Geoffrey West: "Metabolism and the Hidden Laws of Biology”
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Release Date: 04/03/2024
Nuclear Conflict: 7 Key Questions for Sustainable Futures | Frankly #63
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
(Recorded May 28, 2024) Description In this week’s Frankly, Nate offers an update on the current state of conflict between NATO and Russia and the increasing threat of escalation, followed by 7 high-level questions about how to think about war, the human predicament and our work for a more stable future. While these issues may seem too looming and overwhelming for our everyday lives, the society-ending (world-ending?) ramifications of them would trump every other issue if the worst were to happen. When thinking of how we define “war”, is it even possible to “win” within a complex,...
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Vanessa Andreotti: "Hospicing Modernity and Rehabilitating Humanity"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
(Conversation recorded on March 25th, 2024) Show Summary: In this episode, Nate is joined by educator and researcher Vanessa Andreotti to discuss what she calls “hospicing modernity” in order to move beyond the world we’ve come to know and the failed promises that “modernity” has made to our current culture. Whether you refer to it as the metacrisis, the polycrisis, or - in Nate’s terms - the human predicament, Vanessa brings a unique framing rooted in indigenous knowledge and relationality to aid in understanding, grieving, and building emotional resilience within this...
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Levke Caesar: "Oceanic Slowdown: Decoding the AMOC"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
(Conversation recorded on April 23rd, 2024) Show Summary: On this episode, Nate is joined by climate physicist Levke Caesar for a comprehensive overview of the (AMOC) and its connections to broader planetary systems. Amid a complex and heavily interconnected climate system, the AMOC is a powerful force for regulating temperature between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres along the Atlantic Ocean - yet it’s estimated to have over the last few decades. What are the possible domino effects of this slowing oceanic powerhouse at a regional and global scale? How well do we...
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Special Request & Community Announcement
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
UPDATE: We are no longer accepting survey submissions. Thanks for your feedback! Greetings! As we look ahead to the future of our podcast and organization, we hope to continue bringing you the most relevant information, guests, and conversations surrounding The Great Simplification. To that end, we’re asking for your feedback. We have put together a that includes questions about what issues, content, and worldviews are most important to you. Take the Survey → We’ve also set up a Discord community as a way to connect TGS viewers and listeners (who span across the globe). 🌏...
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Chris Keefer: "Empowering the Future: from Nuclear to Podcasting"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
On this episode, Nate is joined by ER doctor, nuclear power advocate, and podcast host Chris Keefer for a broad ranging conversation including the basics of nuclear energy, how he engages with opposing opinions, and hypotheticals for a future medical system. Coming from a broad background, Chris understands what it means to have a human to human conversation and put together the pieces of our systemic puzzle in a clear and compelling way. What role could nuclear play for our future energy needs - and how are different countries making use of it today? How can we prioritize the health and...
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The Indic Mind: An Approach to the Metacrisis | Reality Roundtable 8
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
On this Reality Roundtable, Nate is joined by Mohit Trivedi, Abhishek Thakore, and Kejal Savla, three NGO leaders in India active in driving social and cultural change using the perspective of the Indic Mind. As a subcontinent, the Indic people have faced crisis after crisis, yet have still held onto the optimism and compassion foundational to their culture. Submerged in this history and context, there is so much for the West to learn from those active in the metacrisis space in India. How has India’s unique history shaped the way they approach coming resource constraints, as they prepare to...
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Zak Stein: "Values, Education, AI and the Metacrisis”
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
On this episode, Nate is joined by philosopher and educator Zak Stein to discuss the current state of education and development for children during a time of converging crises and societal transformation. As the pace of life continues to accelerate - including world-shaking technological developments - our schools struggle to keep pace with changes in cultural expectations. What qualities are we encouraging in a system centered on competition and with no emphasis on creating agency or community participation? How is unfettered technology and artificial intelligence influencing youth - and what...
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Pella Thiel: "Criminalizing Ecocide: The Rights of Nature”
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
On this episode, Nate is joined by maverick ecologist Pella Thiel to discuss the legal frameworks behind the Ecocide and Rights of Nature Movements. Our current economic and legal systems have no mechanisms to consider nature in our decision making - much less to make systemic planetary stability a priority. Could redefining the destruction of our biosphere to be considered a crime parallel with that of genocide alter the way we structure laws governing our societies and economies? How are countries legislating and enforcing these ideas - even going so far as to act against the flow of the...
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7 Thought Experiments for Earth Day | Frankly #62
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Recorded April 22 2024 Description For this Earth Day in 2024 Frankly, Nate walks through 7 thought experiments geared towards imagining scenarios and outcomes for ourselves, society, and the planet. While not rooted in reality, thinking through hypotheticals can be a valuable way to reflect on our ethics, ideals, and future decision points. From the perceived quick-fix of solar panels to magic solutions for infrastructure and governance, how might human cultural values impact outcomes for the biosphere? How do humans and the climate shape each other, and what does that mean for...
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Tom Chi: "Net Positive for the Planet – from Beavers to Bionics”
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
On this episode, Nate is joined by inventor and investor Tom Chi to take a broad look at the principles guiding innovation and capital - and how we might shift these to be more biophysically aligned in the future. For the past few centuries, our global industrial system has been dominated by growth-based economics without awareness of its dependence on the biosphere - or the waste that it leaves behind. What would it mean for our technology to be ecologically centered, working in service of and in synergy with complex, biodiverse life on Earth? How can we work within our current financial and...
info_outlineOn this episode, physicist Geoffrey West joins Nate to discuss his decades of work on metabolic scaling laws found in nature and how they apply to humans and our economies. As we think about the past and future of societies, there are patterns that emerge independently across cultures in terms of resource use and social phenomena as the size of a city grows. Does Kleiber’s law, which describes the increasingly efficient use of energy as an animal gets larger - also apply to human cities? How have humans deviated from this rule through excess social consumption beyond a human body’s individual metabolic needs? What could we learn from these scaling laws to adjust our communities to be more aligned with the biophysical realities of energy and resource consumption? Can an understanding of social metabolism impact our social metabolism?
About Geoffrey West
Geoffrey West is the Shannan Distinguished Professor and former President of the Santa Fe Institute and an Associate Senior Fellow of Oxford University’s Green-Templeton College. West is a theoretical physicist whose primary interests have been in fundamental questions ranging across physics, biology and the social sciences. His work is motivated by the search for unifying principles and the “simplicity underlying complexity”. His research includes metabolism, growth, aging & death, sleep, cancer, ecosystems, innovation and the accelerating pace of life. Most recently he has been developing a science of cities and companies, including the challenge of long-term global sustainability of the anthroposphere. He is the author of the best-selling book Scale; The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies.
Find out more, and show notes: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/117-geoffrey-west
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/my9a9Ftr7ek