The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

On this episode we meet with founding member of The Consilience Project, Daniel Schmachtenberger. In Part 3 of their series, Schmachtenberger and Hagens explore metanarratives. Why are they threatening to various sections of society? Further, Schmachtenberger helps us understand how we can take in the systemic metacrisis facing humanity in ways that grant us agency, rather than despair. About Daniel Schmachtenberger:  Daniel Schmachtenberger is a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue.  The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the health and development of individuals and society, with a virtuous relationship between the two as a goal. Towards these ends, he’s had particular interest in the topics of catastrophic and existential risk, civilization and institutional decay and collapse as well as progress, collective action problems, social organization theories, and the relevant domains in philosophy and science. For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/31-daniel-schmachtenberger

10 Aug 20221h 18min

On this episode, we meet with Economist, Author, and Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategy, Resilience, and Security at University College in London, Steve Keen. Keen discusses how mainstream economics misses the centrality of energy to our economy and to our futures, the naive treatment to the risks of money and debt creation, and the disconnect economic theory has to climate change risks. About Steve Keen: Steve Keen is an economist, author of Debunking Economics and The New Economics: A Manifesto, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategy, Resilience, and Security at University College in London. For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/30-steve-keen

3 Aug 20221h 24min

Show Summary: On this episode we meet with ecological economist and Professor in Community Development & Applied Economics and Public Administration, Josh Farley. Money. What is it? Where does it come from? How is it created? How is it tethered to our biophysical balance sheet? What is on the horizon with our monetary system? How might we create and use money differently in the future during a source and sink contained system? Josh Farley explains it all - and explains how the links between money, energy, and the economy will become more central in our lives. Click here to listen to Josh and Nate’s first conversation. About Josh Farley: Joshua Farley is an ecological economist and Professor in Community Development & Applied Economics and Public Administration at the University of Vermont. He is the President of the International Society for Ecological Economics. For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/29-josh-farley

27 Jul 20221h 20min

On this segment of Frankly, Nate’s former student Lizzy curates and asks some of the most frequently asked questions sent in by listeners during The Great Simplification episodes 1-25. How should we be educating people on energy? What types of fossil alternatives are really feasible? Is a climate disaster the most pertinent and existential risk that we face? Nate gives his answers to these questions, and more. (A trial format for an AMA or live broadcast in future?) For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-original/frankly-05-faqs-on-episodes-1-25 To Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTo0vlLF0JQ

23 Jul 202254min

On this episode we meet with Executive Director of Stanford University’s Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere, Joan Diamond. Diamond helps us imagine the future in an uncertain time. How can we create robust strategies to help us plan? How can we avoid thinking only of worst-case scenarios? Further, Diamond offers suggestions for how people can handle their hopelessness and rage following recent Supreme Court rulings. What options exist for people to change systems? About Joan Diamond Joan Diamond has executive background in private and nonprofit sectors, including Fortune 500 energy enterprises such as executive VP of Hawaiian Electric Company, vice president and corporate secretary of a Silicon Valley telecommunications company, and COO of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability. She is the Executive Director of Stanford University’s Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB) and of the Crans Foresight Analysis Nexus (FAN). For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/29-josh-farley

20 Jul 20221h 22min

On this episode we meet with archaeologist, historian, and Professor at Utah State University, Joe Tainter. What are the key differences between complicated and complex? How can we better understand energy and society through these key distinctions? Tainter explains our current predicament based on decades of research and offers pathways for our collective future. About Joe Tainter Joe Tainter has been a professor at Utah State University in the Environment and Society Department since 2007, serving as Department Head from 2007 to 2009. His study of why societies collapse led to research on sustainability, with emphasis on energy and innovation. He has also conducted research on land-use conflict and human responses to climate change. He has written several books, including The Collapse of Complex Societies and Drilling Down: The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma. For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/27-joe-tainter

13 Jul 20221h 11min

On this episode we meet with psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author Peter Whybrow. Whybrow gives us an overview of why humans tend to consume excessively in resource-abundant societies. Why is it difficult for humans to change our ways? Additionally, Whybrow shares pathways for humans to move toward having a well-tuned brain.  About Peter Whybrow: Peter C. Whybrow, M.D. is Director Emeritus of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Judson Braun Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, and author of several books, including his newest, The Well-Tuned Brain: Neuroscience and the Life Well-Lived.  For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/26-peter-whybrow

6 Jul 20221h 21min

In this Frankly, Nate unpacks the choice of the podcast title “The Great Simplification”, and how he thinks about responses - rather than solutions - to the challenges we face in the decade ahead of us. He lays out the framework for the scale and degrees for how we can elevate the chances for a positive future. He also reflects about what he’s learned while hosting The Great Simplification and where he hopes to move forward in the future for the podcast. For Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-original/frankly-04-meeting-the-future-halfway To Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qs_cBThk3U

2 Jul 202221min