The Great Simplification is a podcast that explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Through conversations with experts and leaders hosted by Dr. Nate Hagens, we explore topics spanning ecology, economics, energy, geopolitics, human behavior, and monetary/financial systems. Our goal is to provide a simple educational resource for the complex energetic, physical, and social constraints ahead, and to inspire people to play a role in our collective future. Ultimately, we aim to normalize these conversations and, in doing so, change the initial conditions of future events.
379 episodes transcribed(Recorded November 11, 2024) In today's complex geopolitical landscape, battles and tensions seem to exist everywhere we look. Power shifts and compou...
(Conversation recorded on September 25th, 2024) The Amazon Rainforest is one of the Earth's most vital systems, playing a key role in maintaining...
(Conversation recorded on October 10th, 2024) Our modern economic system is designed to maximize financial capital, viewing money as though it were...
(Recorded October 27, 2024) Somebody is going to win the upcoming US election. In a society deeply divided along partisan lines, individual identiti...
(Conversation recorded on October 17th, 2024) As the trust in the U.S. presidential election process continues to be in question, alongside growing...
(Conversation recorded on October 16th, 2024) Ahead of the U.S. Presidential Election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, both of whom have di...
(Conversation recorded on October 3rd, 2024) While humans, like all animals, are subject to certain fundamental realities, we also possess the uniq...
(Conversation recorded on September 16th, 2024) Where have all the elders gone? As the world grapples with its unfolding economic and energy crise...
(Conversation recorded on September 25th, 2024) There has been much discussion lately of Planetary Boundaries – the 9 biophysical systems and proces...
(Recorded October 7, 2024) In a polarized and fractured society, those who draw attention to the ecological devastation wrought by human activities,...
(Conversation recorded on September 5th, 2024) The deeper we dive into the complexity of the metacrisis, the more it becomes apparent that the chang...
(Conversation recorded on August 6th, 2024) The damaging effects of humanity's disconnected relationship to Earth's ecosystems are broad and deep....
(Recorded September 30, 2024) Nate's work tends to focus on systems-level analysis of the current (and future) global macro/ecological situation. Bu...
(Conversation recorded on August 13th, 2024) Humanity's relationship with Earth's forests is long and complex. While some societies have preserved...
(Recorded September 22, 2024) 14.8% of Americans do not believe in climate change. Recently, a study mapping a 485-million-year history of Earth's te...
(Conversation recorded on August 5th, 2024) While the global crises we face are on a larger scale than anything before, there is rich wisdom to glea...
(Recorded September 18 2024) Over past decades, abundance and peace have become the prevailing narratives in modern societies. The reality, as usual,...
(Conversation recorded on July 30th, 2024) The science surrounding our planet's dynamic and complex climate can be difficult to understand, and perh...
(Conversation recorded on September 3rd, 2024) As the United States continues to play a major role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the...
(Conversation recorded on July 24th, 2024) In the past century of abundant energy surplus, humanity's globalized, large-scale approach to problem-so...
