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
80 snips
Feb 27, 2026 • 24min
Ultra-Processed Information: AI and the Coming Deluge of Noise | Frankly 128
A dive into how AI is about to flood our feeds with polished but hollow content. A comparison between ultra-processed food and ultra-processed information. Why authenticity, judgment, and true relevance will become rare currencies. Practical mental filters and daily practices to protect attention and prevent cognitive atrophy in an age of algorithmic persuasion.
84 snips
Feb 25, 2026 • 1h 23min
How to Inoculate Against Misinformation: Breaking Down Misleading Arguments & Why Science Communication Fails with John Cook
John Cook, a science communication researcher who created Skeptical Science and the Cranky Uncle game, explores why facts alone fail and how motivated reasoning warps understanding. He outlines the FLICC tactics used in misinformation. Short, concrete examples and a playful game-based training show how to spot misleading arguments and scale critical thinking across topics.
24 snips
Feb 23, 2026 • 18min
Wide Boundary News 2/23/26: Biodiversity Depletion, Iran & the Strait of Hormuz, and the Green Wedge
A wide-boundary look at renewable energy gains that hide rising costs and deindustrialization. An analysis of China’s flat CO2 numbers masking construction collapse and coal highs. A discussion of biodiversity loss as ecosystems lose adaptability. A rundown of nuclear treaty lapse and rising nuclear escalation risk, plus the strategic stakes around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
91 snips
Feb 20, 2026 • 40min
Humanity as Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: The Symptoms, Patterns, and Drivers | Frankly 126
A wide-angle look at how small-group instincts change when societies scale up. Clear distinctions are drawn between visible symptoms like warming and biodiversity loss and deeper systemic patterns. Listens explore recurring dynamics such as power-law concentration, overshoot, arms races, and rebound effects. The conversation ends by questioning how incentives, feedback delays, and excluded nature shape collective responsibility.
61 snips
Feb 18, 2026 • 1h 24min
The Future is Rural: Reclaiming Food Sovereignty through Farming Clubs? with Jason Bradford
Jason Bradford, biologist-turned-farmer and organizer who runs a community Farming Club, shares his hands-on approach to ecologically based agriculture. He describes how the club trains people, shares produce, and rebuilds rural skills and community. Conversation covers why small farms struggle, practical club models, scaling member-owned clubs, and pathways for newcomers to gain land and farm knowledge.
43 snips
Feb 13, 2026 • 19min
Uncomfortable Questions in Unstable Times | Frankly 125
A series of probing questions about swapping growth for stability and how that would reshape daily life and national priorities. Unequal buffers and who feels systemic risks first are put under the microscope. The role of meaning as a social stabilizer gets explored. Big-picture incentives, AI’s material demands, and the ethics of funding resented technologies are examined.
104 snips
Feb 11, 2026 • 1h 10min
The Misunderstood History of CO2: The Science Behind Earth's Most Controversial Molecule with Peter Brannen
Peter Brannen, award-winning science journalist and author focused on geology and the carbon cycle. He reframes CO2 as both life-giving and climate-controlling. Short scenes cover deep-time carbon swings, Snowball Earth, mass extinctions, the Holocene’s unusual calm, and how modern emissions compare to past planetary upheavals. The conversation blends geologic wonder with precautionary urgency.
52 snips
Feb 9, 2026 • 15min
Wide Boundary News: Peak Oil (Not!), Peak Dispatchability, and WEF Risks
A wide‑boundary take on a new all‑time high in crude production and the mix of factors behind it. A look at rising electricity prices, shrinking dispatchable power, and why always‑on AI and electrification stress grids. A rundown of global expert survey results elevating ecological risks and what that implies for long‑term stability.
51 snips
Feb 6, 2026 • 23min
The Consumption Pyramid
A seven-layer map of how consumption shows up in life, from survival needs to escape and dopamine traps. Discussion of stability, social care, convenience risks, status signaling, and novelty-seeking. Exploration of how dependencies form on fast, easy systems and why simplifying now can build resilience. Prompts to rethink roles beyond buying and notice where consumption is coping or identity.
58 snips
Feb 4, 2026 • 1h 16min
How to Read the Signs of Collapse: Economic Stagnation, Resource Scarcity, and Europe's Industrial Decline with Balázs Matics
Balázs Matics, an Eastern European industrial product engineer and author of The Honest Sorcerer, maps slow-moving collapse driven by energy and material shortfalls. He highlights diesel's outsized role, Europe's vulnerability, shifting geopolitics and deglobalization. Conversation also explores localization, repair economies, community planning, and the industrial signals governments should watch.
