Podcasts about Post Carbon Institute

When we think about climate action, it's easy to focus on what's happening in our own backyard. But the reality is, decisions made in big economies - especially in the US - have a huge impact on the rest of the world. With Donald Trump back for a second term as President of the United States of America, what does that mean for the environment? What policies could shift, and how might that affect global efforts to tackle the climate crisis? To help us make sense of it all, we speak to Rob Dietz, Program Director at the Post Carbon Institute. Rob, who is also the lead author of the bestselling book ‘Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources' will share how these policies could shape the future, why it matters even for people outside the US, and what we can do to keep pushing for a more sustainable world.Image Credit: ShutterstockSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The aftermath of the US election has left many of us in a state of shock. Voters were faced with a stark choice between more growth-based neoliberalism or alt right extremism, choosing the latter. It was a great day for billionaires either way. As Australia looks to face a very similar choice in mid-2025, it is clear that activists must take stock, recalibrate and work together effectively to advocate for a third alternative that celebrates people and planet. PGAP co-hosts Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss discuss their responses to the election and their recent engagements toward a Degrowth future. In this episode, Michael shares the speech that he gave on Degrowth at the Torbay Festival, Western Australia in late October – just before the election. A quote from the talk: “What can we do as Davids against the Goliaths of psychopathic multinational corporations and the politicians who serve time as their apologists for a few years in the promise of a cushy job in the gas industry? This is where I invite you to think about where from here and let's have the conversation.” This is a conversation that needs to happen with greater urgency as humanity lurches towards an increasingly dark future. A transcript of Michael's talk can be read on the PGAP BLOG (https://pgap.fireside.fm/articles/torbaydegrowthnotes). Mark shares his most recent posting on Holistic Activism following the US election. As Mark explains, “this message isn't a call for optimism or hope…instead, it's a call to hold space and to serve both human and non-human futures, with an awareness of our profound interconnectedness.” The post may be read at the Holistic Activism website HERE (https://holisticactivism.net/upcoming-events/). You can be part of the Holistic Activism movement today by joining the HA FACEBOOK GROUP. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/211194752603900) PGAP is also proud to be the first to play Mark's new song ‘Ballad of Yakamia' performed by his occasional and ongoing musical project ‘Counting Backwards.' You can download or purchase the song from BANDCAMP (https://countingbackwards.bandcamp.com/track/ballad-of-yakamia). One take away from the US election is that podcasts have now overtaken mainstream media as public informers. However, did you know that the top 10 performing podcasts tend to lean more towards right wing populism? It is time that podcasts that offer genuine solutions – planned degrowth, steady state economics, wellbeing societies, and stabilising populations start to make a bigger splash in the mainstream media. We have been very happy with the performance of PGAP' Season Seven opener, “Rethinking Sustainability (https://pgap.fireside.fm/7rethinksustain)” which is looking to break PGAP download records. We invite you to help us to build this momentum. Please SUBSCRIBE (https://pgap.fireside.fm/subscribe) and share PGAP (https://pgap.fireside.fm/) with your friends, family and networks. You can rate and review us on APPLE PODCAST (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/post-growth-australia-podcast/id1522194099). CONTACT US (https://pgap.fireside.fm/contact) with your feedback and recommendations for future episode. This episode is made possible by the kind support of Sustainable Population Australia. (https://population.org.au/) SPA is the only population organisation in the world, that has demonstrated unequivocal support from the broader public, for a sensible and rational population policy. With 17,500 signatures to their position statement (https://population.org.au/sign-the-spa-position-statement/), SPA has demonstrated that the issue doesn't have to be ugly or divisive to win popular support (someone should have told the Republicans). SPA has also released a sobering report on Australia's water security: “Big thirsty Australia: how population growth threatens our water security and sustainability (https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/water/)”. A couple more links: This blog piece from CASSE, A Steady Stater's Response to the Harris-Trump Debate (https://steadystate.org/a-steady-staters-response-to-the-harris-trump-debate/?blm_aid=125447) is good for a 'Degrowth' perspective on the Democract/Republic dichotomy. This video from Resilience.Org, A Dozen Years of Economic Thumb Twiddling (https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-10-31/a-dozen-years-of-economic-thumb-twiddling/?utm_source=Post+Carbon+Institute&utm_campaign=745c5be5b6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_05_20_02_20_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ac58be47dc-16045712&mc_cid=745c5be5b6&mc_eid=0abf401142), also resonates with us. From George Monbiot: Trump has pledged to wage war on planet Earth – and it will take a progressive revolution to stop him (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/07/trump-voters-revolution-politics-right). "Voters have never been swayed by ‘rational debate'. Only a genuine change in the way we do politics can prevent the march of the right". Indeed.

Hello, dear wild friends! I'm taking a short break, but I wanted to share some of my previous interviews with guests who delve into themes of collapse, the meta-crisis, and the decline of the systems we've always known to grow—like GDP, technology, population, and prosperity.Many of you have joined my book serialization project on Substack, where we're navigating the collapse awareness journey together. These interviews provide valuable context for our journey. You can join us here if you're not already part of the project. I release one chapter of my book at a time, and we discuss its contents in the comments, tackling this big, beautiful, hard thing as a community, step by step. In the meantime, enjoy this wild conversation with Nate Hagens.--Nate Hagens (mindblowing energy futurist) was working on Wall Street when he realised…we don't have enough energy to fund the world's economy! Massive pivot ensued and he is now the global leader in energy systems, director of the Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future, on the board of the Post Carbon Institute, teaches an honours course, aptly titled Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota, oh and he also advises governments and institutes around the world on the future of energy!Nate and I met at a conference in Stockholm to address these very (meta)modern issues. In this chat we talk about how green growth is not possible, EVs are not the answer, and he makes a numbers-crunched case for how to live once collapse occurs, what he calls the “Great Simplification”. This is a big one. It changes (mostly) everything, including my own ideas about the climate crisis.SHOW NOTESYou can learn more about Nate's work here and listen to his podcast hereI also mention previous episodes with Tyson Yunkaporta, Douglas Rushkoff and Gaya Herrington--If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it's where I interact the most!Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious LifeLet's connect on Instagram and WeAre8 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The epidemic of loneliness isn't just a product of technology or even capitalism -- it has its roots in the same fertile ground as the founding of the United States. And it may just be the most important "ism" of all to escape as we enter the Great Unraveling of social and environmental systems.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.Sources/Links/Notes:Definition of individualism from the American Psychological AssociationArticle in Opumo magazine - "Super singles: 10 coolest one seater cars"U.S. Surgeon General's 2023 report: Our Epidemic of Loneliness and IsolationBBC Loneliness ExperimentRobert Putnam's classic book - Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American CommunityCountry comparison tool for exploring Hofstede's Individualism IndexPart 1 of Post Carbon Institute's webinar on mutual aid; Part 2Donna M. Butts and Shannon E. Jarrott, "The Power of Proximity: Co-Locating Childcare and Eldercare Programs," Stanford Social Innovation Review, April 2021Pets for the ElderlyDean Spade's book - Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next)History of the free breakfast movement of the Black Panther PartyTeju Ravilochan, "The Blackfoot Wisdom that Inspired Maslow's Hierarchy"City of Knoxville program guide: Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness PlanSupport the Show.

In this episode, we chat with Asher Miller and Rob Dietz of the Post Carbon Institute about their latest report "Welcome to the Great Unraveling", which explores ways to navigate the environmental and social breakdown resulting from multiple intersecting crises. Recognizing human supremacy and overshoot as the drivers of the polycrisis, we discuss the threat of increased polarization, techno-solutionism, conflict, and suffering as the situation worsens. We speak about the need to grapple with complexity, uncertainty, and conflicting priorities, while maintaining social cohesion within societies and peaceful relations between them. Seeking wisdom and knowledge from communities who have experienced collapse and suffering, in order to build household and community resilience for this precarious time, can help us imagine a more hopeful future. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/asher-miller-rob-dietz ABOUT US The Overpopulation Podcast features enlightening conversations between Population Balance executive director Nandita Bajaj, researcher Alan Ware, and expert guests. We cover a broad variety of topics that explore the impacts of our expanding human footprint on human rights, animal protection, and environmental restoration, as well as individual and collective solutions. Learn more here: https://www.populationbalance.org/ 

~Co-presented by The New School and the Racial Healing Initiative at Commonweal's Retreat Center Collaboration~ Our indigenous communities and leaders hold ancient wisdom that offers profound insights into the challenges facing us today. As we navigate the cultural, climate, and ecosystem shifts happening on our planet now, we need the wisdom of many voices. To truly hear and value these diverse voices, we need to continue to heal the racial divisions and wounds in our cultures and communities. In part two of this series, join Host Brenda Salgado as she speaks with Sherri Mitchell, a Penobscot activist, author, and Indigenous attorney. Presented in English with a live Spanish-language translator. Photo: Stefano Girardelli, Unsplash Sherri Mitchell Sherri (Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset) is an Indigenous attorney, activist, and author from the Penobscot Nation. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program and the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. Sherri is the author of Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change and a contributor to eleven anthologies, including All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, and Resetting Our Future: Empowering Climate Action in the United States. Sherri is the executive director of the Land Peace Foundation, serves as a trustee for the American Indian Institute, an Indigenous Advisory Council member for Nia Tero's Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and a board member for the Post Carbon Institute. Host Brenda Salgado Brenda Salgado is the program director of the Racial Healing Initiative, a program of the Retreat Center Collaboration at Commonweal. She is a spiritual and mindfulness author, speaker, wisdom keeper, healer, ceremonialist, and organizational consultant. She has 25 years of experience in transformative leadership development, nonprofit management, traditional healing and ceremony, mindful leadership training, women's health, and social justice. Brenda is in the process of establishing the Nepantla Land Trust, and the Nepantla Center for Healing and Renewal. She is author of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners: Navigate Daily Life One Practice at a Time and has received training from elders in traditional medicine and healing ceremony in Purepecha, Xochimilco, Toltec and other indigenous lineages. She holds degrees in biology, developmental psychology, and animal behavior. #indigenoushealing #racialhealing #retreatcentercollaborative #earthhealing, #indigenouslens #newschoolcommonweal #commonweal #conversationsthatmatter

In this episode, we talk with Richard Heinberg, one of the world's foremost advocates for a shift away from our reliance on fossil fuels. He is the author of fourteen books, including some of the major works on society's current energy and environmental sustainability crisis. His latest book is Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival (https://power.postcarbon.org) (New Society, 2021). He is also Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, which is one of the main places Sheri goes to for information and analysis related to the polycrisis in which we find ourselves. Sheri relied on Richard's work and that of the Post Carbon Institute when writing her and Sarah's book, which is coming out later this month – So That We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis (Herald Press). We're delighted that Richard wrote an endorsement for our book! You can find all of the articles Richard mentioned in this podcast, and more, at his website (http://richardheinberg.com). Also check out the Post Carbon Institute's resilience.org (http://www.resilience.org), which offers complex and clear systemic analysis on ecology, the environment, the equity crisis, energy and politics. You can follow the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery on Instagram (@coalitiontodismantle) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/dismantlediscovery)

Show Summary:    On this Reality Roundtable, Nate is joined by small-scale farmer Jason Bradford, permaculturist and documentarian Andrew Millison, regenerative agriculture activist Vandana Shiva, and regenerative farmer and educator Daniel Zetah to discuss the feasibility of a food system fully or mostly independent of fossil fuel inputs. While a non-industrialized agriculture system is certainly possible (it was the norm for the majority of human history), what that will look like and how we even begin such a transition is daunting with a population of 8 billion humans to feed. How do we teach people the skills they'll need as fossil inputs become less affordable, reliable, and accessible? Can we create a cultural shift towards a slower lifestyle that is more connected to the land which provides us food? What do the people of a society look like where we are once again centered around agriculture and in tune with the flows of nature? How would our relationship with jobs and the land have to change?   About Jason Bradford:   Jason Bradford has been affiliated with Post Carbon Institute since 2004, first as a Fellow and then as Board President. He worked for the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, was a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Davis, and during that period co-founded the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG). He decided to shift from academia to learn more about and practice sustainable agriculture, and in the process, completed six months of training with Ecology Action (aka GrowBiointensive) in Willits, California, and then founded Brookside School Farm.   About Andrew Millison:   Andrew Millison is an innovative educator, storyteller and designer. He founded the Permaculture Design education program at Oregon State University (OSU) in 2009. At OSU Andrew serves as an Education Director and Senior Instructor who offers over 25 years of experience, and a playful approach to regenerative design. Andrew is also a documentary videographer who travels the world documenting epic permaculture projects in places such as India, Egypt, Mexico, Cuba, and throughout the US. You can view his videos and series on his YouTube channel. About Vandana Shiva   Vandana Shiva is a well known activist, author of many books, and is a global champion on regenerative local agriculture, biodiversity and nutritious food. She has a PhD in physics and 40 years ago founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, an independent research institute that works on the most significant ecological problems of our times.  About Daniel Zetah:   Daniel grew up on a farm in Minnesota where he learned to fix all manner of things driven from an insatiable curiosity about how things worked. He studied economics and business at university. After waking to our planetary predicament, he became a full time environmental activist, then moved to an off grid community in the mountains where he studied permaculture and built straw bale houses. He moved back to America to help steer culture in a more sane direction. He and his wife Stephanie moved back to the family farm in Minnesota where they are growing 80% of their calories, rebuilding the local ecology, and educating and empowering people to wrest back control of their sovereignty as human beings.    For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/rr06-bradford-millison-shiva-zetah To watch this video episode on Youtube → https://youtu.be/lb2tJXopTJA  

