Technology and Wealth: The Straw, the Siphon, and the Sieve | Frankly 119

Technology and Wealth: The Straw, the Siphon, and the Sieve | Frankly 119

In this week's Frankly, Nate explores the relationship between technology and wealth when viewed through a global biophysical lens. He uses the visualization of a straw, siphon, and sieve to describe how technology enables the acceleration of physical resource extraction and the concentration and filtering of resulting 'wealth' towards the human species. Running contrary to the commonly-held idea that technology automatically creates monetary wealth (and therefore prosperity), this episode asks listeners to view real wealth as the underlying stocks and flows that make life on Earth possible – whether in the form of forests, social trust, or entire functioning ecosystems.

Nate also discusses the ways that technologies have been deployed to rearrange natural systems around narrow, growth-centric priorities throughout much of human history. Utilizing examples regarding agriculture, finance, and artificial intelligence, he suggests that tools effective at small scales might behave very differently when applied globally – setting us on the path to overshoot that we find ourselves walking today.

If technology reflects human priorities, what does current innovation and development reveal about what we currently value? What would it mean to shift towards prioritizing life-giving flows within natural systems and away from accelerating the liquidation of Earth's stocks? Finally, how can societies and individuals begin to distinguish between innovation that serves to borrow from our future versus genuine progress toward a more stable world?

(Recorded December 25, 2025)

Show Notes and More

Watch this video episode on YouTube

Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.

---

Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future

Join our Substack newsletter

Join our Hylo channel and connect with other listeners

Jaksot(356)

How to Read the Signs of Collapse: Economic Stagnation, Resource Scarcity, and Europe's Industrial Decline with Balázs Matics

How to Read the Signs of Collapse: Economic Stagnation, Resource Scarcity, and Europe's Industrial Decline with Balázs Matics

Collapse has long been discussed in the public imagination as something that happens suddenly, immediately turning the world upside down. But history shows that collapse is more often characterized by...

4 Helmi 1h 16min

A Country of Geniuses: Anthropic CEO's Warnings, Plus Wide-Boundary Considerations on AI

A Country of Geniuses: Anthropic CEO's Warnings, Plus Wide-Boundary Considerations on AI

Last week there was so much news Nate recorded two Franklies – this is the second of those, which shares his reflections on a recent seminal essay posted by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, likening Artifi...

2 Helmi 31min

Wide Boundary News: Japan, Silver, Venezuela, and More – the Biophysical Phase Shift Cometh

Wide Boundary News: Japan, Silver, Venezuela, and More – the Biophysical Phase Shift Cometh

This week's Frankly inaugurates a new category for videos on The Great Simplification platform, Wide Boundary News, in which Nate invites listeners to view the constant churn of headlines through a wi...

30 Tammi 31min

The New Generation of Environmental Leadership: Stubborn Optimism, Tending Your Inner Fire, and Why Hope Is Not Enough with Xiye Bastida

The New Generation of Environmental Leadership: Stubborn Optimism, Tending Your Inner Fire, and Why Hope Is Not Enough with Xiye Bastida

For many people reading this, the crises we discuss on this podcast – from ecological instability to financial collapse – often feel like a distant problem in the future. But for the youth of today, m...

28 Tammi 1h 22min

The Creature in the Machine | Frankly 120

The Creature in the Machine | Frankly 120

In this week's episode, Nate reflects on his experience with knee surgery and being a "creature in the machine" (the Superorganism). He touches on the often-forgotten nature of our physical existence ...

23 Tammi 20min

Arms Race or the Human Race? Governance in the Age of AI, Nuclear Threats, and Geopolitical Brinkmanship | RR 21

Arms Race or the Human Race? Governance in the Age of AI, Nuclear Threats, and Geopolitical Brinkmanship | RR 21

Humans have shaped the world more than any other species in existence, largely due to our ability to coordinate and work together as a unit – in other words, to govern ourselves. This means that, whil...

21 Tammi 1h 27min

Why the West Can't Defend Itself: How Material Scarcity Is Reshaping Global Power with Craig Tindale

Why the West Can't Defend Itself: How Material Scarcity Is Reshaping Global Power with Craig Tindale

For decades, the West has outsourced its own material production to other countries, in favor of lower costs and short-term returns over more expensive, long-duration investments like mining and manuf...

14 Tammi 1h 41min

Suosittua kategoriassa Tiede

rss-mita-tulisi-tietaa
tiedekulma-podcast
rss-poliisin-mieli
utelias-mieli
rss-duodecim-lehti
rss-laakaripodi
rss-opeklubi
rss-lihavuudesta-podcast
sotataidon-ytimessa
hippokrateen-vastaanotolla
rss-vaasan-yliopiston-podcastit
rss-ammamafia
rss-ylistys-elaimille