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In this week's episode, Nate invites listeners into an exploration of what it means to navigate a growing predicament shaped by ecological limits, rapid technological changes, and shifting expectations of reality. Our complex world hosts an immense diversity of human (and non-human) circumstances, which demand responses that are adaptive, not static. Rather than offer misleadingly prescriptive answers, Nate lays out a set of "compass points" that serve to both challenge our assumptions, and to attune our values in the direction of 'better futures than the default.'
Our responses to the 'more-than-human predicament' as individuals, communities, and a species are impacted by socially-constructed notions of status, identity, and fear. This episode draws these concepts into a wider-lens conversation regarding how we intervene and respond to the systemic change on the horizon, how we relate to one another and to the ecosystems we're a part of, and what kinds of futures we make possible by the choices – large and small – we make today.
What does it mean to move directionally rather than to seek tidy solutions? How might shifts in behavior now allow one to become a "rock in the river" as change continues, and accelerates? And where do we look for the "True North" of our values and behaviors in order to orient ourselves towards a more coherent collective response?
(Recorded November 18th, 2025)
Show Notes and More
Watch this video episode on YouTube
Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.
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By Nate Hagens4.8
390390 ratings
In this week's episode, Nate invites listeners into an exploration of what it means to navigate a growing predicament shaped by ecological limits, rapid technological changes, and shifting expectations of reality. Our complex world hosts an immense diversity of human (and non-human) circumstances, which demand responses that are adaptive, not static. Rather than offer misleadingly prescriptive answers, Nate lays out a set of "compass points" that serve to both challenge our assumptions, and to attune our values in the direction of 'better futures than the default.'
Our responses to the 'more-than-human predicament' as individuals, communities, and a species are impacted by socially-constructed notions of status, identity, and fear. This episode draws these concepts into a wider-lens conversation regarding how we intervene and respond to the systemic change on the horizon, how we relate to one another and to the ecosystems we're a part of, and what kinds of futures we make possible by the choices – large and small – we make today.
What does it mean to move directionally rather than to seek tidy solutions? How might shifts in behavior now allow one to become a "rock in the river" as change continues, and accelerates? And where do we look for the "True North" of our values and behaviors in order to orient ourselves towards a more coherent collective response?
(Recorded November 18th, 2025)
Show Notes and More
Watch this video episode on YouTube
Want to learn the broad overview of The Great Simplification in 30 minutes? Watch our Animated Movie.
---
Support The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future
Join our Substack newsletter
Join our Hylo channel and connect with other listeners

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