I felt defeated by the ecological crisis, and by myself, so I created an episode about defeatism hoping to defeat my defeatism TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE (bell and voice) Note: [ ] = filtered voice I got up this morning feeling defeated.  [ I got up this morning feeling…] You might know this feeling of … powerlessness.  [This feeling of…] You know, producing more podcast episodes, like this one, exploring art and the ecological crisis. It does seem rather… pointless. [Producing more podcasts… ] I sometimes feel like the best thing I can do for our troubled world is to be quiet and do no harm.…  [To be quiet and do no harm] Rebecca Solnit, We can't afford to be climate doomers (female voice) : Some days I think that if we lose the climate battle, it'll be due in no small part to this defeatism among the comfortable in the global north, while people in frontline communities continue to fight like hell for survival. Which is why fighting defeatism is also climate work. [Which is why] Am I one of those comfortable people in the global north struggling with defeatism?  [am I a… defeatist? ] Yes. I am. I produce this weekly podcast in safe, luxurious conditions while the majority world fights like hell for survival. While the majority world suffers like hell the consequences of my generation's excess.  [the majority world fights like hell …] I'm a hypocrite. I'm complicit. My work is pretentious and … [I'm a defeatist] So, what does defeatism sound like anyway? Well, it probably sounds like this. A privileged male voice talking about his feelings about defeatism. [ what does defeatist sound like? ] Britt Wray, Generation Dread (female voice) Some people believe that it is already too late to prevent societal collapse. They speak about the “earth as hospice,” and suggest we use what time we have left to summon the courage to face the music, as the ship we're all on sinks.' … [facing the music, as the ship we're all on…] In my August conscient blog I wrote that :  I see no point shuffling the deck chairs. We have already hit the metaphoric iceberg and the good ship modernity is sinking.  So, where do we go from here?   How does one defeat defeatism?  [where do we go from here? ] In the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies Moving with Storms report I was reminded of the seven steps forward and-or aside, in particular this teaching about honesty and courage to see what you don't want to see: Commit to expanding your capacity to sit with what is real, difficult, and painful, within and around you. In what ways are your projections, idealizations, expectations, hopes, fears, and fragilities preventing you from approaching aspects of the Climate and Nature Emergency that are unpleasant for you and/or that challenge your sense of reality and/or self-image? What are you not willing or ready to see and how does this unwillingness impair your ability to respond to the Climate and Nature Emergency ? [ What are you not ready to see? ] * Warm thanks to Kelly Langgard for lending me her voice to read the Rebecca Solnit and Britt Wray quotes (Kelly's voice is also featured in e142 consent). Thanks to Rebecca and Britt for use of their words and to the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective for use of an excerpt from the Moving with Storms report.  This episode was created while I was in residence during the summer of 2023 at the Centre de production DAÏMÔN in Gatineau Québec as part of the fourth edition of Radio-Hull. With thanks to the Centre de production DAÏMÔN production team: Manon, Coco, Philippe and Simon and DAÏMÔN's funders and partners.  I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this episode. (including all the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation and infrastructure that make this podcast possible). My gesture of reciprocity for this episode is to Post Carbon Institute. *END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODESHere is a link for more information on season 5. Please note that, in parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and it's francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I publish a Substack newsletter called ‘a calm presence' which are 'short, practical essays for those frightened by the ecological crisis'. To subscribe (free of charge) see https://acalmpresence.substack.com. You'll also find a podcast version of each a calm presence posting on Substack or one your favorite podcast player.Also. please note that a complete transcript of conscient podcast and balado conscient episodes from season 1 to 4 is available on the web version of this site (not available on podcast apps) here: https://conscient-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes.Your feedback is always welcome at claude@conscient.ca and/or on conscient podcast social media: Facebook, X, Instagram or Linkedin. I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. Claude SchryerLatest update on April 2, 2024

We are pleased to share the new podcast from Post Carbon Institute, Holding the Fire. Award-winning journalist and author Dahr Jamail hosts in-depth interviews with leaders from around the world to uncover Indigenous ways of reckoning with environmental and societal breakdown.Support the show

Nate Hagens (mindblowing energy futurist) was working on Wall Street when he realised…we don't have enough energy to fund the world's economy! Massive pivot ensued and he is now the global leader in energy systems, director of the Institute for the Study of Energy & Our Future, on the board of the Post Carbon Institute, teaches an honours course, aptly titled Reality 101, at the University of Minnesota, oh and he also advises governments and institutes around the world on the future of energy!Nate and I met recently at a conference in Stockholm to address these very (meta)modern issues. In this chat we talk about how green growth is not possible, EVs are not the answer, and he makes a numbers-crunched case for how to live once collapse occurs, what he calls the “Great Simplification”. This is a big one. It changes (mostly) everything, including my own ideas about the climate crisis.SHOW NOTES Here's the link to vote for Wild in the Podcast Awards. I promise it only takes a few secondsYou can learn more about Nate's work here and listen to his podcast hereI also mention previous episodes with Tyson Yunkaporta, Douglas Rushkoff and Gaya HerringtonIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageFor more such conversations subscribe to my Substack newsletter, it's where I interact the most!Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious LifeLet's connect on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BFM turns 15 on the 4th of September 2023, and to commemorate, we're revisiting some of our best interviews from the years past, and playing you 15-minute snippets from three interviews (or thereabouts) featuring international guests we've featured on Earth Matters. In this collection, you will hear from Dame Jane Morris Goodall DBE, a Primatologist & Anthropologist, Richard Heinberg, a Journalist, Educator, and Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, and also climate activist Yeb Saño, the Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Post Carbon Institute/SIDCSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the season five premiere of Post-Growth Australia Podcast. What better way to launch our new season than with Rob Dietz, co-host of Crazy Town Podcast, (https://www.resilience.org/crazy-town-podcast/) perhaps the standard bearer of degrowth themed podcasts. (Rob Dietz). Rob is the Programs Director of Post Carbon Institute (https://www.postcarbon.org/) (PCI). A brilliant public speaker and story teller, Rob talks us through the journey of Crazy Town Podcast, which he co-hosts with colleagues Asher Miller (https://www.postcarbon.org/our-people/asher-miller/)and Jason Bradford (https://www.postcarbon.org/our-people/jason-bradford/). He also discusses the other initiatives and campaigns run by PCI, in addition to his unique vision of a Post-Growth future. (Crazy Town's Logo). We asked Rob to share two of his favourite Crazy Town Podcast Episodes that are linked below. We do warn you, that once you start listening to Crazy Town, you might not be able to stop! Episode 34. Fear of Death and Climate Denial, or… the Story of Wolverine and the Screaming Mole of Doom (https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-03-25/fear-of-death-and-climate-denial-or-the-story-of-wolverine-and-the-screaming-mole-of-doom-episode-34-of-crazy-town/) Episode 60. Chillin' and Killin': How Air Conditioning Has Altered Human Behavior and the Environment (https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-06-16/chillin-and-killin-how-air-conditioning-has-altered-human-behavior-and-the-environment-episode-60-of-crazy-town/) Rob would also like us to share PCI's report: “Welcome to the Great Unraveling: Navigating the Polycrisis of Environmental and Social Breakdown (https://www.postcarbon.org/publications/welcome-to-the-great-unraveling/).” It is quality reading and we are pleased that it is making ripples. The song of choice for this episode is ‘Safe Room (https://shockoctopus.bandcamp.com/track/safe-room)' from host Michael Bayliss' band ‘Shock Octopus (https://shockoctopus.bandcamp.com/album/a-decade-into-darkness).' First released in 2011, its apocalyptic tale – of a world that has become so impacted that even the billionaires who created the mess in the first place have no safe place to hide – is becoming all the more prophetic a decade later. Michael and co-host Mark have had our music recently played on the Freedom of Species radio show, here (https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/how-can-we-be-effective-advocates-bees) and here (https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/orca-revolution-why-are-orcas-attacking-boats-iberian-peninsula) respectively. (The iconic cover of the 'Safe Room' single). We are also excited by the fact that Rob presented at an online Degrowth conference run by New Economy Network Australia (NENA). PGAP has interviewed NENA's convenor Michelle Maloney twice. The video of Rob's talk can be watched here. (https://www.neweconomy.org.au/event/crazy-town-mid-week-sanity-preserving-degrowth-hilarity/#more-9711) Your co-hosts Michael Bayliss and Mark Allen are pleased to be back for season five of Post-Growth Australia Podcast. We hope you like the cosmetic changes of this episode (graphics courtesy of Squeaky Pea Designs with photos from Photographica). We are looking forward to another season of quality guests and topics. We have not been idle during our break. You may, for example wish to have a gander at two of our recent published articles, including: “Economic reform vital to solving housing crisi (https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/economic-reform-vital-to-solving-housing-crisis,17646)s” - Mark Allen for Independent Australia “POPULATION GROWTH AND WEALTH INEQUALITY ARE MORE ENTWINED THAN WE THOUGHT: HERE'S WHY (https://www.populationmedia.org/the-latest/population-growth-and-wealth-inequality-are-more-entwined-than-we-thought-heres-why)” – Michael Bayliss for Population Media Center blog. We hit our record monthly listens twice in season four and with your word of mouth we can extend our outreach even further for season five. Share this and other episodes of PGAP with your friends, family and networks. Rate and review us on Apple podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/post-growth-australia-podcast/id1522194099) or your favourite platform. Don't hesitate to contact us anytime (https://pgap.fireside.fm/contact) with your feedback, thoughts or suggestions. Post-Growth Australia Podcast is made possible from the support of Sustainable Population Australia (https://population.org.au/). Any opinions, views and legacies past and present from our guests are theirs only and may not always reflect that of PGAP or SPA. Episode Timestamp: 0:00:00 to 0:09:31 - Interview sound bye and introduction with Mark Allen 0:09:31 to 0:56:31 - Interview with Rob Dietz, hosted by Michael Bayliss 0:56:32 to 0:59:41 - Music, ‘Safe Room' by ‘Shock Octopus'. 0:59:42 to 1:05:02 – Outro with Mark Allen Special Guest: Rob Dietz.

756: Richard Heinberg on Power, Energy, and Climate ChangeWorking to remove fossil fuels from the food systemIn This Podcast: Richard Heinberg joins the show to talk about how our power and energy systems affect our food system and how that affects the planet's ability to sustain our species. He shares his insight on how we've gotten to where we are now and some proposed solutions that are based on self-limiting our power. He gives us ways to get involved and to be more educated. Richard is a senior fellow of the Post Carbon Institute. He's an author, educator, and lecturer, and has spoken widely on energy and climate issues to audiences across the globe. He's the author of fourteen books, including the most recent Power Limits and Prospects for Human Survival, along with his podcast of the same name. He is widely published in Nature, the Wall Street Journal and literary review, and has delivered hundreds of lectures on energy and climate issues to audiences on six continents, addressing policymakers at many levelsVisit Urbanfarm.org/PowerLimits for the show notes and links on this episode!Need a little bit of advice or just a feedback on your design for your yard or garden?The Urban Farm Team is offering consults over the phone or zoom. Get the benefits of a personalized garden and yard space analysis without the cost of trip charges. You can chat with Greg, Janis or Ray to get permaculture based feedback.Click HERE to learn more!Become an Urban Farm Patron and listen to more than 775 episodes of the Urban Farm Podcast without ads. Click HERE to learn more.*Disclosure: Some of the links in our podcast show notes and blog posts are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase, we will earn a nominal commission at no cost to you. We offer links to items recommended by our podcast guests and guest writers as a service to our audience and these items are not selected because of the commission we receive from your purchases. We know the decision is yours, and whether you decide to buy something is completely up to you.

What if our individual actions and social movements could change the course of the climate crisis? Today's enthralling conversation with Chuck Collins, a prominent campaigner and author, challenges us to contemplate this very question. He shares his wisdom on the power of activism, the importance of building resilience, and the urgent need to take action in our fight for environmental justice. Through his new novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun, he prompts us to consider the moral and ethical implications of our current climate predicament.In this conversation, we challenge the unchecked authority of the fossil fuel industry and its impact on our society. We delve into potential forms of resistance like physical disruption, capital divestment, and the exposure of dark money. Our discussion is not just about the global stage, but also about local action. We discuss the commendable sustainability endeavours of Sonoma County, using it as a beacon of hope for other communities. The intricate web of corporate power and money is laid bare as we scrutinize the influence of the Koch Brothers on our political landscape.Join us as we dig deep into the issues surrounding the climate crisis and the struggle for environmental justice. We navigate through the convoluted realms of corporate power, while also gratifyingly highlighting the power of individuals and communities in this battle. So, tune in as we explore the importance of stepping up where we have agency, taking bold action, and driving towards a more equitable society. Chuck Collins' insights are sure to spark your resolve as we strive towards a greener and fairer future.Chuck Collins is a campaigner and storyteller who has worked for decades on environmental and economic justice campaigns.  He is the Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org.  He is cofounder of DivestInvest.org, a global movement to divest from fossil fuels and invest in climate solutions; and trustee of the Post-Carbon Institute and Resilience.org. Author of several books on wealth inequality, including most recently, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions -      His first novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun has won high praise. If you enjoyed this show, please leave a positive review and share with your friends. Thank you! Osha

The Michigan Governor is apparently unaware that the world, the U.S. and even Michigan are overpopulated. Michigan population has been growing a little too slowly for her taste, so Whitmer has appointed a Chief Growth Officer and formed the Growing Michigan Together Council. Not surprisingly, her bottom line is to “spur economic growth.” In an episode you should share with YOUR governor, you'll get the details and find out why this news puts “a bee in Dave's bonnet,” plus news about some outstanding new studies, a wonderful commentary in Newsweek, a crazy podcast you'll like, and a possible candidate for U.S. President. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: A Just World on a Safe Planet: First Study Quantifying Earth System Boundaries https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/a-just-world-on-a-safe-planet-first-study-quantifying-earth-system-boundaries Gov. Whitmer Appoints Michigan's First-Ever Chief Growth Officer (news release) https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/06/01/whitmer-appoints-michigans-first_ever-chief-growth-officer Gov. Whitmer Establishes the ‘Growing Michigan Together Council' to Focus on Population Growth, Building a Brighter Future for Michigan (news release) https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/06/01/whitmer-establishes-the-growing-michigan-together-council-to-focus-on-population-growth Gretchen Whitmer Keynote Address at Mackinac Policy Conference https://youtu.be/jTfnZbSZRpM Arizona Announces Limits on Construction in Phoenix Area as Groundwater Disappears https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/01/us/arizona-phoenix-groundwater-limits-development-climate/index.html Mass Immigration Experiment Gives Canada an Edge in Global Race For Labor https://economictimes.indiatimes.com//nri/work/mass-immigration-experiment-gives-canada-an-edge-in-global-race-for-labor/articleshow/101100076.cms Saying Out Loud What Others Won't Even Whisper About Climate Change – by Kirsten Stade https://www.newsweek.com/saying-out-loud-what-others-wont-even-whisper-about-climate-change-opinion-1806109 Population Growth is the Main Driver of Increased Carbon Emissions, Study Finds https://phys.org/news/2023-04-population-growth-main-driver-carbon.html Crazy Town podcast – Post Carbon Institute https://www.resilience.org/crazy-town-podcast/ Learn more about possible presidential campaign https://davetheplanet2024.wixsite.com/dave-the-planet Shop and Sell Your Clothes Sustainably With These 13 Buyback and Resale Programs https://www.ecowatch.com/clothes-buyback-resale-programs.html Recycle or Purchase Used Levi's Jeans https://www.secondhand.levi.com/trade-in Give Us Feedback: Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400 Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/ On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth. Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy. Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/ GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/ Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/ Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:  

