Rebuild the definition, and the climb resumes.
The bottleneck is not capital, talent or technology. It is that we no longer have a moral case for our own ascent, so the people carrying it work under a cloud and the people funding it can't say why it's good. That case can be made. I am making it.
The books, a public case file and a show, arguing one thing: that the good is ascent, that a morality can be judged by what it does to real people over time, and that a civilisation which believes this again starts building again.
The theory · read onlineThe Structure of Moral Revolutions
How moral paradigms are built, defended and overturned, following Kuhn chapter by chapter.
The diagnosis · read onlineThe End of Progress
Why progress defined as liberation has run out, and what it now takes apart.
The evidence · public recordMake the Case
The present paradigm's failures, buried data and hidden costs, entry by entry.
Forthcoming: Ascent, The Ascent of Man and The Ascent of the West. See the library →
Ascent of Man — the show
Not commentary on the week. One idea from the books, argued properly, for people who will never read a book but will watch someone think.
- Short form, dailyDrawn from that day's writing.
- Solo essaysOne argument, at length, weekly.
- The ruleEvery episode comes from the work, never the news.
- Coming soonFollow on X for the first episodes.
