The Great Simplification
@tgspodcast.bsky.social
A podcast exploring money, energy, economy, and the environment with world experts and leaders to understand how everything fits together, and where we go from here. Hosted by @natehagens.bsky.social.
thegreatsimplification.com
thegreatsimplification.com
In this episode, Nate is joined by bestselling author and professor of psychiatry, Anna Lembke, to explore how modern society has “drugified” our lived experience through digital media, processed foods, and instant gratification.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/206-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/206-...
January 7, 2026 at 8:00 PM
In this episode, Nate is joined by bestselling author and professor of psychiatry, Anna Lembke, to explore how modern society has “drugified” our lived experience through digital media, processed foods, and instant gratification.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/206-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/206-...
AI safety researchers Nate Soares and Eliezer Yudkowsky spent over a year studying the implications of continued development of artificial superintelligence. Their conclusion was not so optimistic.
January 5, 2026 at 10:48 PM
AI safety researchers Nate Soares and Eliezer Yudkowsky spent over a year studying the implications of continued development of artificial superintelligence. Their conclusion was not so optimistic.
In this week’s Frankly, Nate takes thermodynamics out of the physics classroom, utilizing its principles to explain the invisible forces behind growth, competition, and complexity in our world.
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Behavioral Thermodynamics Part 1: Beyond the 4th Law? - The Great Simplification
In this week’s Frankly, Nate takes thermodynamics out of the physics classroom, utilizing its principles to explain the invisible forces behind growth, competition, and complexity in our world. Compet...
www.thegreatsimplification.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
In this week’s Frankly, Nate takes thermodynamics out of the physics classroom, utilizing its principles to explain the invisible forces behind growth, competition, and complexity in our world.
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Discussions about climate are often dominated by carbon dioxide. But there are many other "superpollutants" like methane that account for about half of today's warming.
December 18, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Discussions about climate are often dominated by carbon dioxide. But there are many other "superpollutants" like methane that account for about half of today's warming.
In this week’s episode, Nate reflects on four years (!) of the podcast by answering listener-submitted questions, which cover a broad range of topics related to The Great Simplification.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/205-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/205-...
End of Year Reflections: Four Years of The Great Simplification - The Great Simplification
In this week’s episode, Nate reflects on four years(!) of the podcast by answering listener-submitted questions, which cover a broad range of topics related to The Great Simplification. He invites sub...
www.thegreatsimplification.com
December 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM
In this week’s episode, Nate reflects on four years (!) of the podcast by answering listener-submitted questions, which cover a broad range of topics related to The Great Simplification.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/205-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/205-...
When it comes to the human predicament, where (in the not-too-distant future) we will need to completely change the way society works, the sunk cost psychological phenomenon is one of the biggest speed bumps toward soft landings for our culture.
December 16, 2025 at 3:24 PM
When it comes to the human predicament, where (in the not-too-distant future) we will need to completely change the way society works, the sunk cost psychological phenomenon is one of the biggest speed bumps toward soft landings for our culture.
In this week’s episode, Nate unpacks the pervasive behavioral pull of sunk cost as a force shaping our material reality, identities, and collective expectations about the future.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
December 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
In this week’s episode, Nate unpacks the pervasive behavioral pull of sunk cost as a force shaping our material reality, identities, and collective expectations about the future.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
We are in a perilous period where we are increasing our financial claims on reality, while reality deteriorates.
December 11, 2025 at 6:56 PM
We are in a perilous period where we are increasing our financial claims on reality, while reality deteriorates.
In this episode, Nate is joined by climate philanthropist Kelly Erhart to discuss the urgent state of climate science and emerging response strategies beyond traditional mitigation and adaptation.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/204-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/204-...
December 10, 2025 at 9:35 PM
In this episode, Nate is joined by climate philanthropist Kelly Erhart to discuss the urgent state of climate science and emerging response strategies beyond traditional mitigation and adaptation.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/204-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/204-...
AI safety researcher Nate Soares would prefer a doomsday movie plot scenario over the potential reality we actually face with unregulated AI development.
December 9, 2025 at 3:58 PM
AI safety researcher Nate Soares would prefer a doomsday movie plot scenario over the potential reality we actually face with unregulated AI development.
This week, Nate explores how the prices we encounter in our daily lives are influenced by not only how much money is in the system, but also by resource depletion, technology, affordability by ‘the masses,’ and trust within a complex global system.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
December 5, 2025 at 1:18 PM
This week, Nate explores how the prices we encounter in our daily lives are influenced by not only how much money is in the system, but also by resource depletion, technology, affordability by ‘the masses,’ and trust within a complex global system.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
In this episode, Nate is joined by AI safety researcher Nate Soares to discuss the dangerous unpredictability of continued ASI development, the “alignment problem,” and the newest safety studies uncovering increasingly deceptive AI behavior.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/203-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/203-...