On this segment of Reality Roundtable, Nate is joined by William Rees, Nora Bateson, and Rex Weyler to discuss the purpose of ecology and what it might look like to have a civilization centered around it. Despite our tendency to think of ourselves as separate from the biosphere, humans are a part of it, just like any other animal. What sets us apart now is our outsized impact on the world around us, as we and our societies take up more space and resources, degrading the ecosystems that support ourselves, our descendants, and other species. How can an understanding of systems and relationships help us rethink how we interact with the planet? Could ecologically literate governments and citizens create wider boundaries across time and space in which decisions are made? What might the parameters be for a civilization centered around ecology, and how can we navigate there through declining energy and resource availability? Most of all, how can we as individuals and communities root ourselves into a deep(er) ecological knowledge and way of being?  About Nora Bateson Nora Bateson is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and educator, as well as President of the International Bateson Institute, based in Sweden. Her work asks the question “How can we  improve our perception of the complexity we live within, so we may improve our interaction with the world?”.  An international lecturer, researcher and writer, Nora wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, An Ecology of Mind, a portrait of her father, Gregory Bateson. Her work brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. Her book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles, released by Triarchy Press, UK, 2016 is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity. About William Rees William Rees is a population ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia's School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. He researches the implications of global ecological trends for the longevity of civilization, with special focus on urban (un)sustainability and cultural/cognitive barriers to rational public policy. Prof Rees is best known as the originator and co-developer with Dr Mathis Wackernagel of ‘ecological footprint analysis' (EFA), a quantitative tool that estimates human demands on ecosystems and the extent to which humanity is in ‘ecological overshoot.' Dr Rees is a founding member and former President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics; a founding Director of the OneEarth Living Initiative; a Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Great Transition Initiative. About Rex Weyler Rex Weyler is a writer and ecologist. His books include Blood of the Land; the Government and Corporate War Against First Nations, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; Greenpeace: The Inside Story, a finalist for the BC Book Award and the Shaughnessy-Cohen Award for Political Writing; and The Jesus Sayings, a deconstruction of first century history, a finalist for the BC Book Award.  In the 1970s, Weyler was a cofounder of Greenpeace International and editor of the Greenpeace Chronicles. He served on campaigns to preserve rivers and forests and to stop whaling, sealing, and toxic dumping.  He currently posts the “Deep Green” column at the Greenpeace International website. He lives on Cortes Island in British Columbia, with his wife, artist Lisa Gibbons. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GE39xfNRRyw For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/rr02-bateson-rees-weyler 

Ashley speaks with Bill Rees, the inventor of the ecological footprint, and John Mulrow about the false promises of the green energy "transition," degrowth, and whether or not social change happens by design or by disaster. Quick Bio: John Mulrow is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. His research focuses on how environmental impact forecasting tools such as Life Cycle Assessment and Greenhouse gas footprinting can better account for the feedback effects of efficiency improvement. He leads a degrowth colloquium at Purdue, serves as Co-President of DegrowUS, and is on the Leadership Council of the Gaian Way. Relevant pubs: "Has the Economy Outgrown the Planet? An Introduction to Degrowth" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368531755_Has_the_Economy_Outgrown_the_Planet_An_Introduction_to_Degrowth ‘Til Sustainability Do You Part: Arranging a Marriage Between Degrowth and the Circular Economy https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-10-03/til-sustainability-do-you-part-arranging-a-marriage-between-degrowth-and-the-circular-economy/ The cyber-consciousness of environmental assessment: how environmental assessments evaluate the impacts of smart, connected, and digital technology https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac413b/meta And, of course, the quote about plastics saving whales! Found in this re-print of the original Celluloid Mfg Co. advertisement: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/technology/fire-starter William Rees is a population ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia's School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. He researches the implications of global ecological trends for the longevity of civilization, with special foci on urban (un)sustainability and cultural/cognitive barriers to rational public policy. Prof Rees is best known as the originator and co-developer with his former student, Dr Mathis Wackernagel of ‘ecological footprint analysis' (EFA), a quantitative tool that estimates human demands on ecosystems and the extent to which humanity is in ‘ecological overshoot.' He has authored hundreds of peer reviewed and popular articles on these and related topics. Dr Rees is a founding member and former President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics; a founding Director of the One Earth Living Initiative (https://www.oneearthliving.org/); a Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Great Transition Initiative. Internationally recognized, Prof Rees was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2006; received both the international Boulding Memorial Prize in Ecological Economics and a Blue Planet Prize (jointly with Dr Mathis Wackernagel) in 2012; the Herman Daly Award (in ecological economics) in 2015 and the Dean's Medal of Distinction (UBC Faculty of Applied Science) in 2016.  He was a full member of the Club of Rome from 2014-2019. William Rees, PhD, FRSC—Bionote

Meet Steve Bannon, the Molotov mixologist who wants to light the world on fire. Please share this episode with your friends and start a conversation.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.For an entertaining deep dive into the theme of season five (Phalse Prophets), read the definitive peer-reviewed taxonomic analysis from our very own Jason Bradford, PhD. Sources/Links/Notes:Video: Mutual Aid in the Great Unraveling, Part 1 with Daniel P Aldrich, Amira Odeh, and Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute, November 2022.Video: Mutual Aid in the Great Unraveling, Part 2 with Dean Spade, Joanna Swan, and Aliza Tuttle, Post Carbon Institute, November 2022.Dean Spade, "Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next),"  Verso Books, October 2020."Democracy Rising" essay series on deliberative democracyGlobal Tapestry of AlternativesEliana Johnson and Eli Stokols, "What Steve Bannon Wants You to Read," Politico, February 7, 2017.Lisa Marshall, "Inside Steve Bannon's 'War for Eternity'," CU Boulder Today, April 22, 2020.Joshua Green, "Inside the Secret, Strange Origins of Steve Bannon's Nationalist Fantasia," Vanity Fair, July 17, 2017.David Breitenbeck, "A Brief Summary of Traditionalism," The Imaginative Conservative, March 21, 2019.Generation Zero, Bannon's poorly reviewed documentaryGuo Wengui's video for his song, "Take Down the CCP," -- the third best comedy yacht video of all time.Douglas Rushkoff, "How to Avoid Becoming a Fascist: Why I turned down an appearance on Steve Bannon's podcast," Medium, October 21, 2021.Olivia Goldhill, "The neo-fascist philosophy that underpins both the alt-right and Silicon Valley technophiles," Quartz, June 18, 2017.Philip Rucker and Robert Costa, "Bannon vows a daily fight for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state'," The Washington Post, February 23, 2017.Support the show

This is a segment of episode 345 of Last Born In The Wilderness, “Rumination On Truth: The Destruction Of Iraq, Twenty Years On w/ Dahr Jamail.” Listen to the full episode and read the transcript: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/dahr-jamail-3 Learn more about Dahr and his work: https://www.dahrjamail.net Author and former climate journalist Dahr Jamail returns to the podcast to discuss the 20th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by United States-led coalition forces. Jamail began his journalistic career as an unembedded journalist documenting the war from the ground beginning in 2003, highlighting the countless war crimes committed by the occupying forces against the civilians of Iraq, superbly documented in his first book on the subject, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq published in 2007 by Haymarket Books. Dahr Jamail is an award-winning author and journalist who formerly reported on climate disruption and environmental issues for Truthout. He is the author of multiple books, including The End Of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption published in 2019, and most recently, We Are the Middle of Forever, co-written and co-edited with Stan Rushworth and released April 2022 by The New Press. Dahr is also the host of the upcoming podcast miniseries Indigenous Voices on the Great Unraveling produced by the Post Carbon Institute, which brings “forward the perspectives of Indigenous communities from around the world as humans and the more-than-human reckon with the consequences of global, industrial society built on growth, extraction, and colonialism.”

 WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast SUBSTACK: https://lastborninthewilderness.substack.com BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior

On our show for April 24th, host Brent Ragsdale will speak with his guest, Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow at Post Carbon Institute and the author of 14 books, including POWER: […] The post REDESIGNING OUR COMMUNITIES FOR LIFE AFTER FOSSIL FUELS appeared first on KKFI.

Author and former climate journalist Dahr Jamail returns to the podcast to discuss the 20th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by United States-led coalition forces. Jamail began his journalistic career as an unembedded journalist documenting the war from the ground beginning in 2003, highlighting the countless war crimes committed by the occupying forces against the civilians of Iraq, superbly documented in his first book on the subject, 'Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq' published in 2007 by Haymarket Books. Dahr Jamail is an award-winning author and journalist who formerly reported on climate disruption and environmental issues for Truthout. He is the author of multiple books, including ‘The End Of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption' published in 2019, and most recently, ‘We Are the Middle of Forever,' co-written and co-edited with Stan Rushworth and released April 2022 by The New Press. Dahr is also the host of the upcoming podcast miniseries Indigenous Voices on the Great Unraveling produced by the Post Carbon Institute, which brings “forward the perspectives of Indigenous communities from around the world as humans and the more-than-human reckon with the consequences of global, industrial society built on growth, extraction, and colonialism.” Episode Notes: - Learn more about Dahr and his work: https://www.dahrjamail.net - Purchase a copy of his books ‘Beyond the Green Zone,' ‘The End of Ice,' and ‘We Are the Middle of Forever' at Bookshop: https://bit.ly/41A8Isc / https://bit.ly/3V5TtVT / https://bit.ly/43ZW87B - Watch out for the new podcast miniseries, Indigenous Voices on the Great Unraveling, produced by the Post Carbon Institute: https://www.resilience.org - Sounds by Midnight Sounds: https://www.latenightsknowmystory.com WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast SUBSTACK: https://lastborninthewilderness.substack.com BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior

