(Conversation recorded on July 24th, 2024) In the past century of abundant energy surplus, humanity’s globalized, large-scale approach to problem-solving has yielded remarkable benefits and innovations. However, as we face a future with reduced energy resources, mounting waste, and a biosphere in danger, the negative impacts of this approach are in…

(Conversation recorded on May 8th, 2024) Without a systems lens, the full reality of the human predicament will never be understood. It is only when we adopt this kind of holistic, wide-boundary thinking that we are able to see the complexity and nuance of how the biosphere, geopolitics, economics, energy, and many other systems interplay with and …

(Conversation recorded on July 17th, 2024) Addressing the risks we face on a global scale is a challenge that can feel both enormous in execution and personally daunting. When it comes to finding the motivation and inspiration to do such work, one of the best sources of insight comes from the visionaries and activists who have come before us, who k…

(Recorded August 11, 2024) The content of The Great Simplification (on Youtube and in real life) can be complex, nuanced and multi-faceted. In today’s Frankly, Nate offers reflections on a selection of viewers’ direct questions about the myriad topics covered on this channel. The goal of this podcast is to integrate the head, the heart and the hand…

(Conversation recorded on July 25th, 2024) Show Summary: Human overpopulation is often depicted in the media in one of two ways: as either a catastrophic disaster or an overly-exaggerated concern. Yet the data understood by scientists and researchers is clear. So what is the actual state of our overshoot, and, despite our growing numbers, are we al…

(Recorded August 5 2024) As a problem-solving species, technology is an embedded part of the human experience – we assess, innovate, invent and adapt. But as we move out of the anomalous era we have just lived through and into less stable economic, social, geopolitical and ecological circumstances, humanity will require different kinds of innovatio…

(Conversation recorded on June 25th, 2024) Although artificial intelligence tends to dominate conversations about solving our most daunting global challenges, we may actually find some of the most potent ideas hiding in plain sight in the natural world around us. In this episode, Nate is joined by Janine Benyus, who has spent decades advocating for…

(Recorded July 23 2024) Description In this week’s Frankly, (coincidentally released the day after Earth Overshoot Day), Nate breaks down seven factors contributing to humanity’s increasing overshoot – which is defined as the point at which species’ use of ecological resources and services exceeds what Earth can regenerate in a given time period – …

(Conversation recorded on June 19th, 2024) Show Summary: While the mainstream conversation about our planet’s future is heavily dominated by the topic of climate change, there are other systems which are just as critical to consider when thinking about the health and livability of our world. Just like climate change, each of these systems has its o…

(Conversation recorded on June 14th, 2024) Show Summary: There’s a growing understanding of the need for biodiversity across ecosystems for a healthy and resilient biosphere. What if we applied the same principles to the way we communicate and use language to relate to each other and the world? Today Nate is joined by Nora Bateson, Rex Weyler, Vane…

Recorded July 23 2024 In this week’s Frankly, Nate addresses the common desire for solutions to the human predicament - and why the championing of “solutions” is less clear-cut than we might perceive. To this end, he offers a three-dimensional model for thinking about a framework for responses. Effective responses greatly depend on the context of a…

(Conversation recorded on June 12th, 2024) Show Summary: As we move through difficult cultural transitions and rethink our governance systems, it will be critical that we listen to voices that are rooted beyond the conventional Western thinking that has come to dominate our society. As such, it is always an honor when Indigenous leaders share their…

Recorded July 16 2024 Description Following the attempted assassination of former United States President Donald J. Trump, Nate reflects on the dysfunctional social dynamics which have brought many of us to high levels of tribalism and mistrust toward others and divorced from the deeper challenges facing us in coming decades. As humans, we all - fo…

(Conversation recorded on June 27th, 2024) Show Summary: Artificial intelligence has been advancing at a break-neck pace. Accompanying this is an almost frenzied optimism that AI will fix our most pressing global problems, particularly when it comes to the hype surrounding climate solutions. In this episode, Daniel Schmachtenberger joins Nate to ta…

(Recorded July 8 2024) There are many so-called ‘solutions’ out there that, upon first glance, seem like great ideas - yet when we look beyond the narrow scope of the immediate benefits, we discover a slew of unintended (and often counterproductive) consequences. Today’s Frankly offers a series of examples of modern issues using a “wide-boundary” l…

(Conversation recorded on June 14th, 2024) Show Summary: If plants are considered the lungs of the Earth, cycling CO2 into oxygen for animals to breathe, then animals act as the heart and arteries, spreading nutrients across the Earth to where it’s needed most. This is the metaphor that today’s guest, conservation biologist Joe Roman, uses when des…

(Conversation recorded on May 16th, 2024) Show Summary: At the intersection between science and spirituality lies some of the most profound questions we can ask ourselves about the future - the answers to which could mean the difference between humanity’s mere survival or a flourishing. Today’s episode with Peabody-award winning broadcaster Krista …

In this week’s Frankly, Nate shares twenty different things to expect in the future, some which will be extremely difficult to influence but others which are in our control to change. From the forecast of an increasingly hotter planet due to the Superorganism’s insatiable appetite for fossil-carbon energy to a world of growing conflict and inequali…

(Conversation recorded on April 24th, 2024) Show Summary: Engaging with the human predicament requires new ways of understanding the world - novel perspectives that are rooted in a more holistic and interdependent mindset than those dominant in the industrialized society of the past few centuries. Today’s conversation with philosopher and social sc…

(Conversation recorded on May 1st, 2024) Show Summary: Music has been an integral part of the human experience for thousands of years, and continues to embody a unique aspect of culture across the world today - yet most people hold only a preliminary understanding of the full range of benefits that sound, resonance, and harmonics can provide. Today…

(Conversation recorded on May 7th, 2024) Show Summary: In contrast to ‘The Great Simplification’, some might call the events of the last few hundred years a ‘Great Complexification’ in terms of relationships, governance, supply chains, and many other human activities. Today’s conversation with economics journalist Ed Conway focuses on the six essen…

(Conversation recorded on May 8th, 2024) Show Summary: As the human predicament continues to accelerate, the conversations regarding the future are still dominated by older generations - yet it is their younger successors who will face the brunt of these issues throughout their lives. Today’s Reality Roundtable with Priscilla Trịnh, James Branagan,…

(Conversation recorded on May 5th, 2024) Show Summary: In this episode, Nate welcomes back Daniel Schmachtenberger to unpack a new paper, which he co-authored, entitled Development in Progress, an analysis on the history of progress and the consequences of ‘advancement’. Current mainstream narratives sell the story that progress is synonymous with …

(Recorded May 28, 2024) Description In this week’s Frankly, Nate offers an update on the current state of conflict between NATO and Russia and the increasing threat of escalation, followed by 7 high-level questions about how to think about war, the human predicament and our work for a more stable future. While these issues may seem too looming and …

(Conversation recorded on March 25th, 2024) Show Summary: In this episode, Nate is joined by educator and researcher Vanessa Andreotti to discuss what she calls “hospicing modernity” in order to move beyond the world we’ve come to know and the failed promises that “modernity” has made to our current culture. Whether you refer to it as the metacrisi…