Not long ago, America led the world in building and innovation—but over the past 50 years, bureaucracy and red tape have made it nearly impossible to get big things done. In this episode of The Main Function, Garry sits down with Atlantic staff writer and Plain English podcast host Derek Thompson to discuss his new book Abundance (co-authored with Ezra Klein). In the conversation they discuss how we got here, what needs fixing, and what the year 2050 could look like if we reclaim a vision of abundance and technological innovation.
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Chapters (Powered by –
00:00 – Intro
01:32 – The 2050 Vision
04:07 – What Went Wrong
06:39 – The High Speed Rail Debacle
08:01 – Different Eras of Building in America
12:06 – How Tech Has Improved Our Lives
17:00 – NIH As a Case Study For Why Things Are Broken
23:08 – How To Make Real Progress
26:05 – The Role of Hard Tech
29:07 – The Abundance Agenda
32:43 – Advice For Founders
Abundance, by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein
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