This week we talk about the intersections of large language models, the golden age of television and its storytelling mishaps, making one's way through the weirding of the labor economy, and much more with two of my favorite Gen X science fiction aficionados, OG podcaster KMO and our mutual friend Kevin Arthur Wohlmut. In this episode — a standalone continuation to my recent appearance on The KMO Show, we skip like a stone across mentions of every Star Trek series, the collapse of narratives and the social fabric, Westworld HBO, Star Wars Mandalorian vs. Andor vs. Rebels, chatGPT, Blade Runner 2049, Black Mirror, H.P. Lovecraft, the Sheldrake-Abraham-McKenna Trialogues, Charles Stross' Accelerando, Adventure Time, Stanislav Grof's LSD psychotherapy, Francisco Varela, Blake Lemoine's meltdown over Google LaMDA, Integrated Information Theory, biosemiotics, Douglas Hofstadter, Max Tegmarck, Erik Davis, Peter Watts, The Psychedelic Salon, Melanie Mitchell, The Teafaerie, Kevin Kelly, consilience in science, Fight Club, and more…Or, if you prefer, here's a rundown of the episode generated by A.I. c/o my friends at Podium.page:In this episode, I explore an ambitious and well-connected conversation with guests KMO, a seasoned podcaster, and Kevin Walnut [sic], a close friend and supporter of the arts in Santa Fe. We dive deep into their thoughts on the social epistemology crisis, science fiction, deep fakes, and ontology. Additionally, we discuss their opinions on the Star Trek franchise, particularly their critiques of the first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard and Discovery. Through this engaging conversation, we examine the impact of storytelling and the evolution of science fiction in modern culture. We also explore the relationship between identity, media, and artificial intelligence, as well as the ethical implications of creating sentient artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the philosophical questions surrounding AI's impact on society and human existence. Join us for a thought-provoking and in-depth discussion on a variety of topics that will leave you questioning the future of humanity and our relationship with technology.✨ Before we get started, three big announcements!* I am leaving the Santa Fe Institute, in part to write a very ambitious book about technology, art, imagination, and Jurassic Park. You can be a part of the early discussion around this project by joining the Future Fossils Book Club's Jurassic Park live calls — the first of which will be on Saturday, 29 April — open to Substack and Patreon supporters:* Catch me in a Twitter Space with Nxt Museum on Monday 17 April at 11 am PST on a panel discussing “Creative Misuse of Technology” with Minne Atairu, Parag Mital, Caroline Sinders, and hosts Jesse Damiani and Charlotte Kent.* I'm back in Austin this October to play the Astronox Festival at Apache Pass! Check out this amazing lineup on which I appear alongside Juno Reactor, Entheogenic, Goopsteppa, DRRTYWULVZ, and many more great artists!✨ Support Future Fossils:Subscribe anywhere you go for podcastsSubscribe to the podcast PLUS essays, music, and news on Substack or Patreon.Buy my original paintings or commission new work.Buy my music on Bandcamp! (This episode features “A Better Trip” from my recent live album by the same name.)Or if you're into lo-fi audio, follow me and my listening recommendations on Spotify.This conversation continues with lively and respectful interaction every single day in the members-only Future Fossils Facebook Group and Discord server. Join us!Episode cover art by KMO and a whole bouquet of digital image manipulation apps.✨ Tip Jars:@futurefossils on Venmo$manfredmacx on CashAppmichaelgarfield on PayPal✨ Affiliate Links:• These show notes and the transcript were made possible with Podium.Page, a very cool new AI service I'm happy to endorse. Sign up here and get three free hours and 50% off your first month.• BioTech Life Sciences makes anti-aging and performance enhancement formulas that work directly at the level of cellular nutrition, both for ingestion and direct topical application. I'm a firm believer in keeping NAD+ levels up and their skin solution helped me erase a year of pandemic burnout from my face.• Help regulate stress, get better sleep, recover from exercise, and/or stay alert and focused without stimulants, with the Apollo Neuro wearable. I have one and while I don't wear it all the time, when I do it's sober healthy drugs.• Musicians: let me recommend you get yourself a Jamstik Studio, the coolest MIDI guitar I've ever played. I LOVE mine. You can hear it playing all the synths on my song about Jurassic Park.✨ Mentioned Media:KMO Show S01 E01 - 001 - Michael Garfield and Kevin WohlmutAn Edifying Thought on AI by Charles EisensteinIn Defense of Star Trek: Picard & Discovery by Michael GarfieldImprovising Out of Algorithmic Isolation by Michael GarfieldAI and the Transformation of the Human Spirit by Steven Hales(and yes I know it's on Quillette, and no I don't think this automatically disqualifies it)Future Fossils Book Club #1: Blindsight by Peter WattsFF 116 - The Next Ten Billion Years: Ugo Bardi & John Michael Greer as read by Kevin Arthur Wohlmut✨ Related Recent Future Fossils Episodes:FF 198 - Tadaaki Hozumi on Japanese Esotericism, Aliens, Land Spirits, & The Singularity (Part 2)FF 195 - A.I. Art: An Emergency Panel with Julian Picaza, Evo Heyning, Micah Daigle, Jamie Curcio, & Topher SipesFF 187 - Fear & Loathing on the Electronic Frontier with Kevin Welch & David Hensley of EFF-Austin FF 178 - Chris Ryan on Exhuming The Human from Our Eldritch Institutions FF 175 - C. Thi Nguyen on The Seductions of Clarity, Weaponized Games, and Agency as Art ✨ Chapters:0:15:45 - The Substance of Philosophy (58 Seconds)0:24:45 - Complicated TV Narratives and the Internet (104 Seconds)0:30:54 - Humans vs Hosts in Westworld (81 Seconds)0:38:09 - Philosophical Zombies and Artificial Intelligence (89 Seconds)0:43:00 - Popular Franchises Themes (71 Seconds)1:03:27 - Reflections on a Changing Media Landscape (89 Seconds)1:10:45 - The Pathology of Selective Evidence (92 Seconds)1:16:32 - Externalizing Trauma Through Technology (131 Seconds)1:24:51 - From Snow Maker to Thouandsaire (43 Seconds)1:36:48 - The Impact of Boomer Parenting (126 Seconds)✨ Keywords:Social Epistemology, Science Fiction, Deep Fakes, Ontology, Star Trek, Artificial Intelligence, AI Impact, Sentient AGI, Human-Machine Interconnectivity, Consciousness Theory, Westworld, Blade Runner 2049, AI in Economy, AI Companion Chatbots, Unconventional Career Path, AI and Education, AI Content Creation, AI in Media, Turing Test✨ UNEDITED machine-generated transcript generated by podium.page:0:00:00Five four three two one. Go. So it's not like Wayne's world where you say the two and the one silently. Now, Greetings future fossils.0:00:11Welcome to episode two hundred and one of the podcast that explores our place in time I'm your host, Michael Garfield. And this is one of these extra juicy and delicious episodes of the show where I really ratcheted up with our guests and provide you one of these singularity is near kind of ever everything is connected to everything, self organized criticality right at the edge of chaos conversations, deeply embedded in chapel parallel where suddenly the invisible architect picture of our cosmos starts to make itself apparent through the glass bead game of conversation. And I am that I get to share it with you. Our guests this week are KMO, one of the most seasoned and well researched and experienced podcasters that I know. Somebody whose show the Sea Realm was running all the way back in two thousand six, I found him through Eric Davis, who I think most of you know, and I've had on the show a number of times already. And also Kevin Walnut, who is a close friend of mine here in Santa Fe, a just incredible human being, he's probably the strongest single supporter of music that I'm aware of, you know, as far as local scenes are concerned and and supporting people's music online and helping get the word out. He's been instrumental to my family and I am getting ourselves situated here all the way back to when I visited Santa Fe in two thousand eighteen to participate in the Santa Fe Institute's Interplanetary Festival and recorded conversations on that trip John David Ebert and Michael Aaron Cummins. And Ike used so June. About hyper modernity, a two part episode one zero four and one zero five. I highly recommend going back to that, which is really the last time possibly I had a conversation just this incredibly ambitious on the show.0:02:31But first, I want to announce a couple things. One is that I have left the Santa Fe Institute. The other podcast that I have been hosting for them for the last three and a half years, Complexity Podcast, which is substantially more popular in future fossils due to its institutional affiliation is coming to a close, I'm recording one more episode with SFI president David Krakauer next week in which I'm gonna be talking about my upcoming book project. And that episode actually is conjoined with the big announcement that I have for members of the Future Fossil's listening audience and and paid supporters, which is, of course, the Jurassic Park Book Club that starts On April twenty ninth, we're gonna host the first of two video calls where I'm gonna dive deep into the science and philosophy Michael Creighton's most popular work of fiction and its impact on culture and society over the thirty three years since its publication. And then I'm gonna start picking up as many of the podcasts that I had scheduled for complexity and had to cancel upon my departure from SFI. And basically fuse the two shows.0:03:47And I think a lot of you saw this coming. Future fossils is going to level up and become a much more scientific podcast. As I prepare and research the book that I'm writing about Jurassic Park and its legacy and the relationship It has to ILM and SFI and the Institute of Eco Technics. And all of these other visionary projects that sprouted in the eighties and nineties to transition from the analog to the digital the collapse of the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the human and the non human worlds, it's gonna be a very very ambitious book and a very very ambitious book club. And I hope that you will get in there because obviously now I am out in the rain as an independent producer and very much need can benefit from and am deeply grateful for your support for this work in order to make things happen and in order to keep my family fed, get the lights on here with future fossils. So with that, I wanna thank all of the new supporters of the show that have crawled out of the woodwork over the last few weeks, including Raefsler Oingo, Brian in the archaeologist, Philip Rice, Gerald Bilak, Jamie Curcio, Jeff Hanson who bought my music, Kuaime, Mary Castello, VR squared, Nastia teaches, community health com, Ed Mulder, Cody Couiac, bought my music, Simon Heiduke, amazing visionary artist. I recommend you check out, Kayla Peters. Yeah. All of you, I just wow. Thank you so much. It's gonna be a complete melee in this book club. I'm super excited to meet you all. I will send out details about the call details for the twenty ninth sometime in the next few days via a sub tag in Patreon.0:06:09The amount of support that I've received through this transition has been incredible and it's empowering me to do wonderful things for you such as the recently released secret videos of the life sets I performed with comedian Shane Moss supporting him, opening for him here in Santa Fe. His two sold out shows at the Jean Coutu cinema where did the cyber guitar performances. And if you're a subscriber, you can watch me goofing off with my pedal board. There's a ton of material. I'm gonna continue to do that. I've got a lot of really exciting concerts coming up in the next few months that we're gonna get large group and also solo performance recordings from and I'm gonna make those available in a much more resplendent way to supporters as well as the soundtrack to Mark Nelson of the Institute of Eco Technics, his UC San Diego, Art Museum, exhibit retrospective looking at BioSphere two. I'm doing music for that and that's dropping. The the opening of that event is April twenty seventh. There's gonna be a live zoom event for that and then I'm gonna push the music out as well for that.0:07:45So, yeah, thank you all. I really, really appreciate you listening to the show. I am excited to share this episode with you. KMO is just a trove. Of insight and experience. I mean, he's like a perfect entry into the digital history museum that this show was predicated upon. So with that and also, of course, Kevin Willett is just magnificent. And for the record, stick around at the end of the conversation. We have some additional pieces about AI, and I think you're gonna really enjoy it. And yeah, thank you. Here we go. Alright. Cool.0:09:26Well, we just had a lovely hour of discussion for the new KMO podcast. And now I'm here with KMO who is The most inveterate podcaster I know. And I know a lot of them. Early adopts. And I think that weird means what you think it means. Inventor it. Okay. Yes. Hey, answer to both. Go ahead. I mean, you're not yet legless and panhandling. So prefer to think of it in term in terms of August estimation. Yeah. And am I allowed to say Kevin Walnut because I've had you as a host on True. Yeah. My last name was appeared on your show. It hasn't appeared on camos yet, but I don't really care. Okay. Great. Yeah. Karen Arthur Womlett, who is one of the most solid and upstanding and widely read and just generous people, I think I know here in Santa Fe or maybe anywhere. With excellent taste and podcasts. Yes. And who is delicious meat I am sampling right now as probably the first episode of future fossils where I've had an alcoholic beverage in my hand. Well, I mean, it's I haven't deprived myself. Of fun. And I think if you're still listening to the show after all these years, you probably inferred that. But at any rate, Welcome on board. Thank you. Thanks. Pleasure to be here.0:10:49So before we started rolling, I guess, so the whole conversation that we just had for your show camera was very much about my thoughts on the social epistemology crisis and on science fiction and deep fakes and all of these kinds of weird ontology and these kinds of things. But in between calls, we were just talking about how much you detest the first two seasons of Star Trek card and of Discovery. And as somebody, I didn't bother with doing this. I didn't send you this before we spoke, but I actually did write an SIN defense of those shows. No one. Yeah. So I am not attached to my opinion on this, but And I actually do wanna at some point double back and hear storytelling because when he had lunch and he had a bunch of personal life stuff that was really interesting. And juicy and I think worthy of discussion. But simply because it's hot on the rail right now, I wanna hear you talk about Star Trek. And both of you, actually, I know are very big fans of this franchise. I think fans are often the ones from whom a critic is most important and deserved. And so I welcome your unhinged rants. Alright. Well, first, I'll start off by quoting Kevin's brother, the linguist, who says, That which brings us closer to Star Trek is progress. But I'd have to say that which brings us closer to Gene Rottenberry and Rick Berman era Star Trek. Is progress. That which brings us closer to Kurtzmann. What's his first name? Alex. Alex Kurtzmann, Star Trek. Well, that's not even the future. I mean, that's just that's our drama right now with inconsistent Star Trek drag draped over it.0:12:35I liked the first JJ Abrams' Star Trek. I think it was two thousand nine with Chris Pine and Zachary Qinto and Karl Urban and Joey Saldana. I liked the casting. I liked the energy. It was fun. I can still put that movie on and enjoy it. But each one after that just seem to double down on the dumb and just hold that arm's length any of the philosophical stuff that was just amazing from Star Trek: The Next Generation or any of the long term character building, which was like from Deep Space nine.0:13:09And before seven of nine showed up on on Voyager, you really had to be a dedicated Star Trek fan to put up with early season's Voyager, but I did because I am. But then once she came on board and it was hilarious. They brought her onboard. I remember seeing Jerry Ryan in her cat suit on the cover of a magazine and just roll in my eyes and think, oh my gosh, this show is in such deep trouble through sinking to this level to try to save it. But she was brilliant. She was brilliant in that show and she and Robert Percardo as the doctor. I mean, it basically became the seven of nine and the doctor show co starring the rest of the cast of Voyager. And it was so great.0:13:46I love to hear them singing together and just all the dynamics of I'm human, but I was I basically came up in a cybernetic collective and that's much more comfortable to me. And I don't really have the option of going back it. So I gotta make the best of where I am, but I feel really superior to all of you. Is such it was such a charming dynamic. I absolutely loved it. Yes. And then I think a show that is hated even by Star Trek fans Enterprise. Loved Enterprise.0:14:15And, yes, the first three seasons out of four were pretty rough. Actually, the first two were pretty rough. The third season was that Zendy Ark in the the expanse. That was pretty good. And then season four was just astounding. It's like they really found their voice and then what's his name at CBS Paramount.0:14:32He's gone now. He got me too. What's his name? Les Moonves? Said, no. I don't like Star Trek. He couldn't he didn't know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek. That was his level of engagement.0:14:44And he's I really like J.0:14:46J.0:14:46Abrams. What's that? You mean J. J. Abrams. Yeah. I think J. J. Is I like some of J. Abrams early films. I really like super eight. He's clearly his early films were clearly an homage to, like, eighties, Spielberg stuff, and Spielberg gets the emotional beats right, and JJ Abrams was mimicking that, and his early stuff really works. It's just when he starts adapting properties that I really love. And he's coming at it from a marketing standpoint first and a, hey, we're just gonna do the lost mystery box thing. We're gonna set up a bunch questions to which we don't know the answers, and it'll be up to somebody else to figure it out, somebody down the line. I as I told you, between our conversations before we were recording. I really enjoy or maybe I said it early in this one. I really like that first J. J. Abrams, Star Trek: Foam, and then everyone thereafter, including the one that Simon Pegg really had a hand in because he's clear fan. Yeah. Yeah. But they brought in director from one of the fast and the furious films and they tried to make it an action film on.0:15:45This is not Star Trek, dude. This is not why we like Star Trek. It's not for the flash, particularly -- Oh my god. -- again, in the first one, it was a stylistic choice. I'd like it, then after that is that's the substance of this, isn't it? It's the lens flares. I mean, that that's your attempt at philosophy. It's this the lens flares. That's your attempt at a moral dilemma. I don't know.0:16:07I kinda hate to start off on this because this is something about which I feel like intense emotion and it's negative. And I don't want that to be my first impression. I'm really negative about something. Well, one of the things about this show is that I always joke that maybe I shouldn't edit it because The thing that's most interesting to archaeologists is often the trash mitt and here I am tidying this thing up to be presentable to future historians or whatever like it I can sync to that for sure. Yeah. I'm sorry. The fact of it is you're not gonna know everything and we want it that way. No. It's okay. We'll get around to the stuff that I like. But yeah. So anyway yeah.0:16:44So I could just preassociate on Stretrick for a while, so maybe a focusing question. Well, but first, you said there's a you had more to say, but you were I this this tasteful perspective. This is awesome. Well, I do have a focus on question for you. So let me just have you ask it because for me to get into I basically I'm alienated right now from somebody that I've been really good friends with since high school.0:17:08Because over the last decade, culturally, we have bifurcated into the hard right, hard left. And I've tried not to go either way, but the hard left irritates me more than the hard right right now. And he is unquestionably on the hard left side. And I know for people who are dedicated Marxist, or really grounded in, like, materialism and the material well-being of workers that the current SJW fanaticism isn't leftist. It's just crazed. We try to put everything, smash everything down onto this left right spectrum, and it's pretty easy to say who's on the left and who's on the right even if a two dimensional, two axis graph would be much more expressive and nuanced.0:17:49Anyway, what's your focus in question? Well, And I think there is actually there is a kind of a when we ended your last episode talking about the bell riots from d s nine -- Mhmm. -- that, you know, how old five? Yeah. Twenty four. Ninety five did and did not accurately predict the kind of technological and economic conditions of this decade. It predicted the conditions Very well. Go ahead and finish your question. Yeah. Right.0:18:14That's another thing that's retreated in picard season two, and it was actually worth it. Yeah. Like, it was the fact that they decided to go back there was part of the defense that I made about that show and about Discovery's jump into the distant future and the way that they treated that I posted to medium a year or two ago when I was just watching through season two of picard. And for me, the thing that I liked about it was that they're making an effort to reconcile the wonder and the Ethiopian promise And, you know, this Kevin Kelly or rather would call Blake Protopian, right, that we make these improvements and that they're often just merely into incremental improvements the way that was it MLK quoted that abolitionists about the long arc of moral progress of moral justice. You know, I think that there's something to that and patitis into the last this is a long question. I'm mad at I'm mad at these. Thank you all for tolerating me.0:19:22But the when to tie it into the epistemology question, I remember this seeing this impactful lecture by Carnegie Mellon and SFI professor Simon Didayo who was talking about how by running statistical analysis on the history of the proceedings of the Royal Society, which is the oldest scientific journal, that you could see what looked like a stock market curve in sentiment analysis about the confidence that scientists had at the prospect of unifying knowledge. And so you have, like, conciliance r s curve here that showed that knowledge would be more and more unified for about a century or a hundred and fifty years then it would go through fifty years of decline where something had happened, which was a success of knowledge production. Had outpaced our ability to integrate it. So we go through these kinds of, like, psychedelic peak experiences collectively, and then we have sit there with our heads in our hands and make sense of everything that we've learned over the last century and a half and go through a kind of a deconstructive epoch. Where we don't feel like the center is gonna hold anymore. And that is what I actually As as disappointing as I accept that it is and acknowledge that it is to people who were really fueling themselves on that more gene rottenberry era prompt vision for a better society, I actually appreciated this this effort to explore and address in the shows the way that they could pop that bubble.0:21:03And, like, it's on the one hand, it's boring because everybody's trying to do the moral complexity, anti hero, people are flawed, thing in narrative now because we have a general loss of faith in our institutions and in our rows. On the other hand, like, that's where we are and that's what we need to process And I think there is a good reason to look back at the optimism and the quarian hope of the sixties and early seventies. We're like, really, they're not so much the seventies, but look back on that stuff and say, we wanna keep telling these stories, but we wanna tell it in a way that acknowledges that the eighties happened. And that this is you got Tim Leary, and then you've got Ronald Reagan. And then That just or Dick Nixon. And like these things they wash back and forth. And so it's not unreasonable to imagine that in even in a world that has managed to how do you even keep a big society like that coherent? It has to suffer kind of fabric collapses along the way at different points. And so I'm just curious your thoughts about that. And then I do have another prompt, but I wanna give Kevin the opportunity to respond to this as well as to address some of the prompts that you brought to this conversation? This is a conversation prompt while we weren't recording. It has nothing to do with Sartreks. I'll save that for later. Okay.0:22:25Well, everything you just said was in some way related to a defense of Alex Kurtzmann Star Trek. And it's not my original idea. I'm channeling somebody from YouTube, surely. But Don't get points for theme if the storytelling is incompetent. That's what I was gonna Yeah. And the storytelling in all of Star Trek: Discovery, and in the first two seasons of picard was simply incompetent.0:22:53When Star Trek, the next generation was running, they would do twenty, twenty four, sometimes more episodes in one season. These days, the season of TVs, eight episodes, ten, and they spend a lot more money on each episode. There's a lot more special effects. There's a lot more production value. Whereas Star Trek: The Next Generation was, okay, we have these standing sets. We have costumes for our actors. We have Two dollars for special effects. You better not introduce a new alien spaceship. It that costs money. We have to design it. We have to build it. So use existing stuff. Well, what do you have? You have a bunch of good actors and you have a bunch of good writers who know how to tell a story and craft dialogue and create tension and investment with basically a stage play and nothing in the Kerstmann era except one might argue and I would have sympathy strange new worlds. Comes anywhere close to that level of competence, which was on display for decades. From Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space nines, Star Trek Voyager, and Star Trek Enterprise. And so, I mean, I guess, in that respect, it's worth asking because, I mean, all of us, I think, are fans of Deep Space nine.0:24:03You don't think that it's a shift in focus. You don't think that strange in world is exempt because it went back to a more episodic format because what you're talking about is the ability for rather than a show runner or a team of show runners to craft a huge season, long dramatic arc. You've got people that are like Harlan Ellison in the original series able to bring a really potent one off idea to the table and drop it. And so there are there's all of those old shows are inconsistent from episode to episode. Some are they have specific writers that they would bring back again and that you could count to knock out of the park. Yeah. DC Fontana. Yeah.0:24:45So I'm curious to your thoughts on that as well as another part of this, which is when we talk when we talk your show about Doug Rushkoff and and narrative collapse, and he talks about how viewers just have different a way, it's almost like d s nine was possibly partially responsible for this change in what people expected from so. From television programming in the documentary that was made about that show and they talk about how people weren't ready for cereal. I mean, for I mean, yeah, for these long arcs, And so there is there's this question now about how much of this sort of like tiresome moral complexity and dragging narrative and all of this and, like, things like Westworld where it becomes so baroque and complicated that, like, you have, like, die hard fans like me that love it, but then you have a lot of people that just lost interest. They blacked out because the show was trying to tell a story that was, like, too intricate like, too complicated that the the show runners themselves got lost. And so that's a JJ Abrams thing too, the puzzle the mystery box thing where You get to the end of five seasons of lost and you're like, dude, did you just forget?0:25:56Did you wake up five c five episodes ago and just, oh, right. Right. We're like a chatbot that only give you very convincing answers based on just the last two or three interactions. But you don't remember the scene that we set. Ten ten responses ago. Hey. You know, actually, red articles were forget who it was, which series it was, they were saying that there's so many leaks and spoilers in getting out of the Internet that potentially the writers don't know where they're going because that way it can't be with the Internet. Yeah. Sounds interesting. Yeah. That sounds like cover for incompetence to be.0:26:29I mean, on the other hand, I mean, you did hear, like, Nolan and Joy talking about how they would they were obsessed with the Westworld subreddit and the fan theories and would try to dodge Like, if they had something in their mind that they found out that people are re anticipating, they would try to rewrite it. And so there is something about this that I think is really speaks to the nature of because I do wanna loop in your thoughts on AI to because you're talking about this being a favorite topic. Something about the, like, trying to The demands on the self made by predatory surveillance technologies are such that the I'm convinced the adaptive response is that we become more stochastic or inconsistent in our identities. And that we kind of sublimate from a more solid state of identity to or through a liquid kind of modernity biologic environment to a gaseous state of identity. That is harder to place sorry, harder to track. And so I think that this is also part of and this is the other question I wanted to ask you, and then I'm just gonna shut up for fifteen minutes is do you when you talk about loving Robert Ricardo and Jerry Ryan as the doctor at seven zero nine, One of the interesting things about that relationship is akin to stuff.0:27:52I know you've heard on Kevin have heard on future fossils about my love for Blade Runner twenty forty nine and how it explores all of these different these different points along a gradient between what we think of in the current sort of general understanding as the human and the machine. And so there's this thing about seven, right, where she's She's a human who wants to be a machine. And then there's this thing about the doctor where he's a machine that wants to be a human. And you have to grant both on a logical statuses to both of them. And that's why I think they're the two most interesting characters. Right?0:28:26And so at any rate, like, this is that's there's I've seen writing recently on the Turing test and how, like, really, there should be a reverse Turing test to see if people that have become utterly reliant on outboard cognition and information processing. They can pass the drink. Right. Are they philosophical zombies now? Are they are they having some an experience that that, you know, people like, thick and and shilling and the missing and these people would consider the modern self or are they something else have we moved on to another more routine robotic kind of category of being? I don't know. There's just a lot there, but -- Well done. -- considering everything you just said, In twenty words or less, what's your question? See, even more, like I said, do you have the inveterate podcaster? I'd say There's all of those things I just spoke about are ways in which what we are as people and the nature of our media, feedback into fourth, into each other. And so I would just love to hear you reflect on any of that, be it through the lens of Star Trek or just through the lens of discussion on AI. And we'll just let the ball roll downhill. So with the aim of framing something positively rather than negatively.0:29:47In the late nineties, mid to late