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The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

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Nate Hagens

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.

#344

Sunk Cost and the Superorganism | Frankly 116

In this week's episode, Nate unpacks the pervasive behavioral pull of sunk cost as a force... more

12 Dec 2025

23 MINS

23:29

12 Dec 2025

#343

Fighting for a Livable Future: Exploring Frontier Climate Interventions with Kelly Erhart

While current conversations about global heating tend to center around a few well-establis... more

10 Dec 2025

1 HR 06 MINS

1:06:57

10 Dec 2025

#342

Inflation, Deflation, & Simplification: The 8 Things That Influence Prices | Frankly 115

In this week's Frankly, Nate explores how the prices we encounter in our daily lives are i... more

05 Dec 2025

26 MINS

26:09

05 Dec 2025

#341

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: How Artificial Superintelligence Might Wipe Out Our Entire Speci...

Technological development has always been a double-edged sword for humanity: the printing ... more

03 Dec 2025

1 HR 40 MINS

1:40:55

03 Dec 2025

#340

Reimagining Ourselves at the End of Our World: Kinship, Interconnection, and Spirituality in the Met...

Over the past decade, the world has become increasingly chaotic and uncertain – and so, to... more

24 Nov 2025

1 HR 33 MINS

1:33:51

24 Nov 2025

#339

Directional Advice for the (More Than) Human Predicament | Frankly 114

Over the past decade, the world has become increasingly chaotic and uncertain – and so, to... more

22 Nov 2025

40 MINS

40:17

22 Nov 2025

#338

Two Ways of Knowing: How Merging Science & Indigenous Wisdom Fuels New Discoveries with Rosa Vásquez...

For centuries, modern science has relied on the scientific method to better understand the... more

19 Nov 2025

1 HR 22 MINS

1:22:05

19 Nov 2025

#337

11 Discoveries That Changed My Worldview | Frankly 113

In this episode, Nate weaves personal reflections into an exploration of the human predica... more

14 Nov 2025

37 MINS

37:41

14 Nov 2025

#336

Will We Artificially Cool the Planet? The Science and Politics of Geoengineering with Ted Parson

Global heating continues, despite the increased use of renewable energy sources and intern... more

12 Nov 2025

1 HR 21 MINS

1:21:43

12 Nov 2025

#335

Hacking Human Attachment: The Loneliness Crisis, Cognitive Atrophy and other Personal Dangers of AI ...

Mainstream conversations about artificial intelligence tend to center around the technolog... more

05 Nov 2025

1 HR 53 MINS

1:53:14

05 Nov 2025

#334

The Quadruple Bifurcation | Frankly 112

In this week's Frankly, Nate outlines four bifurcations that are likely to underpin the hu... more

31 Oct 2025

22 MINS

22:46

31 Oct 2025

#333

Terror Management Theory: How Existential Dread Has Shaped the World with Sheldon Solomon

Many of us wrestle with the unsettling truth that everyone – including ourselves and those... more

29 Oct 2025

1 HR 46 MINS

1:46:50

29 Oct 2025

#332

The Three Most Important Words We're Taught Not to Say

In this week's Frankly, Nate considers the ways in which our social species overvalues fal... more

24 Oct 2025

26 MINS

26:30

24 Oct 2025

#331

Challenging Monopoly Power: Why Local Business is Better for People, the Planet, and Your Wallet wit...

Monopolistic business practices have been illegal in the United States for more than a cen... more

22 Oct 2025

1 HR 27 MINS

1:27:43

22 Oct 2025

#330

What Sloths Teach Us About the Superorganism

In this week's Frankly, Nate reflects on the multiple metaphors brought to mind via a sing... more

17 Oct 2025

17 MINS

17:50

17 Oct 2025

#329

Will Coral Reefs Be Gone by 2050? How Bleaching, Acidification, and Ocean Heating are Killing Coral ...

Twenty-five years ago, a landmark paper warned that the world's coral reefs could vanish b... more

15 Oct 2025

1 HR 30 MINS

1:30:01

15 Oct 2025

#328

Is the U.S. Electric Grid Stable? Policy, Renewables, and Who Is Responsible If The Grid Fails with ...

For many people in the modern world, electricity powers everything we do. Yet we take for ... more

08 Oct 2025

1 HR 24 MINS

1:24:58

08 Oct 2025

#327

Peak Oil, Ponzi Pyramids, and Planetary Boundaries

To view the graphs Nate is referring to in this episode, please click <a href= "https://ww... more

03 Oct 2025

21 MINS

21:34

03 Oct 2025

#326

Moral Ambition: Redefining Success for the Global Good with Rutger Bregman

The overarching definition of success today often looks like the accumulation of stuff – m... more

01 Oct 2025

1 HR 15 MINS

1:15:43

01 Oct 2025

#325

The Influence of Psychopaths: Why Humanity Is Better Than We Think

In this week's Frankly, Nate reflects on intraspecies predation (ours) and the impact psyc... more

26 Sep 2025

22 MINS

22:06

26 Sep 2025

#324

The Past and Future of Societal Collapse: Why Civilizations Fall and What We Can Learn From It with ...

For many people today, the idea of societal collapse is unimaginable. Yet history shows th... more

24 Sep 2025

2 HR 15 MINS

2:15:58

24 Sep 2025

#323

Dark Triad Personality Traits: How Psychopathy, Narcissism, and Machiavellianism Impact Our Cultures...

Psychopathy is often portrayed as a rare and distant phenomenon – something confined to mo... more

17 Sep 2025

1 HR 24 MINS

1:24:05

17 Sep 2025

#322

This Week's Learnings: Gold Holdings, Political Divides, and the DOE Climate Report | Frankly 107

In this week's Frankly, in a continuation of his 'This Week's Learnings' series, Nate upda... more

12 Sep 2025

16 MINS

16:55