Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Join Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith and Regina Valdez as they discuss “Economics for the future - Beyond the superorganism,” a paper written by Nate Hagens which provides a vital and interesting way of looking at humanity, society, and our economic system.
This video was recorded on March 8th, 2023, and published on March 18th, 2023, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.
Some of the topics discussed:
- How the paper makes clear that energy, the quality and the ease at which we can extract it, is the key behind our entire civilization.
- The need to recognize that we cannot continue with the exponential growth of the economy and how we are not going to voluntarily step away from this growth. This will lead us to an inevitable crash.
- How, in a resource rich environment, we coordinate in groups, corporations and nations, to maximize financial surplus, tethered to energy, tethered to carbon. At global scales, the emergent result of this combination is a mindless, energy hungry, CO2 emitting Superorganism.
- Lisi Krall also spoke about how agriculture changed humanity forever taking place around 10,000 years ago, and how prior to this transformation, we lived as hunter-gatherers. According to the paper, agriculture actually developed in seven separate locations simultaneously around the world.
- How with today’s economy we act upon the Earth rather than interact with it. How this has changed how we see the Earth making it into a commodification machine continually churning out what we need to the demise of the planet and us.
- How, since the Scientific Revolution, we have progressively separated ourselves more and more from nature very much with a theme of conquest of nature.
- How according to the Carnegie Peace Institute, the global debt now is almost 300 trillion dollars having grown in the past year or two over 300 percent funding a 30 percent rise in global GDP.
- How we still have this basic stone age or lizard-type part of the brain, which actually can dominate the rational part of the brain in times when we're fearful.
- and much more. . .
Links:
- Economics for the future – Beyond the Superorganism (by N.J.Hagens)
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919310067
- Nate Hagens
natehagens.com
- Ecological Economics
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_economics
- International Society for Ecological Economics
isecoeco.org
- Lisi Krall - Great Transition Initiative
greattransition.org/contributor/lisi-krall
- The Scientific Revolution
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Revolution
- How Does Excessive Debt Hurt an Economy?
carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/86397
- Manufacturing Consent
amazon.ca/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media/dp/0375714499/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UY4YWYLULIGO&keywords=manufacturing+consent&qid=1678815938&sprefix=manufacturing+consent%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1
- Engineering of Consent
amazon.ca/Engineering-Consent-Sherwood-Benjamin-Bernays/dp/B0007FA4LS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=36XE7Q24NBKGL&keywords=Engineering+Consent&qid=1678816103&sprefix=engineering+consent%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-3
- Climate Endgame (CEF Video)
youtu.be/1x6Xx4zZJyE
- Energy Return On Energy Invested (wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_return_on_investment
- Tight Oil
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tight_oil
Panelists:
Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute
Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University
Regina Valdez - Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate
Video Production:
Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader
Heidi Brault - Video production and website assistant, Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP28 team lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum; BA (Psychology); Climate Reality Leader
Our Website:
climateemergencyforum.org
Attributions:
Background Music:
- Title: Through the City II
- Author: Crowander
- Source: Free Music Archive
- License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Image and Video: Image and Video: climateemergencyforum.org/assets/attributions/2023/2023-03-18-superorganism-or-super-predator.html
Join Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith and Regina Valdez as they discuss “Economics for the future - Beyond the superorganism,” a paper written by Nate Hagens which provides a vital and interesting way of looking at humanity, society, and our economic system.
This video was recorded on March 8th, 2023, and published on March 18th, 2023, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.
Some of the topics discussed:
- How the paper makes clear that energy, the quality and the ease at which we can extract it, is the key behind our entire civilization.
- The need to recognize that we cannot continue with the exponential growth of the economy and how we are not going to voluntarily step away from this growth. This will lead us to an inevitable crash.
- How, in a resource rich environment, we coordinate in groups, corporations and nations, to maximize financial surplus, tethered to energy, tethered to carbon. At global scales, the emergent result of this combination is a mindless, energy hungry, CO2 emitting Superorganism.
- Lisi Krall also spoke about how agriculture changed humanity forever taking place around 10,000 years ago, and how prior to this transformation, we lived as hunter-gatherers. According to the paper, agriculture actually developed in seven separate locations simultaneously around the world.
- How with today’s economy we act upon the Earth rather than interact with it. How this has changed how we see the Earth making it into a commodification machine continually churning out what we need to the demise of the planet and us.
- How, since the Scientific Revolution, we have progressively separated ourselves more and more from nature very much with a theme of conquest of nature.
- How according to the Carnegie Peace Institute, the global debt now is almost 300 trillion dollars having grown in the past year or two over 300 percent funding a 30 percent rise in global GDP.
- How we still have this basic stone age or lizard-type part of the brain, which actually can dominate the rational part of the brain in times when we're fearful.
- and much more. . .
Links:
- Economics for the future – Beyond the Superorganism (by N.J.Hagens)
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919310067
- Nate Hagens
natehagens.com
- Ecological Economics
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_economics
- International Society for Ecological Economics
isecoeco.org
- Lisi Krall - Great Transition Initiative
greattransition.org/contributor/lisi-krall
- The Scientific Revolution
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_Revolution
- How Does Excessive Debt Hurt an Economy?
carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/86397
- Manufacturing Consent
amazon.ca/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media/dp/0375714499/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UY4YWYLULIGO&keywords=manufacturing+consent&qid=1678815938&sprefix=manufacturing+consent%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1
- Engineering of Consent
amazon.ca/Engineering-Consent-Sherwood-Benjamin-Bernays/dp/B0007FA4LS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=36XE7Q24NBKGL&keywords=Engineering+Consent&qid=1678816103&sprefix=engineering+consent%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-3
- Climate Endgame (CEF Video)
youtu.be/1x6Xx4zZJyE
- Energy Return On Energy Invested (wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_return_on_investment
- Tight Oil
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tight_oil
Panelists:
Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute
Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University
Regina Valdez - Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate
Video Production:
Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader
Heidi Brault - Video production and website assistant, Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP28 team lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum; BA (Psychology); Climate Reality Leader
Our Website:
climateemergencyforum.org
Attributions:
Background Music:
- Title: Through the City II
- Author: Crowander
- Source: Free Music Archive
- License: CC BY-NC 4.0
Image and Video: Image and Video: climateemergencyforum.org/assets/attributions/2023/2023-03-18-superorganism-or-super-predator.html