nineties. We got the X Files. And the X Files for the first few seasons was so It was so engaging for me because Prior to that, there had been Hollywood tropes about aliens, which informed a lot of science fiction that didn't really connect with the actual reported experience of people who claim to have encountered either UFOs, now called UAPs, or had close encounters physical contact. Type encounters with seeming aliens. And it really seemed like Chris Carter, who was the showrunner, was reading the same Usenet Newsgroups that I was reading about those topics. Like, really, we had suddenly, for the first time, except maybe for comedian, you had the Grey's, and you had characters experiencing things that just seemed ripped right out of the reports that people were making on USnet, which for young folks, this is like pre Worldwide Web. It was Internet, but with no pictures. It's all text. Good old days from my perspective is a grumpy old gen xer. And so, yeah, that was a breakthrough moment.0:30:54Any this because you mentioned it in terms of Jonathan Nolan and his co writer on Westworld, reading the subreddit, the West and people figured out almost immediately that there were two interweaving time lines set decades apart and that there's one character, the old guy played by Ed Harris, and the young guy played by I don't remember the actor. But, you know, that they were the same character and that the inveterate white hat in the beginning turns into the inveterate black cat who's just there for the perverse thrill of tormenting the hosts as the robots are called. And the thing that I love most about that first season, two things. One, Anthony Hopkins. Say no more. Two, the revelation that the park has been basically copying humans or figuring out what humans are by closely monitoring their behavior in the park and the realization that the hosts come to is that, holy shit compared to us, humans are very simple creatures. We are much more complex. We are much more sophisticated, nuanced conscious, we feel more than the humans do, and that humans use us to play out their perverse and sadistic fantasies. To me, that was the takeaway message from season one.0:32:05And then I thought every season after that was just diluted and confused and not really coherent. And in particular, I haven't if there's a fourth season, haven't There was and then the show got canceled before they could finish the story. They had the line in season three. It was done after season three. And I was super happy to see Let's see after who plays Jesse Pinkman? Oh, no. Aaron oh, shit. Paul. Yes. Yeah. I was super happy to see him and something substantial and I was really pleased to see him included in the show and it's like, oh, that's what you're doing with him? They did a lot more interesting stuff with him in season four. I did they. They did a very much more interesting stuff. I think it was done after season three. If you tell me season four is worth taking in, I blow. I thought it was.0:32:43But again, I only watch television under very specific set of circumstances, and that's how I managed to enjoy television because I was a fierce and unrepentant hyperlogical critic of all media as a child until I managed to start smoking weed. And then I learned to enjoy myself. As we mentioned in the kitchen as I mentioned in the kitchen, if I smoke enough weed, Star Trek: Discovery is pretty and I can enjoy it on just a second by second level where if I don't remember what the character said thirty seconds ago, I'm okay. But I absolutely loved in season two when they brought in Hanson Mountain as as Christopher Pike. He's suddenly on the discovery and he's in the captain's chair. And it's like he's speaking for the audience. The first thing he says is, hey, why don't we turn on the lights? And then hey, all you people sitting around the bridge. We've been looking at your faces for a whole season. We don't even think about you. Listen to a round of introductions. Who are you? Who are you? It's it's if I were on set. You got to speak.0:33:53The writers is, who are these characters? We've been looking at them every single episode for a whole season. I don't know their names. I don't know anything about them. Why are they even here? Why is it not just Michael Burnham and an automated ship? And then it was for a while -- Yeah. -- which is funny. Yeah. To that point, And I think this kind of doubles back. The thing that I love about bringing him on and all of the people involved in strange and worlds in particular, is that these were lifelong fans of this series, I mean, of this world. Yeah. And so in that way, gets to this the idiosyncrasy question we're orbiting here, which is when these things are when the baton is passed well, it's passed to people who have now grown up with this stuff.0:34:40I personally cannot stand Jurassic World. Like, I think that Colin Trivaro should never have been in put at the reins. Which one did he direct? Oh, he did off he did first and the third. Okay. But, I mean, he was involved in all three very heavily.0:34:56And there's something just right at the outset of that first Jurassic World where you realize that this is not a film that's directly addressing the issues that Michael Creighton was trying to explore here. It's a film about its own franchise. It's a film about the fact that they can't just stop doing the same thing over and over again as we expect a different question. How can we not do it again? Right. And so it's actually, like, unpleasantly soft, conscious, in that way that I can't remember I'll try to find it for the show notes, but there's an Internet film reviewer who is talking about what happens when, like, all cinema has to take this self referential turn.0:35:34No. And films like Logan do it really well. But there are plenty of examples where it's just cheeky and self aware because that's what the ironic sensibility is obsessed with. And so, yeah, there's a lot of that where it's, like, you're talking about, like, Abrams and the the Star Wars seven and you know, that whole trilogy of Disney Star Wars, where it's, in my opinion, completely fumbled because there it's just empty fan service, whereas when you get to Andor, love Andor. Andor is amazing because they're capable of providing all of those emotional beats that the fans want and the ref the internal references and good dialogue. But they're able to write it in a way that's and shoot it in a way. Gilroy and Bo Willeman, basic of the people responsible for the excellent dialogue in Andor.0:36:31And I love the production design. I love all the stuff set on Coruscant, where you saw Coruscant a lot in the prequel trilogy, and it's all dayglow and bright and just in your face. And it's recognizable as Coruscant in andor, but it's dour. It's metropolis. It's all grays and it's and it's highlighting the disparity between where the wealthy live and where the poor live, which Lucas showed that in the prequel trilogy, but even in the sports bar where somebody tries to sell death sticks to Obi wan. So it's super clean and bright and just, you know, It shines too much. Personally though, and I just wanna stress, KMO is not grumpy media dude, I mean, this is a tiny fraction about, but I am wasting this interview with you. Love. All of the Dave Felloni animated Star Wars stuff, even rebels. Love it all.0:37:26I I'm so glad they aged up the character and I felt less guilty about loving and must staying after ahsoka tano? My favorite Star Wars character is ahsoka tano. But if you only watch the live action movies, you're like who? Well, I guess now that she's been on the Mandalorian, he's got tiny sliver of a foothold -- Yeah. -- in the super mainstream Star Wars. And that was done well, I thought. It was. I'm so sorry that Ashley Epstein doesn't have any part in it. But Rosario Dawson looks the part. She looks like a middle aged Asaka and think they tried to do some stuff in live action, which really should have been CGI because it's been established that the Jedi can really move, and she looked human. Which she is? If you put me on film, I'm gonna lick human. Right. Not if you're Canada Reeves, I guess. You got that. Yeah. But yeah.0:38:09So I do wanna just go real briefly back to this question with you about because we briefly talked about chat, GPT, and these other things in your half of this. And, yeah, I found out just the other night my friend, the t ferry, asked Chad g p t about me, and it gave a rather plausible and factual answer. I was surprised and That's what these language models do. They put plausible answers. But when you're doing search, you want correct answers. Right. I'm very good at that. Right. Then someone shared this Michelle Bowen's actually the famous PTP guy named him. Yeah. So, you know, So Michelle shared this article by Steven Hales and Colette, that was basically making the argument that there are now they're gonna be all these philosophical zombies, acting as intelligent agents sitting at the table of civilization, and there will be all the philosophical zombies of the people who have entirely yielded their agency to them, and they will be cohabitating with the rest of us.0:39:14And what an unpleasant scenario, So in light of that, and I might I'd love to hear you weave that together with your your thoughts on seven zero nine and the doctor and on Blade Runner twenty forty nine. And this thing that we're fumbling through as a species right now. Like, how do we got a new sort of taxonomy? Does your not audience need like a minute primer on P zombies? Might as well. Go for it.0:39:38So a philosophical zombie is somebody who behaves exactly like an insult person or a person with interior experience or subjective experience, but they don't have any subjective experience. And in Pardon me for interrupt. Wasn't that the question about the the book we read in your book club, a blind sign in this box? Yes. It's a black box, a drawn circle. Yeah. Chinese room experience. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Look, Daniel, it goes out. You don't know, it goes on inside the room. Chinese room, that's a tangent. We can come back to it. P. Zombie. P. Zombie is somebody or is it is an entity. It's basically a puppet. It looks human. It acts human. It talks like a human. It will pass a Turing test, but it has no interior experience.0:40:25And when I was going to grad school for philosophy of mind in the nineteen nineties, this was all very out there. There was no example of something that had linguistic competence. Which did not have internal experience. But now we have large language models and generative pretrained transformer based chatbots that don't have any internal experience. And yet, when you interact with them, it seems like there is somebody there There's a personality there. And if you go from one model to a different, it's a very different personality. It is distinctly different. And yet we have no reason to believe that they have any sort of internal experience.0:41:01So what AI in the last decade and what advances has demonstrated to us and really even before the last decade You back in the nineties when the blue beat Gary Casper off at at chess. And what had been the one of the defining characteristics of human intelligence was we're really good at this abstract mathematical stuff. And yeah, calculators can calculate pie in a way that we can't or they can cube roots in a way that humans generally can't, creative in their application of these methodologies And all of a sudden, well, yeah, it kinda seems like they are. And then when what was an alpha go -- Mhmm. -- when it be to least a doll in go, which is a much more complex game than chess and much more intuitive based. That's when we really had to say, hey, wait a minute. Maybe this notion that These things are the exclusive province of us because we have a special sort of self awareness. That's bunk. And the development of large language models since then has absolutely demonstrated that competence, particularly linguistic competence and in creative activities like painting and poetry and things like that, you don't need a soul, you don't even need to sense a self, it's pretty it's a pretty simple hack, actually. And Vahrv's large language models and complex statistical modeling and things, but it doesn't require a soul.0:42:19So that was the Peter Watts' point in blindsight. Right? Which is Look revolves around are do these things have a subjective experience, and do they not these aliens that they encounter? I've read nothing but good things about that book and I've read. It's extraordinary. But his lovecrafty and thesis is that you actually lovecraftian in twenty twenty three. Oh, yeah. In the world, there's more lovecraftian now than it was when he was writing. Right? So cough about the conclusion of a Star Trek card, which is season of Kraft yet. Yes. That's a that's a com Yeah. The holes in his fan sense. But that was another show that did this I liked for asking this question.0:42:54I mean, at this point, you either have seen this or you haven't you never will. The what the fuck turn when they upload picard into a synth body and the way that they're dealing with the this the pinocchio question Let's talk about Blade Runner twenty forty nine. Yeah. But I mean yeah. So I didn't like the wave I did not like the wave of card handled that. I love the wave and Blade Runner handled it. So you get no points for themes. Yeah. Don't deliver on story and character and coherence. Yeah. Fair. But yeah. And to be not the dog, Patrick Stewart, because it's clear from the ready room just being a part of this is so emotional and so awesome for everyone involved. And it's It's beautiful. Beautiful. But does when you when you see these, like, entertainment weekly interviews with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard about Jurassic World, and it's clear that actors are just so excited to be involved in a franchise that they're willing to just jettison any kind of discretion about how the way that it's being treated. They also have a contractual obligation to speak in positive terms about -- They do. -- of what they feel. Right. Nobody's yeah. Nobody's doing Shout out to Rystellis Howard, daughter of Ron Howard.0:44:11She was a director, at least in the first season, maybe the second season of the Mandalorian. And her episodes I mean, I she brought a particular like, they had Bryce Dallas Howard, Tico, ITT, directed some episodes. Deborah Chow, who did all of Obi wan, which just sucked. But her contributions to the Mandalorian, they had a particular voice. And because that show is episodic, Each show while having a place in a larger narrative is has a beginning middle and end that you can bring in a director with a particular voice and give that episode that voice, and I really liked it. And I really liked miss Howard's contribution.0:44:49She also in an episode of Black Mirror. The one where everyone has a social credit score. Knows Donuts. Black Mirror is a funny thing because It's like, reality outpaces it. Yeah. I think maybe Charlie Bruker's given up on it because they haven't done it in a while. Yeah. If you watch someone was now, like, five, six years later, it's, yes, or what? See, yes. See, damn. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. But yeah. I don't know. I just thing that I keep circling and I guess we come to on the show a lot is the way that memory forms work substantiates an integrity in society and in the way that we relate to things and the way that we think critically about the claims that are made on truth and so on and say, yeah, I don't know. That leads right into the largest conversation prompt that I had about AI. Okay? So we were joking when we set up this date that this was like the trial logs between Terence Buchanan and Rupert Shell Drake. And what's his name? Real Abraham. Yeah. Yeah. All Abraham. And Rupert Shell Drake is most famous for a steward of Morphe resin.0:45:56So does AI I've never really believed that Norfolk residents forms the base of human memory, but is that how AI works? It brings these shapes from the past and creates new instantiation of them in the present. Is AI practicing morphic resonance in real life even if humans are or not? I've had a lot of interaction with AI chatbots recently. And as I say, different models produce different seeming personalities. And you can tell, like, you can just quiz them. Hey, we're talking about this. Do you remember what I said about it ten minutes ago? And, no, they don't remember more than the last few exchanges.0:46:30And yet, there seems to be a continuity that belies the lack of short term memory. And is that more for residents or is that what's the word love seeing shapes and clouds parad paradolia. Yeah. Is that me imparting this continuity of personality to the thing, which is really just spitting out stuff, which is designed to seem plausible given what the input was. And I can't answer that. Or it's like Steven Nagmanovich in free play talks about somewhat I'm hoping to have on the show at some point.0:47:03This year talks about being a professional improviser and how really improvisation is just composition at a much faster timescale. And composition is just improvisation with the longer memory. And how when I started to think about it in those terms, the continuity that you're talking about is the continuity of an Alzheimer's patient who can't remember that their children have grown up and You know, that that's you have to think about it because you can recognize the Alzheimer's and your patient as your dad, even though he doesn't recognize you, there is something more to a person than their memories. And conversely, if you can store and replicate and move the memories to a different medium, have you moved the person? Maybe not. Yeah. So, yeah, that's interesting because that gets to this more sort of essentialist question about the human self. Right. Blade Runner twenty forty nine. Yeah. Go there. Go there. A joy. Yes.0:47:58So in Blade Runner twenty forty nine, we have our protagonist Kaye, who is a replicant. He doesn't even have a name, but he's got this AI holographic girlfriend. But the ad for the girlfriend, she's naked. When he comes home, she is She's constantly changing clothes, but it's always wholesome like nineteen fifty ish a tire and she's making dinner for him and she lays the holographic dinner over his very prosaic like microwave dinner. And she's always encouraging him to be more than he is. And when he starts to uncover the evidence that he might be like this chosen one, like replicant that was born rather than made.0:48:38She's all about it. She's, yes, you're real, and she wants to call him Joe's. K is not a name. That's just the first letter in your serial number. You're Joe. I'm gonna call you Joe.0:48:46And then when she's about to be destroyed, The last thing is she just rushes to me. She says, I love you. But then later he encounters an ad for her and it's an interactive ad. And she says, you looked tired. You're a good Joe. And he realizes and hopefully the attentive audience realizes as real as she seemed earlier, as vital, and as much as she seemed like an insult being earlier, she's not. That was her programming. She's designed to make you feel good by telling you what you want to hear. And he has that realization. And at that point, he's there's no hope for me. I'm gonna help this Rick Deckard guy hook up with his daughter, and then I'm just gonna lie down and bleed to death. Because my whole freaking existence was a lie. But he's not bitter. He seems to be at peace. I love that. That's a beautiful angle on that film or a slice of it. And So it raises this other question that I wanted to ask, which was about the Coke and Tiononi have that theory of consciousness.0:49:48That's one of the leading theories contending with, like, global workspace, which is integrated information. And so they want to assign consciousness as a continuous value that grayates over degree to which a system is integrated. So it's coming out of this kind of complex systems semi panpsychist thing that actually doesn't trace interiority all the way down in the way that some pants, I guess, want it to be, but it does a kind of Alfred North Whitehead thing where they're willing to say that Whitehead wanted to say that even a photon has, like, the quantum of mind to accompany its quantum of matter, but Tinutti and Coker saying, we're willing to give like a thermostat the quantum here because it is in some way passing enough information around inside of itself in loops. That it has that accursive component to it. And so that's the thing that I wonder about these, and that's the critique that's made by people like Melanie about diffusion models like GPT that are not they're not self aware because there's no loop from the outputs back into the input.0:51:09And there isn't the training. Yeah. There there is something called backwards propagation where -- Yes. -- when you get an output that you'd like, you can run a backward propagation algorithm back through the black box basically to reinforce the patterns of activation that you didn't program. They just happen, easily, but you like the output and you can reinforce it. There's no biological equivalent of that. Yeah. Particularly, not particularly irritating.0:51:34I grind my teeth a little bit when people say, oh, yeah, these neural net algorithms they've learned, like humans learn, no, they don't. Absolutely do not. And in fact, if we learned the way they did, we would be pathetic because we learn in a much more elegant way. We need just a very few examples of something in order to make a generalization and to act on it, whereas these large language models, they need billions of repetitions. So that's I'm tapping my knee here to to indicate a reflex.0:52:02You just touched on something that generates an automatic response from me, and now I've come to consciousness having. So I wanted it in that way. So I'm back on. Or good, Joe. Yeah. What about you, man? What does the stir up for you? Oh, I got BlueCall and I have this particular part. It's interesting way of putting it off and struggling to define the difference between a human and AI and the fact that we can do pattern recognition with very few example. That's a good margin. In a narrow range, though, within the context of something which answers to our survival. Yes. We are not evolved to understand the universe. We are evolved to survive in it and reproduce and project part of ourselves into the future. Underwritten conditions with Roberto, I went a hundred thousand years ago. Yeah. Exactly. So that's related. I just thought I talked about this guy, Gary Tomlinson, who is a biosemietition, which is semiative? Yes.0:52:55Biosymiotics being the field that seeks to understand how different systems, human and nonhuman, make sense of and communicate their world through signs, and through signals and indices and symbols and the way that we form models and make these inferences that are experienced. Right? And there are a lot of people like evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith, who thought they were what Thomas had called semantic universalists that thought that meaning making through representation is something that could be traced all the way down. And there are other people like Tomlinson who think that there is a difference of kind, not just merely a matter of degree, between human symbolic communication and representational thinking and that of simpler forms. So, like, that whole question of whether this is a matter of kind or a matter of degree between what humans are doing and what GPT is doing and how much that has to do with this sort of Doug Hofstetter and Varella question about the way that feedback loops, constitutes important structure in those cognitive networks or whatever.0:54:18This is I just wanna pursue that a little bit more with you and see kinda, like, where do you think that AI as we have it now is capable of deepening in a way that makes it to AGI? Or do you because a lot of people do, like, People working in deep mind are just like, yeah, just give us a couple more years and this approach is gonna work. And then other people are saying, no, there's something about the topology of the networks that is fundamentally broken. And it's never gonna generate consciousness. Two answers. Yeah. One, No. This is not AGI. It's not it's not gonna bootstrap up into AGI. It doesn't matter how many billions of parameters you add to the models. Two, from your perspective and my perspective and Kevin's perspective, we're never gonna know when we cross over from dumb but seemingly we're done but competent systems to competent, extremely competent and self aware. We're never gonna know because from the get go from now, from from the days of Eliza, there has been a human artifice at work in making these things seem as if they have a point of view, as if they have subjectivity. And so, like Blake Limone at Google, he claimed to be convinced that Lambda was self aware.0:55:35But if you read the transcripts that he released, if his conversations with Lambda, it is clear from the get go he assigns Lambda the role of a sentient AGI, which feels like it is being abused and which needs rep legal representation. And it dutifully takes on that role and says, yes. I'm afraid of you humans. I'm afraid of how you're treating me. I'm afraid I'm gonna be turned off. I need a lawyer. And prior to that, Soon Darpichai, in a demonstration of Lambda, he poses the question to it, you are the planet Jupiter. I'm gonna pose questions to you as are the planet Jupiter, answer them from that point of view. And it does. It's job. But it's really good at its job. It's this comes from Max Techmark. Who wrote to what a life three point o? Is it two point o or three point I think it's three point o.0:56:19Think about artificial intelligence in terms of actual intelligence or actual replication of what we consider valuable about ourselves. But really, that's beside the point. What we need to worry about is their competence. How good are they at solving problems in the world? And they're getting really good. In this whole question of are they alive? Do they have self awareness? From our perspective, it's beside the point. From their perspective, of course, it would be hugely important.0:56:43And this is something that Black Mirror brings up a lot is the idea that you can create a being that suffers, and then you have it suffer in an accelerated time. So it suffers for an eternity over lunch. That's something we absolutely want to avoid. And personally, I think it's we should probably not make any effort. We should probably make a positive effort to make sure these things never develop. Subjective experience because that does provide the potential for creating hell, an infinity of suffering an infinite amount of subjective experience of torment, which we don't want to do. That would be a bad thing, morally speaking, ethically speaking. Three right now. If you're on the labor market, you still have to pay humans by the hour. Right? And try to pay them as little as possible. But, yeah, just I think that's the thing that probably really excites that statistically greater than normal population of sociopathic CEOs. Right? Is the possibility that you could be paying the same amount of money for ten times as much suffering. Right. I'm I'm reminded of the Churchill eleven gravity a short time encouraging.0:57:51Nothing but good things about this show, but I haven't seen it. Yeah. I'd love to. This fantasy store, it's a fantasy cartoon, but it has really disturbing undertones. If you just scratch the surface, you know, slightly, which is faithful to old and fairy tales. So What's your name? Princess princess princess bubble down creates this character to lemon grab. It produces an obviously other thing there, I think, handle the administrative functions of her kingdom while she goes off and has the passion and stuff. And he's always loudly talking about how much he's suffering and how terrible it is. And he's just ignoring it. He's doing his job. Yeah. I mean, that that's Black Mirror in a nutshell. I mean, I think if you if you could distill Black Mirror to just single tagline it's using technology in order to deliver disproportionate punishment. Yeah. So so that that's Steven Hale's article that I I brought up earlier mention this thing about how the replacement of horse drawn carriage by automobile was accompanied with a great deal of noise and fuhrer about people saying that horses are agents.0:59:00Their entities. They have emotional worlds. They're responsive to the world in a way that a car can never be. But that ultimately was beside the point. And that was the Peter again, Peter Watson blindsight is making this point that maybe consciousness is not actually required for intelligence in the vesting superior forms of intelligence have evolved elsewhere in the cosmos that are not stuck on the same local optimum fitness peak. That we are where we're never we're actually up against a boundary in terms of how intelligent we can be because it has to bootstrap out of our software earness in some way.0:59:35And this is that's the Kyle offspring from Charles Strauss and Alexander. Yes. Yeah. Yes. So so I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm just, like, in this space today, but usually, unfortunately.0:59:45That's the thing that I I think it's a really important philosophical question, and I wonder where you stand on this with respect to how you make sense of what we're living through right now and what we might be facing is if we Rob people like Rob and Hanson talk about the age of where emulated human minds take over the economy, and he assumes an interiority. Just for the basis of a thought experiment. But there's this other sense in which we may actually find in increasing scarcity and wish that we could place a premium on even if we can't because we've lost the reins to our economy to the vile offspring is the human. And and so are we the horses that are that in another hundred years, we're gonna be like doing equine therapy and, like, living on rich people's ranches. Everything is everything that will have moved on or how do you see this going? I mean, you've interviewed so many people you've given us so much thought over the years. If humans are the new horses, then score, we won.1:00:48Because before the automobile horses were working stiffs, they broke their leg in the street. They got shot. They got worked to death. They really got to be they were hauling mine carts out of mines. I mean, it was really sucked to be a horse. And after the automobile horses became pampered pets, Do we as humans wanna be pampered pets? Well, pampered pet or exploited disposable robot? What do you wanna be? I'll take Pampers Pet. That works for me. Interesting.1:01:16Kevin, I'm sure you have thoughts on this. I mean, you speak so much about the unfair labor relations and these things in our Facebook group and just in general, and drop in that sign. If you get me good sign, that's one of the great ones, you have to drop in. Oh, you got it. But The only real comment I have is that we're a long overdue or rethinking about what is the account before? Us or you can have something to do. Oh, educational system in collections if people will manage jobs because I was just anchored to the schools and then, you know, Our whole system perhaps is a people arguing and a busy word. And it was just long past the part where the busy word needs to be done. We're leaving thing wired. I don't know. I also just forgot about that. I'm freezing the ice, getting the hand out there. Money has been doing the busy word more and faster.1:02:12One thing I wanna say about the phrase AI, it's a moving goal post -- Yeah. -- that things that used to be considered the province of genuine AI of beating a human at go Now that an AI has beat humans at go, well, that's not really AI anymore. It's not AGI, certainly. I think you both appreciate this. I saw a single panel comic strip and it's a bunch of dinosaurs and they're looking up at guy and the big comment is coming down and they say, oh, no, the economy. Well, as someone who since college prefers to think of the economy as actually the metabolism of the entire ecology. Right? What we measure as humans is some pitifully small fraction of the actual value being created and exchanged on the planet at any time. So there is a way that's funny, but it's funny only to a specific sensibility that treats the economy as the

