What Could Go Right?
What if instead of being on the brink of disaster, we’re on the cusp of a better world? No one can deny the challenges the world faces, from pandemics to climate change to authoritarianism. But pessimism and despair are too easy a response. Each week, Progress Network Founder Zachary Karabell and Executive Director Emma Varvaloucas convene a diverse panel of experts to discuss the central issues of our era, including sustainability, polarization, work, and the economy, and make the case for a brighter future. They emerge from their conversations with a counterintuitive but informed take: progress is on its way.
Show episodes
It’s time for a lesson in civics! Zachary and Emma are joined by Nick Capodice, co-host of the Civics 101 podcast where he gets into the basics of how the U.S. government works and also helps teachers design lesson plans to pair with the show. Nick highlights how our collective grasp on how things work in Washington is
Emma brings you a solo edition of the Progress Report, highlighting several positive global advancements. Brazil goes bold with a two-part strategy against dengue fever, involving both a homegrown vaccine and specially bred mosquitoes that carry an anti-dengue bacteria. Africa is leading a major expansion of school mea
Can today’s science fiction become tomorrow’s guidebook for change? Zachary and Emma sit down with Ed Finn, the visionary behind the Center for Science and the Imagination at ASU and academic director of Future Tense. Ed explores the intersection between sci-fi and real world science, the complexities of new technologi
Get ready for another uplifting Progress Report! This week, Zachary and Emma bring you inspiring stories of innovation and hope from across the globe. Trekkies rejoice as Apple’s new AirPods push tech into sci-fi territory with real-time language translation, Europe is seeing fewer flood fatalities and less damage than
How do we protect America’s wild open spaces while meeting the demands of conservation, recreation, and development? Zachary welcomes Josh Jackson, author of The Enduring Wild: A Journey Into California's Public Lands. Founder of the Forgotten Lands Project, Josh aims to connect people with these landscapes through imm
What really went wrong with global politics? Emma welcomes Brink Lindsey, Senior VP at the Niskanen Center and author of The Captured Economy: How the Powerful Enrich Themselves, Slow Down Growth, and Increase Inequality. Lindsey traces how politics, culture, and economics became unstable, from the development of liber
