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
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
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 Jan 1h 41min
The Things We Take for Granted | Frankly 118
In this week's Frankly, Nate shares reflections on what we take for granted in life at multiple scales: from personal health to meaningful work to relative ecological stability. The things that keep o...
9 Jan 22min
How We've 'Drugified' Our Entire Existence: Dopamine & Addiction In the Digital Age with Anna Lembke
Dopamine: the most famous neurotransmitter that regulates pleasure, motivation, and (perhaps most importantly) addiction. When examining why our society is hooked on consuming more and more of everyt...
7 Jan 1h 36min
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. Compet...
19 Dec 202530min
End of Year Reflections: Four Years of The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
In this week's episode, Nate reflects on four years(!) of the podcast by answering listener-submitted questions, which cover a broad range of topics related to The Great Simplification. He invites sub...
17 Dec 202527min
Sunk Cost and the Superorganism | Frankly 116
In this week's episode, Nate unpacks the pervasive behavioral pull of sunk cost as a force shaping our material reality, identities, and collective expectations about the future. Past investments – in...
12 Dec 202523min