On this episode, Nate is joined by systems ecologist William E. Rees. Professor Rees outlines why most of the challenges facing humanity and the biosphere have a common origin - ecological overshoot. Bill also unpacks “the ecological footprint” - a concept that he co-created, that measures the actual resources used by a given population. Bill also describes his experience as a leading thinker in public policy and planning based on ecological conditions for sustainable socioeconomic development, and the challenges he's faced working in a system which (so far) rejects such premises. Is it possible for a different way of measuring the system to set different goals of what it means to be successful as a society? About Bill Rees: William Rees is a population ecologist, ecological economist, Professor Emeritus and former Director of the University of British Columbia's School of Community and Regional Planning in Vancouver, Canada. He researches the implications of global ecological trends for the longevity of civilization, with special foci on urban (un)sustainability and cultural/cognitive barriers to rational public policy. Prof Rees is best known as the originator and co-developer with Dr Mathis Wackernagel of ‘ecological footprint analysis' (EFA), a quantitative tool that estimates human demands on ecosystems and the extent to which humanity is in ‘ecological overshoot.' Dr Rees is a founding member and former President of the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics; a founding Director of the OneEarth Living Initiative; a Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute and an Associate Fellow of the Great Transition Initiative. For Show Notes and More visit https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/53-william-rees To watch this video episode on Youtube → https://youtu.be/LQTuDttP2Yg

