Science
What if economic growth is just borrowed energy?
That's roughly 23,000 hours of effort, replaced by something that costs about $80. Every modern convenience, from fresh strawberries in January to same-day delivery, runs on this absurd energy subsidy from ancient sunlight trapped underground.
We don't have an economy with an energy sector. We have an energy system with an economy attached.— Nate Hagens
The full breakdown — the context, the shift, and a question to sit with — opens in the Insights app.
The thinker
Energy, ecology & economics thinker
Nate Hagens is a former Wall Street hedge fund manager turned systems thinker who studies the relationship between energy, ecology, and the global economy. He hosts The Great Simplification podcast.
Based on Nate Hagens — The Great Simplification (animated series), summarised and reframed by Insights.
Part of these journeys
Read the full idea in InsightsFree on iPhone · Download Insights