Blake Scholl on Supersonic Flight and Fixing Broken Infrastructure - Live at the Progress Conference

Blake Scholl on Supersonic Flight and Fixing Broken Infrastructure - Live at the Progress Conference

Blake Scholl is one of the leading figures working to bring back civilian supersonic flight. As the founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, he's building a new generation of supersonic aircraft and pushing for the policies needed to make commercial supersonic travel viable again. But he's equally as impressive as someone who thinks systematically about improving dysfunction—whether it's airport design, traffic congestion, or defense procurement—and sees creative solutions to problems everyone else has learned to accept.

Tyler and Blake discuss why airport terminals should be underground, why every road needs a toll, what's wrong with how we board planes, the contrasting cultures of Amazon and Groupon, why Concorde and Apollo were impressive tech demos but terrible products, what Ayn Rand understood about supersonic transport in 1957, what's wrong with aerospace manufacturing, his heuristic when confronting evident stupidity, his technique for mastering new domains, how LLMs are revolutionizing regulatory paperwork, and much more.

Recorded live at the Progress Conference, hosted by the Roots of Progress Institute. Special thanks to Big Think for the video production.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel.

Recorded October 18th, 2025.

Other ways to connect

Photo Credit: Jeremi Rebecca

Episoder(275)

Luigi Zingales on Italy, Google and Conglomeration, and Donald Trump (Live at Mason)

Luigi Zingales on Italy, Google and Conglomeration, and Donald Trump (Live at Mason)

In the third event of this series, Tyler and Luigi Zingales discuss Italy, Donald Trump, Antonio Gramsci, Google and conglomeration, Luchino Visconti, Starbucks, and the surprisingly high productivity of Italian cafés. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

16 Sep 20151h 16min

Jeffrey Sachs on Charter Cities and How to Reform Graduate Economics Education (Live at Mason)

Jeffrey Sachs on Charter Cities and How to Reform Graduate Economics Education (Live at Mason)

Tyler Cowen and Jeffrey Sachs discuss the resource curse, why Russia failed and Poland succeeded, charter cities, Sach's China optimism, JFK, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, whether Africa will be able to overcome the middle income trap, Paul Krugman, Sach's favorite novel, premature deindustrialization, and how to reform graduate economics education. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter Follow Jeff on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

31 Mar 20151h 32min

Peter Thiel on Stagnation, Innovation, and What Not to Call your Company (Live at Mason)

Peter Thiel on Stagnation, Innovation, and What Not to Call your Company (Live at Mason)

Peter Thiel and Tyler Cowen, both New York Times bestselling authors, are among today's top global thought leaders and influential innovators. Listen as these two engage in a serious dialogue on the ideas and policies that will shape the future of innovation and progress in the coming years and decades. Peter Thiel is among the most impressive innovators of the past two decades. As co-founder of Paypal and seed-funder for Facebook, Thiel has been instrumental in the conception and growth of some of today's most entrepreneurial and innovative companies. In his latest best-selling book, Zero to One, Thiel explains how to build a better future by capitalizing on innovation. A staunch optimist, he maintains that progress can be achieved anywhere the human mind is able to think creatively. Thiel describes how entrepreneurial thinking leads to innovation, which builds something new and moves the mark from zero to one. Note: Due to a technical malfunction, the audio quality briefly drops from 11:15 - 13:30. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Other ways to connect Follow us on Twitter and Instagram Follow Tyler on Twitter Follow Peter on Twitter Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

25 Mar 20151h 20min

Populært innen Fakta

merry-quizmas
fastlegen
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
foreldreradet
treningspodden
dypdykk
rss-kunsten-a-leve
fryktlos
rss-sarbar-med-lotte-erik
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
gravid-uke-for-uke
hverdagspsyken
jakt-og-fiskepodden
sinnsyn
rss-sunn-okonomi
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf
rss-impressions-2
rss-triana-juliet-dans-pa-roser