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Nate Hagens' synthesis of 15 years of collaboration with scientists and systems thinkiers.
The almost 3-hour presentation is a structured walk through 33 myths that run our civilization:
[2:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=14)––Myth #33: The Experts Have ALL the Answers
[4:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=256s) — Myth #32: Humans Are Separate From Nature
[6:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=405s) — Myth #31: Humans Are Mostly Selfish
[12:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=737s) — Myth #30: More Is Better
[18:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=1092s) — Myth #29: “Someday I’ll Have enough”
[21:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=1278s) — Myth #28: We Care About the Future
[23:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=1418s) — Myth #27: Everyone Has Their Own Truth
[26:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=1597s) — Myth #26: Truth Matters
[29:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=1771s) — Myth #25: Energy Is Merely a Commodity
[34:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=2068s) — Myth #24: The American Dream is Based on Hard Work and Cleverness
[36:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=2165s) — Myth #23: Oil: The USA Will Be the Next Saudi Arabia
[41:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=2506s) — Myth #22: We Can Always Get More Resources if We Have More Money
[44:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=2682s) — Myth #21: Renewables Can Power THIS Civilization
[50:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=3055s) — Myth #20: In the future we wont need oil due to Peak Demand!!
[55:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=3301s) — Myth #19: We Can Achieve Net Zero!! (by 2050 or any date)
[59:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=3594s) — Myth #18: As Earth runs out of resources, We’ll Colonize Outer Space!!
[1:02:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=3746s) — Myth #17: Growth Is Forever
- At current projected growth rates (ie 3% per year), the global economy will be 4 times larger in 2070.
- We will need 3 times today's global energy in 50 years.
- Growth has been slow or absent for 99% of our history.
[1:05:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=3904s) — Myth #16: GDP Is the Right Goal for Society
[1:10:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=4256s) — Myth #15: Overpopulation Is the Main Driver
- We have 2 population problems: 1) People; 2) Things.
- We are adding 8 million 8 pound babies each year.
- But we are also adding 100 million 3000 pound carbon-emiting and carbonr-requiring vehicles each year.
- We should target the 2nd population problem, not the 1st.
[1:15:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=4521s) — Myth #14: Technology Will Solve It
[1:21:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=4876s) — Myth #13: The Environment Is Part of the Economy
[1:24:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=5044s) — Myth #12: The Natural World Is Ours
[1:27:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=5223s) — Myth #11: Climate Change Is the Core Problem
[1:32:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=5564s) — Myth #10: Billionaires and Politicians Are in Charge
[1:38:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=5936s) — Myth #9: Financial Markets Give Us the Right Signals for the Future
[1:43:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=6202s) — Myth #8: Stimulus Is Permanent
[1:48:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=6517s) — Myth #7: We Need to Crash the System to Get a Fresh Start
[1:52:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=6763s) — Myth #6: The Use of Nuclear Weapons Is Unthinkable
[1:57:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=7023s) — Myth #5: Fossil Fuel Companies Are at Fault
[2:03:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=7381s) — Myth #4: Capitalism Is to Blame
[2:07:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=7674s) — Myth #3: Humans Are Bad
[2:11:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=7897s) — Myth #2: We Face a Shortage of Energy
[2:14:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYeZwUVx5MY&t=8057s) — Myth #1: We Are Doomed
Energy and Economy:
- We have a 15 terawatt economy run 80% on fossil fuels.
- 1 barrel of oil does the work of a single human working constantly for 5 years
- the world uses 100 billion barrels of oil per year, which is equivalent to 500 billion humans worth of labour
- the world uses 5 billion real workers, and 500 billion fossil workers
- Our economy is 1000 times larger than it was 500 years ago
- We are extracing fossil fuels from the earth 10 million times faster than the planet sequestered it
- Technology is acting as a large straw, and allowing us to extract faster
- Our economy is currently geared towards using transportable cheap, liquid, always available energy (fossil fuels), and not built for intermittent, variable, low power density, spatially dispersed energy (renewables)
- Once people make $60,000 - $70,000 / year, people don't gain much from greater energy use.
- Banks loan money into existence, with no tether to underlying resources.
- Most technology serves to increase our baseline energy needs for the following year
- There is a 1:1 link between material footprint and GDP
- Every 25 years, there will be a doubling of material throughput, based on 3% GDP growth
- We are drawing down the principal, but treating it as interest
Brain and Behavior:
- We are trying to mimic the same emotional states as our ancestor 200,000 years ago
- We get the same dopamine hit from playing Candy Crush as our ancestors got from killing antelope