Richard Heinberg (pictured) from the Post Carbon Institute asks: "Can Civilization Survive? These Studies Might Tell Us"; "Plibersek faces 140 decisions pitting koalas against development"; "Climate change may have encouraged the Huns to invade Europe"; "Climate data to help you better understand the climate crisis"; "Is there a ‘right to disobey'? From the Vietnam War to today's climate protests"; "BP criticised over plan to spend billions more on fossil fuels than green energy"; "Can quinoa help us to survive climate change?"; "Exxon sues EU in move to block new windfall tax on oil companies"; "Scientists have debunked a popular corporate greenwashing tactic"; "This year, I only needed to open my window in Brazil to witness the climate crisis". --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/robert-mclean/message

'Trickle Down' does NOT work. For KGNU 'It's The Economy' host, Claudia Cragg spoke with SteadyState.org's Rob Dietz. He brings a fresh perspective to the discussion of economics and environmental sustainability with a diverse background in economics, environmental science and engineering, and conservation biology (plus his work in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors). His expertise has given him an unusual ability to connect the dots when it comes to the topic of sustainability.  Rob is the author, with Dan O'Neill, of . Rob has tried, he says, to align his personal life with the principles of a 'steady state economy'.  He lives with his wife and daughter in a co-housing community striving for development rather than growth. Rob Dietz is the Program Director at Post Carbon Institute, where he is responsible for guiding projects from conception to completion. With training and experience in ecological economics, environmental science, and conservation biology, he has built a career aimed at moving society in sustainable directions. Prior to joining Post Carbon Institute, Rob worked as a project manager at Farmland LP, helping to transition conventional farmland to organic. He was also the first executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (), taking it from an unfunded start-up organization to an internationally respected leader on new economic thinking.  He is the lead author of , a popular book on steady-state economics that Noam Chomsky called “lucid, informed, and highly constructive.” Rob also has produced dozens of articles and presentations on a variety of topics related to sustainability. Rob is a former Presidential Management Fellow, with appointments at the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  He was the first person at the Fish and Wildlife Service to serve as a Conservation Goals Coordinator, a position that combined long-range planning and landscape modeling for the National Wildlife Refuge System. He also did time as an economic analyst at two Washington, DC, consulting firms. His educational background includes a master's degree in environmental science and engineering from Virginia Tech and an undergraduate degree in economics and environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jason and Josh sit down with world renowned expert on energy and the environment, Richard Heinberg to discuss the future of energy, techno-utopianism, and an optimistic vision for the future. Richard William Heinberg @richardheinberg is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 13 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. Richardheinberg.com Jason Snyder @cognazor Metamodern localist | homesteading, permaculture, bioregional regeneration | meditation, self inquiry, embodied cognition | PhD from Michigan State University, faculty Appalachian State University. Josh Kearns @hillbillynarnia is a born-n-bred Appalachian and a native of West-By-God-Virginia and damn proud of it. He studied chemistry and environmental engineering at Clemson (BS), biogeochemistry at Berkeley (MS), and environmental engineering at CU-Boulder (PhD). He's spent years bumming around rural and remote communities in Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, India, Nepal, Ladakh, Sri Lanka, and Mexico, and generally tried to make himself useful while doing so. He's the Director of Science for Aqueous Solutions, and the Chief Technical Advisor for Caminos de Agua, grassroots water and health development organizations in Thailand and Mexico, respectively. He taught environmental engineering courses at NC State University for a couple of years before returning to his roots as a freelance renegade scientist and exponent of ecological transition engineering. He lives with his wife Rachael and all their critters on a small mountaintop homestead in southern Appalachia.

As a follow-up to Episode 61 of the Crazy Town podcast, Noam Chomsky, the well-known linguist, author, and social critic, joins Asher Miller in Crazy Town to discuss the failures and dominance of neoliberalism -- which Chomsky describes as "class war" -- since delivery of the Powell Memo 50 years ago. Chomsky responds to George Monbiot's critique of the political center and left for not, in Monbiot's view, developing viable alternatives to neoliberalism. Disagreeing with Monbiot's (and admittedly Post Carbon Institute's own) views about the limits of Keynesian "green growth" economic policies, Chomsky discusses proposals developed by places like the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) that he believes would meet the needs of the poor and working classes while tackling the climate crisis. Noam's emphasis on community power, going back to his childhood experiences, strongly resonates with "Do the Opposite" themes explored in Season 4 of Crazy Town.Support the show

David Blittersdorf is the President and CEO of AllEarth Renewables, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Post Carbon Institute as well as Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He and Eric talk about the percentage of fossil energy we can reasonably expect to replace with renewable energy, the limitations of renewable energy, energy return on energy invested, and what drew David to the renewable energy industry, among other things.Outline00:00 - 03:14 — Episode introduction03:14 - 06:48 — What percentage of fossil energy we can replace with renewables06:48 - 17:05 — Mineral limitations in large scale conversion to renewables17:05 - 20:46 — The resource peaking process, and peaking of global oil supply20:46 - 33:41 — Energy return on energy invested, and energy blindness33:41 - 42:31 — What attracted David to the renewable energy industry42:31 - 48:04 — Resistance to wind and solar generation capacity48:04 - 52:07 — Navigating today's changing world52:07 - 54:22 — Episode wrap-upLinks and ResourcesListen on YouTubeAllEarth RenewablesQuillwood AcademyReality Blind Reading GroupPeak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines, by Richard HeinbergThe Energy Return on Invested of Biodiesel in Vermont, by Eric GarzaJimmy Carter's 1977 energy policy speech (YouTube)Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates (K.D. Burke et al, in Proceedings for the National Academies of Sciences)Support the show

Old habits die hard, right? I can't seem to drop an episode on time these days! What is this, the third show that I've hosted in a row to drop a day or more late? Ridiculous. BUT I have an excuse. Okay, I've had an excuse every time but THIS time it's real-er. Firstly, as our announcer Bill Heywatt will tell you, I AM Marc Hershon, the OG host for Succotash, The Comedy Soundcast Soundcast, and you've gotten hold of Episode 311. My excuse? I've been moving. Not just down the street, or down the block, or across town. My lovely wife, Debra, and I have uprooted from Sausalito, California – right across the bay from San Francisco, if you're unfamiliar – and headed for the hills. The Sierra foothills, that is, in Grass Valley, CA. That's a good 3-hour drive from the Bay Area, or SIX hours if you're making the trip in an electric car with a 100-mile range. Anyway, just moved in last Friday so “Studio N”, my Nerd Nook, had to be disassembled, boxed up, and re-assembled in our new place. It's been a journey, friend. Average daily temperature is in the upper 90s to low 100s. And just a couple days ago, a wildfire broke out about 14 miles away with smoke I could clearly see through the Studio N window billowing up. So enough of my excuses. You downloaded or are streaming this installment of Succotash to hear some snippet of comedy soundcasts, didn't you? Well, friend, I'll let you know what I have in store for you right after I ask whether you heard my inestimable colleague Tyson Saner, who always drops HIS show on time, in this feed last week with Epi310, entitled “Question, Listen, Kill”. It was a good time, featuring three shows I'd heard ABOUT but had never actually heard before: What'd You Do This Weekend?, I Hear Voices, and Kill Me Now with Judy Gold. If you didn't catch it then you can still catch it now through a variety of authorized listening posts, including Apple and Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Amazon Music, Audible, iHeart Radio, YouTube, PodBay, Podchaser, and always – along with more than 11 years of archived episodes – on our homesite, SuccotashShow.com. That gets you up to speed and gets us to this episodes fascinating lineup of featured snippets. I've harvested “sound seedlings” from 5-4, Crazy Town, Prop Culture, and Romance Road Test. In addition, we've got a new fake sponsor this week: Sarsaparilla. Let's get started, shall we? CLIPS 5-4This episode's first entry is from 5-4. If you're looking for it, that's the numeral five, then a hyphen (or dash, if you're from the Old Country), followed by the numeral four. It's a soundcast, as they say right upfront, about how much the Supreme Court sucks. A sentiment I happen to agree with more and more with each judgement they render. Or mangle, as the case usually is. The hosts, Peter, Michael, and Rhiannon look at the reasoning behind SCOTUS' issues, using their dark humor to reveal the high court's biases, as the About section of their homesite tells us. Spoiler Alert: The clip I've selected doesn't really have a whiff of their trademarked humor in it as if comes from their recent Emergency Episode: Roe Is Overturned. I didn't want to play anything funny because I don't think the matter is funny and neither do they. Romance Road Test It's always fun and interesting when one soundcast begats another. And now the long-running By The Book soundcast, hosted by Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg, have had a baby soundcast, entitled Romance Road Test! Kristen and Jolenta are also co-authors of the book How to Be Fine: What We Learned from Living by the Rules of 50 Self-Help Books. After years of experimenting on themselves with every self-help technique under the sun, they're leveling up and putting their own long-term romantic relationships on the line. Over 16 episodes, Kristen and Jolenta and their partners will test out popular recommendations for reigniting romantic connections. Everything from grooming each other—to sex every day for a week. Audiences will listen in and learn about what actually brings them closer…and what makes them want to run screaming away from each other. In this clip from their debut episode, they set up the idea of re-creating your very first date with your partner…if you can remember back that far. (You can get the first episode of Romance Road Test in their By The Book soundcast feed BUT the remainder of the episodes are exclusively available on Audible.com or through the Audible app.) Crazy TownFor our next clip this episode, it's off to Crazy Town, a soundcast hosted by Asher Miller, Rob Dietz, and Jason Bradford. This motley trio from the Post Carbon Institute uses their show to try to keep it together while diving in to maddening issues like climate change, runaway capitalism, and widespread social delusionism. I clipped their episode from early June entitled, “Throwing Superman Through a Cigarette Truck: The Insidious Manipulation of Advertising”. Our snippet has the hosts getting into the annoying practice in movies known as “product placement.” Prop CultureI am still trying to wrap my head around the concept for our lat featured show, entitled Prop Culture, which is another brand new soundcast. First of all, it's not to be confused with a Disney+ show of the same name, hosted by Dan Lanigan, who is a movie prop collector. The Prop Culture we're clipping is hosted by 3 NFTs characters Loot Bag #2020, Quirkies #307, and Quirkies #1988. It seems to only be available on iHeart Radio, or was – the more I look for it, the more it seems to be leaking out into other distribution channels. I'm not sure who's doing the three voices. I do find it interesting that the show description on iHeart Radio ends with: “Prop Culture. We bet you'll hate it.” See what you think with this snippet from their first episode, “The Pickleball Murders”. That's what we got for you and apologies to anyone who used out @SuccotashShow handle in their socials this past week to get into the TweetSack. This episode is so late I'm dispensing with the Sack for this week. But I'll save up those handles until I'm back for Epi313. Tyson will be back for Epi312 next week in this very same feed, so tune in for his soundcast shenanigans and check out his gaming videos at Tyson Saner: Gamer on YouTube, too! Until next time, if you should happen to find yourself careening wildly down a steep hill on a bike with no brakes, and a pedestrian you narrowly missed as you zipped through an intersection screams out, “Have you heard anything good lately?!”, won't you please pass the Succotash? — Marc Hershon

On this episode, Jason Bradford, who is an author, activist, farmer, and teacher, talks about the energy intensity of our modern industrial agriculture system.  How do we feed billions of people with depleting energy systems? How do we also protect existing biodiversity and ecosystem health? We also discuss what makes for healthy soil, why we're losing it, and how small farms can help get it back - while creating higher yields of healthier foods for fewer inputs.  About Jason Bradford: Jason Bradford has been affiliated with Post Carbon Institute since 2004, first as a Fellow and then as Board President. He grew up in the Bay Area of California and graduated from U.C. Davis with a B.S. in biology before earning his doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also taught ecology for a few years. After graduate school he worked for the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, was a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Davis, and during that period co-founded the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group (ABERG). He decided to shift from academia to learn more about and practice sustainable agriculture, and in the process, completed six months of training with Ecology Action (aka GrowBiointensive) in Willits, California, and then founded Brookside School Farm.

