Human Progress

A @CatoInstitute project.

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[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

https://t.co/8lpLGQVoba

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Read more about the Grim Old Days: https://t.co/rui6nniKdi

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

In pre-industrial times, famines were frequent and severe.

Regular periods of widespread hunger and deprivation were simply facts of life.

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

While fairness is widely regarded as a moral good, it is also one of the most context-dependent traits.

A society that rewards merit inevitably produces inequality, while one that enforces equality of outcome risks punishing productivity and innovation.
https://t.co/NT4lNg9vLF

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

"US robotics company Figure AI has completed a 200-hour autonomous livestream using its Figure 03 robots.

During the run, the robots processed nearly 250,000 packages without experiencing a single hardware failure."
https://t.co/zKfitsxz3U

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

The AI debate reflects a deeper philosophical conflict about the value and risks of knowledge itself.
https://t.co/MWsRvGRSAH

[Saul Zimet @SaulZimet]

Intelligence is a virtue, whether organic or artificial.

In this new article I explain why anti-AI prejudice is irrational:

https://t.co/a3BQL8OzVi

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Explore the data: https://t.co/qBlAZzaXPj

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Before vaccines, polio filled iron lungs and emptied playgrounds. Today, wild polio has been driven from nearly every country on Earth.

We have nearly done to polio what we did to smallpox.

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Many common economic misconceptions stem from evolved psychological instincts shaped in zero-sum environments.

These “folk-economic beliefs” lead people to misinterpret trade, immigration, profit, and regulation, often resulting in counterproductive policies.
https://t.co/4oeSJt3jcj

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

"A new AI weather forecasting tool released today by the startup WindBorne Systems offers more frequent and accurate predictions on key variables than the world-leading system developed by European governments."
https://t.co/o7VVJv1Qsh

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

If autism were truly increasing because of environmental toxins, we would expect to see growth across all levels of severity—not just on the low end.

In fact, between 2000 and 2016, there was a 20% drop in the prevalence of moderate or severe autism.
https://t.co/kmzDR4jbN3

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Learn more about Volta and other Heroes of Progress in our book: https://t.co/6n1EKQBO0u

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Like many innovators, Alessandro Volta dropped out of school at a young age, only to transform the scientific community later in life.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

This is fake. It compares U.S. poverty WITHOUT government transfers to Chinese poverty WITH government transfers.

But I guess Chinamaxxing, or whatever. 🙄

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Intelligence, artificial or otherwise, poses serious threats to humanity.

But it may also be our salvation.

AI of the sort powerful enough to wipe out humanity is likely also a panacea for virtually infinite other existential threats.
https://t.co/MWsRvGRSAH

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Many think that natural resources are fixed gifts of nature, and that economic life is a grim contest over a pile that can only shrink as population grows.

That view sounds sober, but it is blind to the central truth of human progress.
https://t.co/jGYF1PsDKZ

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

@DKThomp https://t.co/JfVfRh89ct

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

The overgrown autism therapy industry is partly downstream of diagnostic inflation.

In the American healthcare system, diagnoses unlock streams of taxpayer dollars. That helps explain why autism diagnoses in the US have risen nearly 5x since 2000.

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Read more: https://t.co/3RPoHVRw6S

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

The overgrown autism therapy industry is partly downstream of diagnostic inflation.

In the American healthcare system, diagnoses unlock streams of taxpayer dollars. That helps explain why autism diagnoses in the US have risen nearly 5x since 2000.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

In 2019, there were about 150,000 people working in autism therapy.

Six years later, there were 654,000—more than the number of people who work in mining and logging, or telecommunications, or at the US Postal Service.

[Human Progress @HumanProgress]

Trade can have long-lasting effects on social tolerance.

One study found that communities near to the ancient Silk Roads had higher rates of intergroup marriage than those further away.
https://t.co/UMnex6ByCC