Weekly Progress Roundup
The second annual Progress Conference, heartening poverty trends, ancient scrolls, and more.
Announcements
Human Progress is proudly sponsoring the second annual Progress Conference, hosted by the Roots of Progress Institute.
This invite-only event is the central gathering of the “progress movement.” Keynote speakers include Sam Altman, Tyler Cowen, Jennifer Pahlka, and Blake Scholl.
You can apply to attend here.
Economics & Development
Starlink has become Nigeria’s second most popular internet provider and will likely take first place by 2026, bringing fast and reliable internet service to a country plagued by slow and spotty connection.
According to a new index, the share of Latin Americans living in multidimensional poverty fell from 45.8 percent to 25.4 percent between 2008 and 2023. The measurement is based on indicators related to housing, health, education, and employment.
A household consumption-based estimate shows similar progress in India, where the share of the population living in poverty fell from 30.4 percent to 3.9 percent in urban areas and 26.4 percent to 3.9 percent in rural areas between 2012 and 2024.
Energy & Environment
Conservation and biodiversity:
Our managing editor Chelsea Follett recently argued that humanity, once the unambiguous enemy of wildlife, is increasingly becoming its protector. Here are some recent stories reflecting that new relationship:
Mandai Wildlife Group, a Singapore-based conservation company, is creating a sperm bank for endangered pangolins to safeguard their genetic diversity.
The wild trout population of Lake Champlain is now self-sustaining—the culmination of over five decades of conservation work.
A recent study found that corals growing on artificial breakwaters recovered from bleaching faster than those living in natural reefs. The authors hypothesize that this is because the human-made structures provide a stable surface for coral larvae to settle on, while natural reefs, once bleached, can become fragile and break apart.
The population of the red-tailed amazon parrot has nearly doubled over the past two decades, thanks in part to a birdhouse-building initiative. The species is no longer considered “endangered.”
The saiga antelope population in Kazakhstan has rebounded from just 30,000 in 2006 to nearly 4 million today, thanks to the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative—a collaboration between the Kazakh government and international NGOs.
China’s population of the critically endangered Baer’s Pochard has more than doubled since 2012 following conservation efforts.
This Earth Day, Progress for Our Species Protects Others
This Earth Day comes on the heels of a remarkable turning point in conservation history: Scientists at Colossal Laboratories have claimed the first animal species de-extinction by recreating dire wolves through genetic editing.
Energy production:
Solar power generation is growing across the United States, setting records in seven major wholesale power markets.
Related:
Pollution:
Outdoor air quality typically deteriorates as a country begins to develop and industrialize its economy. However, this relationship tends to reverse once the country becomes rich enough to spend money on environmental protection.
After decades of strong economic growth, China now appears to be exiting the dirty stage of its economic history:
A recent article in Bloomberg highlights some of the many ways artificial intelligence is helping cut carbon emissions. Here’s one:
Waymo LLC’s self-driving cars are currently limited to a few cities. But an analysis by G2 Venture Partners, an investor of the startup, found that if they capture 10% of passenger miles driven in the US and Europe, it would reduce emissions by 104 million tons.
The cars are all electric and that accounts for half of the cuts. But more efficient driving fueled by Waymo’s AI displaces 23 million tons, an amount greater than emissions displaced by all Teslas on the road in 2023.
Health & Demographics
Since the year 2000, malaria control efforts have averted over 2 billion malaria cases and nearly 13 million deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO also reports that, “of the remaining 83 malaria-endemic countries, 25 reported fewer than 10 cases of the disease in 2023.”
The latest health and safety report from the AFL-CIO shows that US deaths from hazardous working conditions fell slightly between 2023 and 2022, from 3.7 deaths per 100,000 workers to 3.5. In the early 20th century, 61 out of every 100,000 workers died in work-related accidents.
The Danish Cancer Society predicts that cervical cancer could be “eliminated” from Denmark by 2040 (in this case, eliminated means less than 4 cases per 100,000 women) thanks to widespread HPV vaccination and screening.
Monoclonal antibodies like the asthma drug omalizumab can block allergic reactions before they start, providing long term relief from allergies with a single injection. While not yet widely approved for this use, these therapies could have the potential to end allergy season.
Child mortality in Burundi fell from 143 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002 to 50 in 2022. Part of this progress was due to an 81 percent drop in deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases since 2014.
Science & Technology
CATL, the world’s largest supplier of electric vehicle batteries, recently announced a series of technological advances, including:
Auxiliary batteries that do not use graphite, potentially improving both cost and energy density.
A charging system that can deliver 320 miles of range in just five minutes.
Sodium ion batteries that could replace conventional batteries in gas-powered cars and outperform them in cold weather.
Over a year has passed since the winners of the Vesuvius Challenge discovered how to read text from a charred Herculaneum scroll. Now, the effort is scaling up. Nature reports that 18 additional carbonized scrolls from the National Library in Naples have been transported to Oxford, UK, to be scanned at a high resolution—the first step toward digitally unrolling them and using artificial intelligence to reveal their hidden text.
Violence & Coercion
Crime in San Francisco has plummeted and is now at its lowest level in 23 years, according to SFPD and NIBRS data. Since the beginning of 2024, property crime and violent crime in the city have fallen by 29 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Portugal and Kuwait have raised the minimum legal marriage age to 18 years. In Portugal, before the new law, children aged 16 and 17 could marry with parental consent. In Kuwait, girls aged 15 and boys aged 17 could marry.
Selected essays
Maxwell Tabarrok argues that innovation tends to be much better than regulation at solving externality problems.
Saloni Dattani dives deep into the many reasons cancer mortality is falling in rich countries.
Ed Conway explains the history of copper, how it became abundant, and how it might stay that way in the 21st century.
Yet another outstanding newsletter — thank you for consistently delivering such high-quality, uplifting content! I'm also really excited for the conference in October; it's going to be an incredible experience.