Why study progress? The progress of the last few centuries—in science, technology, industry, and the economy—is one of the greatest achievements of humanity. But progress is not automatic or inevitable. We must understand its causes so that we can keep it going, and even accelerate it.
We need a new philosophy of progress. In order to make progress, we must believe that it is possible and desirable. The 19th century believed in the power of technology and industry to better humanity, but in the 20th century, this belief gave way to skepticism and distrust.
We need a new way forward. We need a systematic study of progress, so we can understand what is needed to keep progress going. We also need to advocate for progress. We need a progress movement that both explains and champions these ideas and puts forth a vision that inspires us to build.
Presented by the Roots of Progress Institute, together with Abundance Institute, Foresight Institute, Foundation for American Innovation, Human Progress, the Institute for Progress, the Institute for Humane Studies, and Works in Progress.
October 16–19, 2025 in Berkeley, California
Location. We'll be back at the beautiful Lighthaven Campus that received rave reviews for the first conference.
Expanded Time. The main two-day conference will happen all day Friday and Saturday, similar to 2024. New for 2025, Thursday and Sunday will be add-on days, with optional gatherings for interest groups and other activities, such as SF Bay Area company tours.
Speakers. An initial slate of speakers will be announced by April. See below for 2024 speakers.
Access. This will again be an invitation-only event, with ~300 guests. Save-the-date messages for invited guests are going out by early March. Tickets will be available for purchase by invited guests in April. At that time we'll also have an open application period where anyone can apply for a ticket.
This is a strategy for the age of online media. In the Internet age, the writer is the brand, and the best writers are going independent. Instead of hiring staff researchers to write under our brand, The Roots of Progress helps writers build individual brands. Because these writers are independent, they’ll have the intellectual freedom to say what they think, without toeing a party line: we want to foster a culture of debate within the broad principles of progress, humanism, and agency that are the core of the progress movement. This is a high-leverage play: we invest in people for a limited time and their work pays dividends for progress (and for themselves) for years to come.
A new movement promoting scientific, technological, and economic solutions to humanity's problems emerges.
The thinker fueling the growing progress studies movement.
A growing and influential intellectual movement aims to understand why human progress happens – and how to speed it up. Garrison Lovely investigates.
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