Part 9/14:
Crawford emphasizes that acknowledging the costs and risks of progress is vital. Progress is messy and unpredictable, and human societies must actively manage and steer it to maximize benefits while minimizing harms. Denying or ignoring the potential negative consequences only increases the likelihood of setbacks and tragedies.
He warns against complacency, suggesting that the perceived slowdown of progress in the last 50 years—particularly in manufacturing, energy, and transportation—is real and significant. While information technology continues to evolve fast, much of the physical infrastructure and basic technologies have stagnated since the 1960s and 1970s, using largely the same foundational technologies.