Joe Tainter: “Surplus, Complexity, and Simplification”
What are the key differences between complicated and complex? How can we better understand energy and society through these key distinctions?
Society
Unnecessary Work
So I suspect that soon the lure of fulfillment will eclipse profitability — particularly because we all can meet our own needs, while only a few of us have ever profited from this disaster.
Power: Chapter 5. Overpowered: The Fine Mess We’ve Gotten Ourselves Into
Power is essential; without it, we would be literally powerless. But one can have too much of a good thing. How much power is enough? How much is too much?
Confronting “Policy Murder” and the Rising Violence of the Right
At a time when rights hard-won in past struggles are being wrested away from us, we can draw strength from the knowledge that if people-power has prevailed in so many such struggles before, it can prevail again.
Book review: The future is degrowth
The best the degrowth literature has to offer served on a silver platter. That’s how I would describe The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism (June 2022) by Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter, and Aaron Vansintjan.
Frankly: Meeting the Future Halfway
At end of long week I offer a short riff on: What is the Great Simplification? What have I learned in doing the first 25 episodes? What is a framework for responses?
Overlorded…
In fact, the only thing we must do is survive this mess. And the best way to do that is to jettison the whole thing and build the lives we need.
Deadly Optimism, Useful Pessimism
Resilience builders may end up making the crucial difference between survivable hard times and utter human failure.
When More is Not Enough
Today, Peter and I discuss how dopamine, evolution, and modern culture push many of us toward a lifestyle of excess and overconsumption.
A Personal Definition and Incomplete History of Gaianism
An ethical global perspective is necessary today. We must find the unity of Earth and the world. It would be helpful if we had a word, better yet a name, that encapsulates this unity.
The Greatest Crisis Facing the Nation May Not Be Climate Change (2)
There are no shades of gray in today’s politics. It means that most policy discussions are binary — red or blue — and incapable of compromise. It shouldn’t be that way. If it continues this way, the consequences will be enormous.
Anthropogenic Man: a documentary on the human predicament
I have organized an event each year for our community around Earth Day for the last ten years. This year I was able to do a live event with an all-star lineup, so I decided to dress it up and make it into a documentary so it could hopefully be more alluring to people new to this line of thought.
