All of Michael Magoon's Comments + Replies

"Albion's Seed" is a fabulous book. If you are interested in how material history affects value or American history in general, it is a must read.
To save time, take a look at my summary of this book:

https://techratchet.com/2020/04/23/book-summary-albions-seed-four-british-folkways-in-america-by-david-hackett-fisher/

In the Progress Studies movement, I am trying to cultivate an interest in studying history at a deeper level. I think this would also be relevant to EA.

If you are interested in following up, send me a private message in the Progress Studies Slack channel.

I am glad that you point to the Morgan Kelly article on potential flaws in the quantitative methods used by "Persistence" field. 
Keep in mind the Persistence field is only a TINY part of the overall literature on the historical impacts on the present. Typically, the Persistence field applies heavily quantitative methods to one small region and focuses on testing whether one potential cause has statistically significant effects. Because of their methods, it should not be surprising that you come away unimpressed at the narrowness of the findings. Unfor... (read more)

Here is a summary of another book that explains really well how values change over time. This book is is more relevant to the modern world than the previous listing:
https://techratchet.com/2020/02/06/book-review-cultural-evolution-peoples-motivations-are-changing-by-ronald-inglehart/

A link to an excellent review of the historical literature on the impact of history on current material conditions:
http://sites.tufts.edu/enricospolaore/files/2012/08/RootsF.pdf

As to the relation between historical material conditions and values, I would encourage you to read the following summary:
https://techratchet.com/2020/01/06/book-review-foragers-farmers-and-fossil-fuels-by-ian-morris/

Hello, I am a member of the Progress Studies community. The original poster posted in our Slack channel. I am cross-posting so you EA can see it.
There is in fact a huge and growing literature on the historical impact of current economic development. I think it is one of the most exciting trends among historian. You mentioned a few articles, but there are far more. In addition, there are dozens of awesome books that at least touch on the subject.
I want to point out that this literature is about UNDERSTANDING the present by studying the past. How ACTIONABLE ... (read more)