Behavioral Thermodynamics Part 1: Beyond the 4th Law?

Behavioral Thermodynamics Part 1: Beyond the 4th Law?

In this week's Frankly, Nate takes thermodynamics out of the physics classroom, utilizing its principles to explain the invisible forces behind growth, competition, and complexity in our world. Competing life systems build organization out of chaos in order to maximize power usage today, even if it potentially undermines survival tomorrow. Within our energetic reality of finite and destabilizing fossil fuels, this tendency towards instant power accelerates us towards planetary overshoot.

Nate poses a question in response to this tendency: What happens when a species becomes conscious of the self-fulfilling drive to maximize energy flow? He suggests a "fifth law" of thermodynamics, which explains that a self-aware species might evolve to consciously prioritize future security over short-term gains. This "law" serves as a hopeful and mind-expanding invitation to rethink efficiency, progress, and wisdom in the world we experience today.

What invisible energy gradients steer your daily habits and decisions? Could a culture actually choose slower, steadier flows without collapsing creativity, freedom, or joy? And, if intelligence doesn't guarantee wisdom, what feedbacks might help us prefer enduring power over maximum power?

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

Episoder(357)

The Consumption Pyramid

The Consumption Pyramid

This week's Frankly unpacks humans' current identification with the label "consumer." Consumption is something much deeper and more nuanced than shopping or spending. Nate highlights the ways that it ...

6 Feb 22min

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 Feb 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 Feb 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 Jan 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 Jan 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 Jan 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 Jan 1h 27min

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 ...

16 Jan 28min

Populært innen Vitenskap

fastlegen
tingenes-tilstand
rekommandert
jss
rss-rekommandert
sinnsyn
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
villmarksliv
fjellsportpodden
forskningno
rss-paradigmepodden
rss-overskuddsliv
pod-britannia
tidlose-historier
dekodet-2
rss-skogkurs-podden
rss-nysgjerrige-norge
vett-og-vitenskap-med-gaute-einevoll
kvinnehelsepodden
hva-er-greia-med