Why did we overlook the lessons from some of our most transformative breakthroughs? The U.S. Once excelled at scaling new technologies like clean energy and advanced medicine, such as the penicillin injection. But we've increasingly left promising innovations stuck on the shelf. So why did America fall so far behind in building?

Using the forgotten success of Operation Warp Speed as a blueprint, Abundance co-author Derek Thompson challenges us to imagine a world where we apply that same urgency to cancer drugs, carbon‑neutral cement, and beyond.

0:00 The implementation of penicillin

2:02 OSRD and scaling penicillin

3:41 Have we forgotten how to implement?

5:01 Operation Warp Speed

----------------------------------------------------

About Derek Thompson:

Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the podcast Plain English. He is the author of Hit Makers and the co-author of Abundance alongside Ezra Klein, which explores the case for renewing the politics of plenty in the modern world.

Folllow this Podcast for daily Episodes

-------------------------06:30-17

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices