The 8 Faces of AI: Who Will You Become As AI Accelerates? | Frankly 96
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Release Date: 05/23/2025
The Silent Collapse: What the Disappearance of Insects Means for Humanity and the Earth with Oliver Milman
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Insects, bugs, creepy-crawlies – these small animals are often considered a nuisance (or worse) by humanity, bringing up an ongoing desire to kill or mitigate these “pests” that plague our backyards, homes, and gardens. But we’re beginning to see that, despite our cultural misconceptions, insects are actually at the foundation of our biosphere, food supply, and nearly every life process on Earth. This makes recent reports of rapidly declining insect populations all the more troubling – but can we recognize the vital importance of insects and reverse the harm we’ve done before...
info_outline
The Ghost of Dopamine Past | Frankly 103
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
In this week’s Frankly, Nate reflects on a moment of unexpected insight during a morning bike ride, which catalyzed a larger meditation on the modern human predicament. This episode explores the neuroscience of dopamine, and offers a reflection on the ways it plays into distraction, technology, and how we interact with the hyperstimulating world around us. What is the “ghost of dopamine past,” and how does it shape not only our individual lives, but our collective economic and ecological behavior? Why does the urge to scroll on our phones override the deep calm of watching...
info_outline
Nothing Can Stop This Train: Our Financial Predicament From a Systems Perspective with Lyn Alden
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Money, debt, and finance shape the lives of everyone globally, including through the policies and actions of national central banks – yet even those who are well-versed in these subjects often miss the full scope of these intricate relationships. For the average person, headlines about mounting government debt and surging interest rates often feel like a confusing and concerning trend. What can we learn from historical cycles, global energy dynamics, and the differing fiscal strategies of nations about the trajectory of the world economy? In today’s episode, Nate is joined once more by Lyn...
info_outline
Towards Individual Wisdom & Restraint
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
In this Earth Day presentation, recorded earlier this year, Nate offers nine broad paths for individuals to cultivate resilience in an increasingly uncertain and unstable period of human history. From the intellectual & ecological to the spiritual & psychological, these ideas might be considered waypoints for navigating the human predicament, and - in aggregate - help build 'scout teams' of humans working on the upcoming cultural transition away from infinite material expansion. How do we slow down and reject the “hustle culture” that prioritizes gains in efficiency, wealth and...
info_outline
The Packaging Revolution: Industry’s Responsibility & the Innovations That Could Mitigate the Waste Crisis with Wes Carter
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Packaging is an unavoidable feature of modern life. It’s so embedded in our products and systems that even the most environmentally-minded consumers struggle to avoid it entirely. Yet packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste, contributing to widespread ecological harm and growing threats to human health – highlighting the urgent need for an overhaul of packaging materials and industry practices. So how are some industry leaders reimagining materials, systems, and supply chains in ways that align with the realities of our finite planet? In today’s episode, Nate is joined by...
info_outline
What I Learned This Week: Corn Sweat, Coral Bleaching, and the Climate Credit Crunch | Frankly 102
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
In this week’s Frankly, Nate shares a handful of things he’s learned in the past few days that have implications for the Great Simplification. Nate covers a wide range of topics in this edition, from the connections between corn sweat and wet bulb temperatures to a timeline of coral reef bleaching events. Our culture is marked by information overload, which has been expanded intensely by technology. This makes it difficult to absorb the data, narratives, and headlines we are presented—let alone sort through them and examine what is relevant for the Great Simplification scenario....
info_outline
The Myths Shaping Our Economies: The Disconnect between Economic Theory and Reality with Josh Farley
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Economic theory has come to wield outsized influence over our societal goals, decisions, and policies – often relying on models that claim to optimize how human systems function. Yet the outcomes of our modern economic structures tell a different story: accelerating ecological collapse, widening inequality, declining public health, and increasing social disconnection. What if the foundational principles of mainstream economics are actually built on false assumptions that obscure the realities of our world? In this conversation, Nate is joined by ecological economist Josh Farley to...
info_outline
What I Want to Want for the Future | Frankly 101
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
In today’s Frankly, Nate imagines that he’s looking back from an unspecified point in the future (even from beyond his lifetime), and ponders the core things he would want during his time on Earth. Breaking from what our culture steers us to seek out, Nate examines what a bedrock of human experiences might include — the things in our lives that keep us grounded and experiencing life to the fullest extent. While naming some of the things he values in his own life, from experiencing full spectrum love to having a purpose, Nate encourages the viewer to reflect on what they might “want to...
info_outline
Moving from Apathy to Action: How Facing Grief Can Help Us Navigate a World in Crisis | Reality Roundtable #17
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
When facing the realities of our world, the urge to drown in grief or shut down into apathy is becoming more and more common. As we are flooded with information and global predicaments outside of our control, overwhelm can set in, affecting our energy, efficacy, and even our ability to care. But what if facing our grief is actually the pathway to increasing our capacity to stay connected to and work on the things that matter most to us? What tools, practices, or rituals could we use to help us begin to metabolize our grief? In this episode, Nate is joined by John Seed and Skye Cielita Flor to...
info_outline
Ask Nate Anything 2025 | Frankly 100
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
In today’s Frankly, Nate reads and responds to questions from viewers of the channel, offering reflections on a wide range of topics from current events, balancing fear and action surrounding often existential topics, green technology, and more. By directly addressing these questions, Nate aims to further unpack some of the nuances in the complex and expansive concept of The Great Simplification. The goal of TGS is to build out a comprehensive outlook that connects the dots of energy, human-made systems, and Earth's functioning ecosystems. By making clear the biophysical reality of our...
info_outlineIn a world increasingly mediated by machines, the boundaries between human identity and artificial intelligence are beginning to blur. While some embrace the tools of the future, others quietly resist, preserving ways of being that have endured for millennia. What happens when AI becomes not just a tool but a mirror?
In this week’s Frankly, Nate introduces a new typology of how AI may shape human behavior in the years ahead. He outlines eight archetypes reflecting our varied relationships to artificial intelligence—ranging from resistance and discipline to dependence and immersion. Rather than focusing on technological capability, he explores what these categories reveal about human psychology, culture, and adaptation.
Which of these types do you see in yourself and those around you? What will it take to retain our analog roots in a digital age? And in a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, what kind of human will you choose to be?
(Recorded May 20, 2025)
Watch this video episode on YouTube
Help shape the future of TGS by taking our 10-minute Learning & Training Survey
---
Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.
Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future
Join our Discord channel and connect with other listeners