Bear in mind that I’m more familiar with the Effective Altruism community than I am with the Progress Studies community.
Some general impressions:
Superficially, key figures in Progress Studies seem a bit less interested in moral philosophy than those in Effective Altruism. But, Tyler Cowen is arguably as much a philosopher as he is an economist, and he co-authored Against The Discount Rate (1992) with Derek Parfit. Patrick Collison has read Reasons and Persons, The Precipice, and so on, and is a board member of The Long Now Foundation. Peter Thiel takes philosophy and the humanities very seriously (see here and here). And David Deutsch has written a philosophical book, drawing on Karl Popper.
On average, key figures in EA are more likely to have a background in academic philosophy, while PS figures are more likely to have been involved in entrepreneurship or scientific research.
There seem to be some differences in disposition / sensibility / normative views around questions of risk and value. E.g. I would guess that more PS figures have ridden a motorbike, are more likely to say things like “full steam ahead”.
To caricature: when faced with a high stakes uncertainty, EA says “more research is needed”, while PS says “quick, let’s try something and see what happens”. Alternatively: “more planning/co-ordination is needed” vs “more innovation is needed”.
PS figures seem to put less of a premium on co-ordination and consensus-building, and more of a premium on decentralisation and speed.
PS figures seem (even) more troubled by the tendency of large institutions with poor feedback loops towards dysfunction.
Bear in mind that I’m more familiar with the Effective Altruism community than I am with the Progress Studies community.
Some general impressions:
Superficially, key figures in Progress Studies seem a bit less interested in moral philosophy than those in Effective Altruism. But, Tyler Cowen is arguably as much a philosopher as he is an economist, and he co-authored Against The Discount Rate (1992) with Derek Parfit. Patrick Collison has read Reasons and Persons, The Precipice, and so on, and is a board member of The Long Now Foundation. Peter Thiel takes philosophy and the humanities very seriously (see here and here). And David Deutsch has written a philosophical book, drawing on Karl Popper.
On average, key figures in EA are more likely to have a background in academic philosophy, while PS figures are more likely to have been involved in entrepreneurship or scientific research.
There seem to be some differences in disposition / sensibility / normative views around questions of risk and value. E.g. I would guess that more PS figures have ridden a motorbike, are more likely to say things like “full steam ahead”.
To caricature: when faced with a high stakes uncertainty, EA says “more research is needed”, while PS says “quick, let’s try something and see what happens”. Alternatively: “more planning/co-ordination is needed” vs “more innovation is needed”.
PS figures seem to put less of a premium on co-ordination and consensus-building, and more of a premium on decentralisation and speed.
PS figures seem (even) more troubled by the tendency of large institutions with poor feedback loops towards dysfunction.