December 3, 2025 at 4:01 PM
In this episode, Nate is joined by AI safety researcher Nate Soares to discuss the dangerous unpredictability of continued ASI development, the “alignment problem,” and the newest safety studies uncovering increasingly deceptive AI behavior.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/203-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/203-...
Today, Nate is joined by guide and author Samantha Sweetwater to explore how separation is at the root of the metacrisis and how nurturing interconnection, relationships, and ecological maturity act as foundational components for systems change.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/202-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/202-...
November 24, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Today, Nate is joined by guide and author Samantha Sweetwater to explore how separation is at the root of the metacrisis and how nurturing interconnection, relationships, and ecological maturity act as foundational components for systems change.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/202-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/202-...
Today, Nate is joined by Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, a Peruvian chemical biologist with Andean-Amazonian indigenous roots, to discuss how she is actively merging modern science and indigenous knowledge through innovative research in the Amazon Rainforest.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/201-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/201-...
November 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Today, Nate is joined by Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, a Peruvian chemical biologist with Andean-Amazonian indigenous roots, to discuss how she is actively merging modern science and indigenous knowledge through innovative research in the Amazon Rainforest.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/201-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/201-...
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.
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
November 14, 2025 at 3:45 PM
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.
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
In this episode, Nate interviews Professor Ted Parson about solar geoengineering (specifically stratospheric aerosol injection) as a potential response to severe climate risks.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/200-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/200-...
November 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
In this episode, Nate interviews Professor Ted Parson about solar geoengineering (specifically stratospheric aerosol injection) as a potential response to severe climate risks.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/200-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/200-...
Our efforts to cope with mortality are at the core of culture, religion, the desire for wealth, and even many of today’s societal crises. How might a deeper understanding of our implicit reactions to mortality help us turn towards responses that are more supportive of our species and planet?
November 10, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Our efforts to cope with mortality are at the core of culture, religion, the desire for wealth, and even many of today’s societal crises. How might a deeper understanding of our implicit reactions to mortality help us turn towards responses that are more supportive of our species and planet?
In this episode, Nate is joined by @norabateson.bsky.social and Zak Stein to explore the multifaceted ways that AI is designed to exploit our deepest social vulnerabilities, and the risks this poses to human relationships, cognition, and society.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/real...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/real...
November 5, 2025 at 7:37 PM
In this episode, Nate is joined by @norabateson.bsky.social and Zak Stein to explore the multifaceted ways that AI is designed to exploit our deepest social vulnerabilities, and the risks this poses to human relationships, cognition, and society.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/real...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/real...
In this week’s Frankly, Nate outlines four bifurcations that are likely to underpin the human experience in the near future. These divergences, and the ways we cope with them, contribute to increasing incoherence as a species.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
October 31, 2025 at 2:35 PM
In this week’s Frankly, Nate outlines four bifurcations that are likely to underpin the human experience in the near future. These divergences, and the ways we cope with them, contribute to increasing incoherence as a species.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Somewhere along the way, the U.S. moved away from its revolutionary roots of decentralization and started pushing the idea that bigger is better. Economic writer and strategist @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social explains how and when this shift occurred.
October 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Somewhere along the way, the U.S. moved away from its revolutionary roots of decentralization and started pushing the idea that bigger is better. Economic writer and strategist @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social explains how and when this shift occurred.
In this episode, Nate is joined by Sheldon Solomon, a psychologist and co-developer of Terror Management Theory, which posits that while all living beings strive to survive, humans are unique in knowing that death is unavoidable.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/199-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/199-...
October 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
In this episode, Nate is joined by Sheldon Solomon, a psychologist and co-developer of Terror Management Theory, which posits that while all living beings strive to survive, humans are unique in knowing that death is unavoidable.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/199-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/199-...
When we optimize for efficiency and growth, we risk the stability of the entire system. Economic writer and strategist @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social explains.
October 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
When we optimize for efficiency and growth, we risk the stability of the entire system. Economic writer and strategist @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social explains.
In this week’s Frankly, Nate considers the ways in which our social species overvalues false-confidence rather than the more honest and inquisitive response of “I don’t know.”
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
In this week’s Frankly, Nate considers the ways in which our social species overvalues false-confidence rather than the more honest and inquisitive response of “I don’t know.”
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
Watch/listen:
www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-orig...
In this episode, Nate is joined by economic writer and strategist @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social to explore how concentrated economic power shapes the health of towns and cities – from economic resilience to social connectedness.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/198-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/198-...
October 22, 2025 at 3:13 PM
In this episode, Nate is joined by economic writer and strategist @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social to explore how concentrated economic power shapes the health of towns and cities – from economic resilience to social connectedness.
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/198-...
www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/198-...
Sometimes it feels like we hear the same warnings year after year. But in systems as complex as Earth's ecosystems, collapse is always just around the corner.
October 20, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Sometimes it feels like we hear the same warnings year after year. But in systems as complex as Earth's ecosystems, collapse is always just around the corner.