An introduction to "The Engine of Progress" from Jason Crawford, founder of the Roots of Progress Institute.

To build a better world, we first have to understand how change actually happens.

Barriers to energy abundance — and how to overcome them — were front and center at Progress Conference 2025.

“Progress happens when we choose to make it happen. It happens through choice and effort. And ultimately, to make progress happen, we have to believe in it.”

“People got skeptical, fearful, doubtful of the very idea of progress in the 20th century and we allowed that to slow down progress itself.”

By looking back at future dreams we can see our current hopes and visions in a whole new light.

We asked our experts where they see the biggest blockers right now for more progress. Essentially, from their various areas of focus, what did they see as the largest impediments to driving progress forward around the world and how they would prioritize the necessary interventions? The answers were appropriately varied from the philosophical to the political to the technological.