#113 | Frankly

11 Discoveries That Changed My Worldview

Check out this podcast

Frankly

Description

In this episode, Nate weaves personal reflections into an exploration of the human predicament, unpacking a series of chronological insights that have reshaped his worldview. What began years ago as an investigation into oil has morphed into a deep lifelong journey into the complex web of energy, psychology, evolution, and systems that drive today’s society. By sharing stories and realizations from his own life, whether it’s the debunking of Wall Street energy illusions or unpacking how sexual selection is often as important a behavioral driver as natural selection, Nate invites listeners to step back and see the human story through a much wider lens.

This episode combines Nate’s own evolution of understanding with the overarching narrative of The Great Simplification, speaking to what it means to be human in a dichotomous era of abundance and depletion, of numbness and awakening. It is perhaps more important than ever to be able to see our civilization through this wider perspective: not just as a disparate collection of individuals, but as a living – and learning – superorganism standing at the crossroads of deep time.

How might our understanding of progress change if we saw energy, not money, as the true currency of life? What would it mean to live with full awareness of our interconnectedness with the world and systems around us? And could this moment in history mark the shedding of some of the evolutionary impulses that ensured our survival, in favor of a new kind of planetary wisdom?

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

Download transcript

The TGS team puts together these brief references and show notes for the learning and convenience of our listeners. However, most of the points made in episodes hold more nuance than one link can address, and we encourage you to dig deeper into any of these topics and come to your own informed conclusions.

00:00 – Essay version of this Frankly

00:45 – The Seneca Effect

00:52 – The Rule of 70

03:00 – Energy contained in a single barrel of oil

03:10 – Price of oil

12:14 – Moby – We Are All Made of Stars

12:44 – Elements in our bodies originated with dying stars

13:20 – Sunlight comes from hydrogen turning into helium through fusion

13:45 – Deep time

15:10 – Evolution of blue eyes

15:26 – 10 percent of human population has blue eyes

15:40 – Epigamic trait

16:48 – Supernormal stimuli, loss aversion, tragedy of the commons, cognitive biases

17:46 – Nate Hagens – Economics for the future – Beyond the superorganism

19:20 – Carey King research on energy cost share of GDP

20:12 – GDP correlation with gross energy use

20:55 – Fractional reserve banking model

21:15 – How banks create money

24:53 – Frankly #56: Peak Oil, AI, and the Straw

25:37 – Maximum power principle

26:23 – Jevon’s Paradox

27:49 – Charles Goodnight, Charles Goodnight on multilevel selection theory

28:21 – Chicken and egg production experiment

30:35 – Biomass of humans and livestock versus wild mammals

34:14 – Dark triad traits, Reality Roundtable #19: Dark Triad Personality Traits

Back to all posts

Subscribe to our Substack

The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future (ISEOF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, founded in 2008, that conducts research and educates the public about energy issues and their impact on society.

Support our work
Get in touch
x