released "Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet," website here, and shared, (takes a deep breath), on February 17th, June 4th, June 20th, September 1st, September 9th, Sept... (read more)

How is progress correlated with energy intensity?

When you ask questions like that, the name Vaclav is going to come up at least a few times, and Energy and Civilization was a titan of a book. The other book from Smil that I would have to recommend in line with your question would be "Grand Transitions How the Modern World Was Made" - Vaclav Smil, c2021

Another recent Smil book, slightly out of the scope of your question but still relevant, is "Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World" - Smil c2021.

Note: Smil is a fellow Canadian, and I've had the opportunity to bounce emails around wi... (read more)

2Mathias Sundin1yThanks Tony. Currently reading his Energy: A Beginner's Guide =)
Introductions thread (please introduce yourself)

Hey team Progress Forum; Tony Morley here. I'm a part-time progress studies writer and communicator since 2018, with published work for Big Think, Free Think, The Progress Network, Quillette, Human Progress, and more. My principal vocation is in renewable energy project management, although I work within the progress space as much as I possibly can. 

I'm currently working on the world's first children's book on human progress, "Human Progress for Beginners," which will, after two painful years, (hopefully) be hitting the press in Q4 2023. I also dump a... (read more)