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Power vs Life: Towards Wide Boundary Sovereignty

By Nate Hagens, originally published by The Great Simplification

January 29, 2025

Sun through tree branches

(Recorded January 20th, 2025)

Description

​​We are alive at a critical juncture for human civilization, and the biosphere, where the pursuit and accumulation of power – accelerated by technology and AI – increasingly threatens the support systems of the diversity and majesty of complex life on Earth. These high stakes of our times require a radical reimagination and commitment to who we are capable of becoming as homo sapiens: a shift from narrow to wide-boundary sovereignty, moving beyond individual survival strategies and towards collective wisdom and restraint.

In this Frankly, Nate outlines nine aspirational categories for empowering more individuals towards mature and resilient development in service of life. From intellectual to ecological to psycho-spiritual, these act as signposts to help guide us towards forming interconnected islands of coherence in the face of an uncertain future.

What does it mean to be authentically sovereign in an interconnected world? How can we develop personal and collective resilience? And what changes can you make in your own life to help better steer humanity through the turbulence of our times?

Show Notes

PDF Transcript

03:36 – The Sovereign Individual book

07:57 – Frankly on the Behavioral Stack

09:06 – Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

09:33 – The influence of breathing on the nervous system

09:51 – The vagus nerve + parasympathetic vs sympathetic nervous system

10:56 – Craniosacral therapy

14:17 – Limbic System

14:28 – Supernormal Stimuli

16:56 – Metacognition

19:06 – The tree of life

22:04 – Devices plugged in in the average american household

23:35 – Intermittent fasting

27:44 – Ashley Hodgson + TGS Episode

35:30 – DJ White + TGS Episode + Reality Roundtable 

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens

Nate Hagens is the Executive Director of The Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future (ISEOF). Allied with leading ecologists, energy experts, politicians, and systems thinkers, ISEOF assembles roadmaps for understanding how human societies might adapt to lower-throughput lifestyles.

Nate hosts the podcast The Great Simplification, where he has conversations with experts in energy, ecology, government, technology, and the economy to provide a systemic view of the world around us.

After ten years in finance, Nate left Wall Street to study the interrelationships between energy, ecology, and economics—and the implications for human futures. He was the Managing Editor of The Oil Drum, one of the most respected websites for analysis and discussion of global energy supplies and implications of the upcoming energy transition.

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