I am sure that you already aware of this (but your readers may not be), but there are many other books on progress other than Mokyr's and Landes' books.
Here is a list of the books that I think are the best:
Would be curious to hear your take on the recent Acemoglu and Johnson book, Power and Progress. Their argument is not totally inconsistent with Mokyr's (though they disagree with McClosky that bourgeois virtues were "unabashedly positive"—their words), but they think the most important causes of the "middling revolution" that took shape first in England and then Britain were institutional changes—rooted not in Enlightenment thought but in the decline of feudalism—that encouraged innovation starting as early as the 15th century, and flourished gradually on through the 1800s as various new groups resisted the bonds of feudalism more successfully than in other places in the world. Acemoglu and Johnson claim also to be inspired above all by the works of Robert Brenner, though they don't much use a Marxian lingua franca.
Interesting article. You might be interested in my Substack column, which also focuses on human material progress. Joel Mokyr wrote a great recommendation of my book, which my Substack column is based.
I think that I have a more compelling explanation for modern progress than Mokyr's explanation of useful knowledge. I think we need to understand the material conditions that lead to increasing useful knowledge.
Progress? We have gone backward with wounded electricity grids such as in Texas. We have more reliability issues today than ever before since the industry began the nearly 150 years ago....
America is wealthy enough to afford lots of the sclerosis at least for now. ORD T2 already $3b over projections and construction has not started. TSMC can't figure out how to cost effectively build a fab in the USA. SFO, land of millionaires, can't figure out how to get people off drugs and the street. US defense contractors can't build world class ships. The only way out of the predicament is progress. Lots, probably most of it will be technological. But lots of it needs to be administrative/bureaucratic. For all his baggage, Musk's slashing of positions at Twitter probably has some useful lessons. How many CEOs would even think about radical organizational streamlining? I am hopeful that smart people can and will figure it out.
Thanks for exploring this Lynne. One of the critical questions that's often running in my mental background.
I suppose there could be a correlation between the information overload of the last period and writer's natural pessimism, although a simple scan doesn't ping anything. Dismal Science alright... but is the Wisdom of the Crowds misguided?
On the other hand, there are definite trends that are difficult to ignore. Social inequality, power monopolization, over leveraging of everything, frailty of core society constructs and bonds. Climate instability. Impending close to Pax Americana. Much hyperventilating about apocalyptic fantasies and very little problem solving on national and international crises. True existential risks that are multiplying. A dissolving collective Reality.
Quality of life in the developing world.. for Humanity.. has improved greatly. Yet existence in the developed world has become highly precarious and insecure. There isn't a unifying philosophy or spirit of the age to wrap us all in warm and fuzzy unless thats TitTok kittens.
Personally, while appreciating our progress last century, I see nothing in the history of humanity that indicates we are capable of solving todays challenges much less tomorrows. Perhaps it's simply become too complex. But everyday the reality of working in Energy Transition and enabling Electrification, where we struggle to do the obvious, drives these points home.
I am sure that you already aware of this (but your readers may not be), but there are many other books on progress other than Mokyr's and Landes' books.
Here is a list of the books that I think are the best:
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/the-9-essentials-for-progress-studies
Here is a link to many summaries of books on progress-related topics (from my online library of book summaries):
https://techratchet.com/industrial-revolution-learning-path/
https://techratchet.com/why-did-europe-get-rich-first-learning-path/
M
Would be curious to hear your take on the recent Acemoglu and Johnson book, Power and Progress. Their argument is not totally inconsistent with Mokyr's (though they disagree with McClosky that bourgeois virtues were "unabashedly positive"—their words), but they think the most important causes of the "middling revolution" that took shape first in England and then Britain were institutional changes—rooted not in Enlightenment thought but in the decline of feudalism—that encouraged innovation starting as early as the 15th century, and flourished gradually on through the 1800s as various new groups resisted the bonds of feudalism more successfully than in other places in the world. Acemoglu and Johnson claim also to be inspired above all by the works of Robert Brenner, though they don't much use a Marxian lingua franca.
Interesting article. You might be interested in my Substack column, which also focuses on human material progress. Joel Mokyr wrote a great recommendation of my book, which my Substack column is based.
I think that I have a more compelling explanation for modern progress than Mokyr's explanation of useful knowledge. I think we need to understand the material conditions that lead to increasing useful knowledge.
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/understanding-how-humans-create-progress
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/understanding-the-causes-of-modern
And a more general statement of my progress-based beliefs:
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/a-manifesto-for-the-progress-based
Progress? We have gone backward with wounded electricity grids such as in Texas. We have more reliability issues today than ever before since the industry began the nearly 150 years ago....
America is wealthy enough to afford lots of the sclerosis at least for now. ORD T2 already $3b over projections and construction has not started. TSMC can't figure out how to cost effectively build a fab in the USA. SFO, land of millionaires, can't figure out how to get people off drugs and the street. US defense contractors can't build world class ships. The only way out of the predicament is progress. Lots, probably most of it will be technological. But lots of it needs to be administrative/bureaucratic. For all his baggage, Musk's slashing of positions at Twitter probably has some useful lessons. How many CEOs would even think about radical organizational streamlining? I am hopeful that smart people can and will figure it out.
Thanks for exploring this Lynne. One of the critical questions that's often running in my mental background.
I suppose there could be a correlation between the information overload of the last period and writer's natural pessimism, although a simple scan doesn't ping anything. Dismal Science alright... but is the Wisdom of the Crowds misguided?
On the other hand, there are definite trends that are difficult to ignore. Social inequality, power monopolization, over leveraging of everything, frailty of core society constructs and bonds. Climate instability. Impending close to Pax Americana. Much hyperventilating about apocalyptic fantasies and very little problem solving on national and international crises. True existential risks that are multiplying. A dissolving collective Reality.
Quality of life in the developing world.. for Humanity.. has improved greatly. Yet existence in the developed world has become highly precarious and insecure. There isn't a unifying philosophy or spirit of the age to wrap us all in warm and fuzzy unless thats TitTok kittens.
Personally, while appreciating our progress last century, I see nothing in the history of humanity that indicates we are capable of solving todays challenges much less tomorrows. Perhaps it's simply become too complex. But everyday the reality of working in Energy Transition and enabling Electrification, where we struggle to do the obvious, drives these points home.