The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
20 snips
May 13, 2026 • 1h 41min
A World On the Precipice: The Last Oil Tanker From the Strait of Hormuz has Arrived – Now What? with Art Berman
Art Berman, petroleum geologist with 40+ years analyzing oil and shale plays. He breaks down the Strait of Hormuz shutdown, explains why shortages are already locked in, and compares this shock to past crises. Short-term tanker, refinery, and supply-chain lags could cascade into rationing and material scarcities. He also covers diesel as the economy’s barometer and how renewables and geopolitics factor into the coming adjustments.
68 snips
May 8, 2026 • 25min
Wide Boundary News: Sacrificing Wilderness, Oil Data Propaganda, and Feeding the Superorganism's Brain
A critique of how energy data can be technically correct yet misleading. A look at global chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and how disruptions ripple into fertilizer and cooking fuel shortages. A debate over sacrificing wilderness for minerals needed in energy transitions. A warning about huge AI data center power demands and livestock systems built on cheap fossil inputs.
66 snips
May 6, 2026 • 1h 36min
Why Each American Lives Like a 40-Ton Whale: Power, Overshoot, and Climate with Tad Patzek
Tad Patzek, professor emeritus and thermodynamicist focused on energy and earth systems, explains civilization through power flows. He discusses per-capita power as a key variable, why renewables depend on fossil-built supply chains, the nonlinear scaling of overshoot, and how energy, water, and materials constrain our future. Short, math-forward takes on climate, infrastructure fragility, and what true sustainability might require.
28 snips
May 1, 2026 • 16min
A Perspective From Lebanon: Who Will We Be When Things Get Hard? | Frankly 140
A reflective conversation about living with daily violence and finding steadiness through meditation and community service. A close look at how deep social trust and lineage become survival assets. Provocative questions about who we will be when comfort erodes, how we live with shrinking biophysical limits, and what we are willing to protect.
132 snips
Apr 29, 2026 • 1h 27min
This War Changes Everything: Are We Ready for Energy Shockwaves From the Strait of Hormuz? with Rory Johnston
Rory Johnston, oil market researcher and founder of Commodity Context, breaks down the Strait of Hormuz shutdown and its historic oil-supply shock. He explains how much crude and products flowed through Hormuz, why markets lag reality, and the three imperfect ways lost barrels can be replaced. Conversation covers infrastructure damage, who wins and loses globally, and what practical risks and adaptations lie ahead.
102 snips
Apr 24, 2026 • 33min
How to Think About the Future (Part 2): Four Variables Shaping the Coming Decades | Frankly 139
A tour of four economic futures mapped on a growth-versus-overshoot grid, from green growth to Great Simplification and darker outcomes. Power dynamics are layered next, exploring concentrated versus distributed authority and who captures the gains. Geopolitics is framed around cooperation versus adversarial relations and interdependence. Earth system limits and climate stress are added as boundary conditions that shape every scenario.
242 snips
Apr 22, 2026 • 2h 8min
Wisdom in a World in Crisis: The Counterintuitive Need to Slow Down and Find Spaciousness with Iain McGilchrist
Iain McGilchrist, philosopher and psychiatrist who studies brain lateralization and culture. He argues our rushed, analytical habits hide deeper values. He explores silence, spaciousness, and slowing down as paths to wonder. He connects attention, imagination, and meaning, warns technology reshapes perception, and urges humility, belonging, and small faithful practices to shift culture.
126 snips
Apr 17, 2026 • 32min
How to Think About the Future (Part 1): Changing the Future Starts with How You Think | Frankly 138
A new series kickoff on how to think about multiple possible futures instead of settling on one story. Discussion of why topics like energy, climate, plastics, and geopolitics must be seen as linked. Introduction to scenario thinking as a practical tool and the idea of shortfall risk—critical systems crossing thresholds. A push to expand perception and focus on robust, local responses.
43 snips
Apr 15, 2026 • 1h 36min
The Fantasy of Space Colonization: The Spaceship We're Already On with Tom Murphy & DJ White | RR 24
DJ White, Greenpeace co-founder and marine conservationist, and Tom Murphy, physicist/astronomer and author, debate space colonization fantasies. They dismantle asteroid mining and Mars myths with physics and ecology. They explore cultural reasons for space obsession, physiological and engineering impossibilities of living off Earth, and urge refocusing energy on protecting the planetary home we're already on.
85 snips
Apr 11, 2026 • 16min
Oil 301: The World After Cheap Energy | Frankly 137
A deep look at the carbon pulse: the one-time windfall of ancient sunlight that built modern societies. A critique of energy blindness and how money really claims physical work. A warning about shale’s reliance on cheap capital and risks from Strait of Hormuz disruptions. Connections between energy depletion, ecological strain, and shifting geopolitics. A call to reorient toward timeless sources of wellbeing.
