Humanity's Enduring Quest for Power and Prosperity – Daron Acemoglu

In Pursuit of Development

We engage in a discussion centered around Daron Acemoglu's latest book, co-authored with Simon Johnson, titled Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. The choices we make regarding technology can either advance the interests of a select elite or serve as the foundation for widespread prosperity. But technology's trajectory can be, and should be, controlled and directed for the benefit of all. The remarkable advances in computing over the past fifty years have the potential to be tools of empowerment and democratization, but only if decision-making power is dispersed rather than concentrated in the hands of a few overconfident tech leaders.

Daron Acemoglu is Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. @DAcemogluMIT

(Cover photo of Daron Acemoglu by Cody O'Loughlin)

Key highlights:

• Introduction - 00:24
• Understanding “progress” - 04:06
• Optimism in an era of doom and gloom - 12:00
• The power of persuasion - 16:10
• Shared prosperity, welfare, and whether technology is always useful - 25:08
• Machine intelligence vs. machine usefulness - 30:12
• How technology (e.g., AI) can help promote development in low-income countries - 36:50

Host:

Professor Dan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)

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Subscribe:

https://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Host

Dan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)

Apple Spotify YouTube

Subscribe:

https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com

https://globaldevpod.substack.com/