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.
What this show covers
resiliencegrounding practicesburnoutself-caremeaningful workfuture of capitalsystemic riskAI and laborclimateinvestingRobin Wall KimmererecologyIndigenous knowledgeplantsreciprocity
What listeners will find here
Five anchors for staying human when the world feels chaotic
Nate Hagens reflects on five conditions that help him stay grounded, authentic, and resilient in turbulent times. The episode connects self-care, routine, slack, nature, friendship, and meaningful work into a personal compass for navigating uncertainty without burning out.
What if today’s savings are betting on a future that can’t hold together?
This episode examines how climate stress, resource conflict, and AI-driven labor disruption could undermine the assumptions behind modern investing. Nate Hagens and Indy Johar explore why conventional finance may be mispricing systemic risk and what a more adaptive approach to capital could look like.
Robin Wall Kimmerer on learning reciprocity, restraint, and enoughness from plants
Plants are the starting point for a wider conversation about how to live well within nature’s limits. Robin Wall Kimmerer joins Nate to connect botany, Potawatomi teachings, and ecological restoration through ideas like the Honorable Harvest, reciprocity, and the choice between a scorched path and a green one.
A seven-rung ladder for understanding why rational people sustain a failing system
This episode maps seven system-level forces behind today’s economic Superorganism and the crises it generates. Nate Hagens argues that destructive outcomes can emerge from ordinary incentives, status drives, and cultural assumptions—and that the deepest leverage may lie in changing the slowest-moving layers beneath daily events.
Episodes
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