Frankly

Snow, The Singularity, and Rocks in the River | Frankly 88

I love reading but I also listen to podcasts and watch videos. Nate Hagens is one of my favorites and he currently has an impressive 76.2K subscribers on YouTube. Being a rock in the river, while largely aspirational, resonates with me.

As the world continued its increasingly chaotic series of events this week - with disruptive events in everything from politics to artificial intelligence, a spring blizzard swept through the upper Midwest of the United States, reminding those who live here that mother nature continues to show up in all her unpredictability and beauty.

In this Frankly, Nate discusses the human predicament in the context of ecological overshoot, energy dynamics, and the impact of a potential ‘singularity’ in artificial intelligence. He delves into the essence of humanity, advocating for a deeper understanding of our needs beyond material goods. Nate emphasizes the need for a shift in perspective regarding energy use and the importance of community and human connection in navigating future challenges.

What is the ‘singularity’ in the context of AI, and how can understanding that shape our expectations for the future? Is it possible that the hope for an energy transition lies, not in humanity’s capacity for technological innovation, but in our rapid ability to culturally evolve? And towards that goal, how might individuals act as ‘rocks in the river’ in our small corners of the world, grounding those around us through the tumultuous events of the broader world?

Here are some quotes from Frankly 88.

I feel less about explaining and describing, and more about feeling.

I increasingly see that the energy transition is not about what kind of energy, or what kind of battery, or what kind of supply chains or systems. It's about how we use energy. How we relate to each other. How we relate to the natural world.

One of the core tenets of this podcast is that we are at the 11th hour.

I think it's too late now to tweak and support the current system, [its] days are numbered. I think it's obvious to people paying attention and the calling now is to create rocks in the river. In your communities.

…today I just wanted to express what's in my heart. and how I'm feeling and, the poem I'd like to read is called The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?