Podcast

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens shines a light on the foundations of the human predicament, revealing how energy, the environment, economics, human behavior, and systems science intertwine.

The Great Simplification

The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens shines a light on the foundations of the human predicament, revealing how energy, the environment, economics, human behavior, and systems science intertwine.

Frankly

This series serves as a beacon, revealing the interconnected challenges facing society and guiding the way through Nate Hagens’ broader work on The Great Simplification.

Reality Roundtables

A guiding light within The Great Simplification Podcast, where experts converge to shed light on global challenges—highlighting the complexities of energy, ecology, economics, human behavior, and systems synthesis.

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Earth Day 2025With Nate HagensThe Great SimplificationEp 187 | 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.

Watch nowJul 25, 2025
The Packaging RevolutionWith Wes CarterThe Great SimplificationEp 186 | Wes Carter

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?

Watch nowJul 23, 2025
Frankly#102 | What I Learned This Week: Corn Sweat, Coral Bleaching, and the Climate Credit Crunch

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.

Watch nowJul 18, 2025
The Myths Shaping Our EconomiesWith Josh FarleyThe Great SimplificationEp 185 | Josh Farley

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? 

Watch nowJul 16, 2025
Frankly#101 | What I Want to Want for the Future

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.

Watch nowJul 11, 2025
Reality RoundtableReality Roundtable Reality Roundtable #17 — Moving from Apathy to Action: How Facing Grief Can Help Us Navigate a World in Crisis

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?

Watch nowJul 9, 2025
Frankly#100 | Ask Nate Anything 2025

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.

Watch nowJun 27, 2025
Algorithmic CancerWith Connor LeahyThe Great SimplificationEp 184 | Connor Leahy

Recently, the risks about Artificial Intelligence and the need for ‘alignment’ have been flooding our cultural discourse – with Artificial Super Intelligence acting as both the most promising goal and most pressing threat. But amid the moral debate, there’s been surprisingly little attention paid to a basic question: do we even have the technical capability to guide where any of this is headed? And if not, should we slow the pace of innovation until we better understand how these complex systems actually work?

Watch nowJun 25, 2025
Nate_Frankly_99Frankly#99 | The 10 Core Myths Still Taught in Business Schools

Economics departments around the world teach a narrow boundary story of the way our world works. A narrative of infinite growth driven by consumption and money, which has dominated our culture and unknowingly shaped the way we live. But does this story really reflect our biophysical reality – or the full scope of humanity’s role within it?

Watch nowJun 20, 2025
Rod SchoonoverThe National Security Risks We’re Not Prepared ForWith Rod SchoonoverThe Great SimplificationEp 183 | Rod Schoonover

National security concerns have been the invisible hand guiding governance throughout recorded history. In the 20th century, it was defined by a country versus country dynamic: whichever nation was the strongest and most strategic was also the safest. But today, our biggest national security threats don’t come from opposing nations – they are “actorless threats” that emerge from the breakdown of the complex systems we all depend on – from the stability of our planetary systems to our intricately complex and fragile global supply chains. In this unprecedented landscape, what is required of us in order to keep our citizens safe?

Watch nowJun 18, 2025
Movie Re-ReleaseThe Systems Science Behind Our Global CrisesWith Nate HagensThe Great SimplificationEp 182 | Nate Hagens

Three years ago, my team and I created a 30-minute movie that provides a comprehensive systems analysis of the human predicament—spanning energy, economics, ecology, and behavioral psychology. This beautifully animated film aims to help viewers understand the interconnected crises defining our era.

Watch nowJun 13, 2025
Globalization End GameHelena Norberg-Hodge HeadshotGlobalization End GameWith Helena Norberg-HodgeThe Great SimplificationEp 181 | Helena Norberg-Hodge

Over the last few decades, humanity has globalized everything – from food production and supply chains to communication and information systems – making countries, businesses, and individuals more connected and reliant on each other than ever before. Yet, with this increased interconnectedness comes more complexity and fragility. What have we lost through the globalization process, and how might we fortify our communities by investing in local economies?

Watch nowJun 11, 2025

That’s very understandable because with left hemisphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

What we’re seeing is probably the largest mass movement of marine life, at least in the last 10,000 years, towards the poles. Malin Pinsky Associate Professor

The worst thing you can do to people is make them feel that whatever they do, it doesn’t matter. What we call in psychology “helplessness” — or even stronger, learned helplessness. Maren Urner Professor, Sustainable Transformation

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Executive Director ISEOF

30 min overview

The Great Simplification Animated Series is a 32-minute animation – in four acts – describing the backdrop for an economic and cultural transition beginning in the not-too-distant future. Energy Blind reveals how fossil fuels shaped our world, while The Human Superorganism shows their impact on economies and ecosystems. The Human Being examines the psychology behind our short-term thinking, and The Great Simplification encourages a systems-thinking approach to future challenges. With detailed notes and transcripts, this series offers a thought-provoking look at our past, present, and future. You can also enjoy all four parts together in our Animated Movie.

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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.

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