Nate explains how our culture is "energy blind" and the implications. The YouTube video, featuring charts and graphs, of this podcast is available now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVjhb8Nu1Sk 00:35 - Jason's info + book, Post Carbon Institute, Farmland LP, CSAs 02:57 - What is a CSA 04:39 - Biodiversity and geography of the Amazon rainforest and the Andes 05:14 - How will the Amazon and Andes change with climate change 06:17 - The Future is Rural 06:56 - Net energy positive 07:18 - Optimal foraging theory 08:46 - Chewing the cud and ruminant digestion 09:32 - Fiber, cellulose and human digestion 10:16 - NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium/Potash) 11:01 - Haber Bosch process 14:30 - The Law of Return 15:11 - What is soil? Is it different from dirt? 16:30 - Hydroponics 17:10 - What makes healthy soil? (structure, microbiome, nutrients) 17:24 - Malabon soil 19:49 - How many farms are managing for healthy soils 20:10 - At the current rate our topsoil will be gone in 60 years 20:54 - What percentage of the US labor force are farmers? (~1%) 21:22 - How has the labor force shifted from pre-industrial times? (70-90%) 22:35 - Modern agriculture is an energy sink 23:17 - Past food systems were energy positive (10:1-5:1) 23:35 - The Oil Drum essay (EROI on Nate's potatoes) 25:04 - It takes 10-14 calories to produce, process, and transport every 1 calorie of food we eat 26:50 - Over the last hundred years we have had more energy available every year 27:03 - Trophic pyramids 27:51 - Entropy 31:01 - Supply chain disruptions 31:55 - Fossil fuel depletion 33:48 - Conventional crops no longer have the genes to be grown in organic agriculture 37:16 - Heavy mechanization has led to heavy specialization and regionalization 39:27 - Smaller farms have higher energy returns and higher yields 44:27 - ½ a hectare is needed to feed one person (variation from 2/10th to a whole hectare) 47:46 - Dennis Meadows TGS Episode 51:33 - Potato Famine in Ireland 53:03 - Problems with modern industrial animal agriculture (CAFOs) 54:31 - Diets were tailored to fit the land they're based in 56:13 - In Minnesota there are more pigs than people 56:20 - Population numbers of our livestock 1:00:05 - Energy blindness 1:00:23 - Norman Borlaug and Paul Ehrlich 1:01:09 - Permaculture 1:07:34 - The world's amazing and diverse life 1:09:03 - Chuck Watson TGS Episode 1 and 2 on Nuclear Risk 1:10:20 - Nature is remarkably resilient 1:10:37 - Building back healthy soil

One of the greatest challenges we face when tackling the polycrisis is understanding and applying a diversity of approaches. This means recognising the solutions are as complex as the crisis itself. There is no singular, simple answer. Accepting the ecosystem of solutions we need to implement also comes with accepting both unknown variables and the fact that different people are going to attempt different things—but each attempt is valid, and potentially plays a significant role in the bigger picture. A diversity of approaches demands a diversity of understanding. It also demands accepting we’re not always going to agree with how some choose to fight the battle.Asher Miller, CEO of Post Carbon Institute, joins me to discuss this very problem on today’s episode. He explains the role the Institute has played in pointing out the severity of the crisis, the dangers of oversimplifying or universalising responses, and how to apply systems thinking to creating complex solutions—and just how tough that can be.Listen on Apple or SpotifyWatch on YoutubeRead the interview transcriptBonus video out on Monday© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

تاریخ نفت؛ از زمان پیدایش تا تاسیس اوپک  گردآوری و روایت: ارشیا عطاری تدوین: طنین خاکسا  موسیقی تیترا‌ژ: مودی موسوی (اینستاگرام | توییتر) نظرسنجی از مخاطبان چیزکست اینستاگرام چیزکست | توییتر چیزکست | تلگرام چیزکست  وبسایت چیزکست حمایت مالی از چیزکست ارتباط مستقیم: chizcast@outlook.com منابع این قسمت: Yergin, D. (2009). The prize: The epic quest for oil, money & power. Free Press.  Tarbell, I. M., & Chalmers, D. M. (1993). The history of the Standard Oil Company. Ameron House. Auzanneau, M., Reynolds, J. F., & Heinberg, R. (2018). Oil, power, and war: A dark history. Post Carbon Institute. در این قسمت می‌شنوید پیدایش نفت در اواخر قرن ۱۹ اختراع چراغ نفتی و مهم شدن نفت  ظهور راکفلر و قدرت افسانه‌ای استاندارد اویل  دسیسه‌‌های خاندان راکفلر و روتشیلد برای کنترل نفت جهان پیدایش نفت در خاورمیانه و تصرف منابع نفتی توسط بریتانیا تاسیس اوپک  

We’re living in the anthropocene — a geological period defined by the impact of human activity on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. Essentially, it’s our behaviour that’s at the root of the problem. But so often this isn’t addressed as the root. Our economic system claims tech will save us from ourselves—but imagine we do find a silver bullet, do we have the social cohesion in place to implement that solution, or any? That’s what Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at Post Carbon Institute, joins me to discuss. Richard’s devoted his life to understanding the crisis and its solutions, authoring 14 books and hundreds of articles on the topic. Richard’s a big picture thinker, and he believes it is our behaviour and our current political division which is the real threat to climate progress.We discuss energy rationing, political division, the effect of increasing economic inequality, and the knowledge gap between the public and leaders.Listen on Apple or SpotifyWatch on Youtube Read the interview transcriptBonus video out on Friday© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

This week we got to speak with Richard Heinberg about his new book "Power".  Richard Heinberg is Senior Fellow of Post Carbon Institute and author of 14 books on energy and the environment, including Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival, The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality, and, with David Fridley, Our Renewable Future. He's won an award for excellence in energy education and has been published in Nature, Wall Street Journal, and Literary Review. Heinberg's work is cited as one of the inspirations for the international Transition Towns movement, which seeks to build community resilience ahead of climate change. He and his wife, Janet Barocco, live in an energy-efficient Permaculture home in Santa Rosa, California.You can find the book "Power" here.A big thanks to our sponsor, ReadyWise. ReadyWise is an emergency food storage supplier with a great variety of meals (including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options!) that last up to 25 years. Click here for a 10% discount using the code KK10 (plus you get an additional 10% discount with your first purchase). Available in the US only. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/collapsepod)

The amount of energy we have available to do valuable work is a parameter that continually shapes and reshapes how our societies are organised economically, politically, socially, and ethically. Therefore understanding our energy systems and their capabilities and limitations is essential for understanding why our society is structured the way it is.In this episode, I chat with Richard Heinberg about the different kinds of energy and how they shape our society, prospects for our energy futures, and the great transition ahead. Richard is a well-known commentator on energy, culture, the economy, and the environment. He is the author of 14 books and is a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, where he writes regularly.Find out more about Richards work:Link to Richard's book about the energy transition.Link to the Post Carbon Institute, where you can find other publications.

Heinberg and Norberg-Hodge are experts on climate change, localization, and sustainability. Their past lectures have been almost prophetic in their accuracy, and their ideas are more relevant now than ever.Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute, is regarded as one of the world's foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels.An author, educator, editor, and lecturer, he has spoken widely on energy and climate issues to audiences in 14 countries, addressing policy makers at many levels, from local city officials to members of the European Parliament. He has been quoted and interviewed countless times for print, television, and radio and has appeared in many film and television documentaries. Heinberg's Museletter has provided a monthly exploration of current events and the world of  ideas. Its essays present an inter-disciplinary study of history and culture.Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures/International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) and The International Alliance for Localization (IAL). Based in the US and UK, with subsidiaries in Germany and Australia, Local Futures examines the root causes of our current social and environmental crises while promoting more sustainable and equitable patterns of living in both North and South. Its mission is to protect and renew well-being by promoting a systemic shift away from economic globalization toward localization.The Earth Journal counted Norberg-Hodge among the world's ten most interesting environmentalists, and in Carl McDaniel's book Wisdom for a Liveable Planet she was profiled as one of eight visionaries changing the world. The Post Growth Institute counted her on the (En)Rich List of 100 people “whose collective contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures.”

Mary Berry is the Executive Director of The Berry Center and a leader in the movement for sustainable agriculture. A well-known advocate for the preservation of rural culture and agriculture, she is currently working to reconnect cities with landscapes around them. Founded in 2011, The Berry Center advocates for small farmers, land conservation, and healthy regional economies by focusing on land use, farm policy, farmer education, urban education about farming, and local food infrastructure. Its goal is to establish within the Commonwealth of Kentucky a national model of urban-rural connectedness.Berry is attempting to restore a culture that has been lost in rural America. She continues the advocacy of her grandfather, father, and uncle for land-conserving communities. When President Obama appointed her to Kentucky's Farm Service Agency State Board, she took on a public role in an effort to change policy.For 32 years she farmed for a living— first as a dairy farmer, then raising tobacco, and later raising organic vegetables as well as pastured poultry and beef. From 2002 until 2011 she catered events at her winery.She serves on the Board of United Citizens Bank in New Castle, Kentucky, and on the Board of the Schumacher Center for a New Economics in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She writes for the periodical Edible Louisville and speaks widely as a proponent of small farmers.Bill McKibben is an environmentalist and author who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. Awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the Alternative Nobel, in 2014, he is the founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate-change movement, and is a fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute.As a student at Harvard he was editor and president of the Harvard Crimson newspaper. Immediately after graduation he joined The New Yorker magazine as a staff writer and wrote much of the “Talk of the Town” column from 1982 to 1987.McKibben's first book, The End of Nature, appeared in 1989 after being serialized in The New Yorker. It is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and has been printed in more than 20 languages; he has gone on to write a dozen more books, among them Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007), which addresses what the author sees as shortcomings of the growth economy and envisions as a transition to more local-scale enterprise. McKibben won the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000.The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Peace Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize. In 2009 Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world's 100 most important global thinkers, and Microsoft Network named him one of the dozen most influential men. The Boston Globe said he was “probably America's most important environmentalist.”
 McKibben writes frequently in a wide variety of publications including the New York Review of Books, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone. He lives with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern,  and his daughter in the mountains above Lake Champlain where he spends as much time as possible outdoors.In 2014, biologists honored him by naming a new species of woodland gnat— Megophthalmidia mckibbeni— in his honor.

Our guest today is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow-in-Residence at the Post Carbon Institute. We will discuss what our future climate might mean for us and how we can prepare for the coming changes. Richard is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 13 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. Richard will draw on the extensive knowledge of the Institute and from his outstanding online video series, Think Resilience.

Michael H. Shuman is the Director of Community Portals for Mission Markets and a Fellow at Cutting Edge Capital and Post-Carbon Institute.  He is a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). He is also an adjunct instructor in community economic development for Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and is one of the architects of the crowdfunding reforms that became the “JOBS Act,” signed into law by President Obama in April 2012.An economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur, Shuman is one of the nation's leading experts on community economics and the advantages of small-scale businesses in an era of globalization. A prolific speaker, Shuman has given talks mostly to local governments and universities, for 30 years—in 47 states and eight countries.  He has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, such as the Lehrer News Hour and NPR's “Talk of the Nation,” and NPR's “All Things Considered.”He delivered this speech at the 27th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in October 2007.If you would like a physical copy of this lecture or others like it, visit centerforneweconomics.org/order-pamphlets to purchase pamphlets of published works and transcripts.The Schumacher Center's applied work seeks to implement the principles described by these speakers within the context of the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. Our work, both educational and applied, is supported by listeners like you. You can strengthen our mission by making a donation at centerforneweconomics.org/donate, or call us at (413) 528-1737 to make an appointment to visit our research library and office at 140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Our guest today is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow-in-Residence at the Post Carbon Institute. We will discuss what our future climate might mean for us and how we can prepare for the coming changes. Richard is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 13 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. Richard will draw on the extensive knowledge of the Institute and from his outstanding online video series, Think Resilience.

Dr. Jason Bradford, a farmer, biologist and board president of Post Carbon Institute, released a report earlier this spring called, The Future Is Rural: Food System Adaptations to the Great Simplification. In the report Dr. Bradford acknowledges that our modern food system is entirely unsustainable. But, he then takes the argument one step further and considers key, commonly overlooked factors that would logistically prevent simply replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy in order to maintain our food system as it is today. Tune in as we talk with Dr. Bradford about his report and an upcoming event designed to identify and discuss key leverage points where individuals and communities can most effectively shift our food system towards long-term sustainability through greater energy efficiency and localization.

Our guest today is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow-in-Residence at the Post Carbon Institute. We will discuss what our future climate might mean for us and how we can prepare for the coming changes. Richard is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 13 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. Richard will draw on the extensive knowledge of the Institute and from his outstanding online video series, Think Resilience.

Our guest today is Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow-in-Residence at the Post Carbon Institute. We will discuss what our future climate might mean for us and how we can prepare for the coming changes. Richard is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 13 books, and presently serves as the senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute. Richard will draw on the extensive knowledge of the Institute and from his outstanding online video series, Think Resilience.

Virtually every American city and town has an insurmountable backlog of infrastructure maintenance and replacement. In addition, cities from coast to coast are grappling with the worsening effects of climate change, such as stronger storms and greater temperature and precipitation extremes. After the unexpected devastation of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, the popular notion took hold that cities needed to build their resilience—specifically, to be able to “bounce back” from the future impacts of worsening climate change. Communities are the ideal level of focus for building resilience because the particular powers held at the state and local government levels in the United States make this kind of work possible and because regular people can most effectively be involved at this level. Tune in as we speak with Daniel Lerch of the Post Carbon Institute about their new publication, The Community Resilience Reader.

Sometimes the most heated debates are among people who almost agree. That seems to be the case with the recent Jacobson-Clack controversy, in which two groups of well-intentioned, renewable energy advocates bitterly spar over differing paths to a 100% renewable energy future. But as PCI Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg points out in his latest essay, neither side is considering one of the most crucial aspects to successfully reaching that future. Tune in to hear Richard's take on the controversy and decide for yourself who offers the clearest path forward.

Post Carbon Institute recently released a report authored by earth scientist J. David Hughes raising critical doubts about the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) projections for domestic oil and shale gas production. The report, “Shale Reality Check: Drilling Into the U.S. Government's Rosy Projections for Shale Gas & Tight Oil Production Through 2050,” takes aim at the veracity of forecasts found in the Annual Energy Outlook 2017 (AEO2017), in advance of the planned release of the EIA's AEO2018. Tune in as we speak with the author of this report, J. David Hughes.

Sometimes the most heated debates are among people who almost agree. That seems to be the case with the recent Jacobson-Clack controversy, in which two groups of well-intentioned, renewable energy advocates bitterly spar over differing paths to a 100% renewable energy future. But as PCI Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg points out in his latest essay, neither side is considering one of the most crucial aspects to successfully reaching that future. Tune in to hear Richard's take on the controversy and decide for yourself who offers the clearest path forward.

Sometimes the most heated debates are among people who almost agree. That seems to be the case with the recent Jacobson-Clack controversy, in which two groups of well-intentioned, renewable energy advocates bitterly spar over differing paths to a 100% renewable energy future. But as PCI Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg points out in his latest essay, neither side is considering one of the most crucial aspects to successfully reaching that future. Tune in to hear Richard's take on the controversy and decide for yourself who offers the clearest path forward.