Progress is Possible.
Distributed Progress asks how we can create the conditions for progress to spread more widely—across science, technology, mobility, and geopolitics—without assuming it will happen on its own.
If you’re new here, start with “What is Distributed Progress?” to learn more about the meaning behind the title.
History shows that progress is possible, but never inevitable. It emerges when institutions, incentives, and cultures align. When concentrated in too few places or controlled by too few hands, progress breeds fragility instead of resilience.
We focus on three flows reshaping progress today:
Science: knowledge flows that drive discovery and its diffusion.
Talent: talent flows that fuel innovation
Mobility: student flows that cultivate the next generation of talent.
At the center sits AI—a powerful technology accelerating these flows and reshaping the networks that connect them in a complex, multipolar world.
I’m Chris R. Glass, a professor of the practice at Boston College and affiliated faculty with the Center for International Higher Education. I post regularly on LinkedIn.
As William Gibson put it, “the future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.”
Distributed Progress goes further: distribution itself is the future. The real question is whether the systems we design will spread intelligence, power, and agency—or concentrate them in too few hands.
The Community We’re Building
Distributed Progress is a space for people who want to think together across borders—disciplinary, geographic, and yes, ideological. Readers include policymakers, scholars, practitioners, and anyone curious about how progress actually happens.
If your social media feed feels cluttered with “crisis narratives”, consider this your antidote. This community starts from the belief that progress is possible.
If you’re ready to ask hard questions, you’ll feel at home here. If you’re drawn to weak signals, counterintuitive ideas, and frameworks that sharpen how we think about the future, you’ll fit right in.
You’ll hear from me occasionally—only when there’s something worth sharing. Most often, that means analysis of science, talent, and mobility. From time to time, I also share personal reflections on the craft of thinking and writing itself.
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