The average American in the United States consumes around 2,000 calories a day but our axosomatic or how much energy we use outside of our bodies is around 200,000 kilocalories a day. There's almost 100 to 1 axosomatic magic wand that we invisibly see as part of this complex society. But what you're implying is that because most of that is this subsidy we get from mining fossil hydrocarbons and only paying for the cost of extraction, not the cost of creation nor pollution, that in the past there would have been a disincentive to complexify too much.
On this episode we meet with archaeologist, historian, and Professor at Utah State University, Joe Tainter.
What are the key differences between complicated and complex? How can we better understand energy and society through these key distinctions? Tainter explains our current predicament based on decades of research and offers pathways for our collective future.
About Joe Tainter
Joe Tainter has been a professor at Utah State University in the Environment and Society Department since 2007, serving as Department Head from 2007 to 2009. His study of why societies collapse led to research on sustainability, with emphasis on energy and innovation. He has also conducted research on land-use conflict and human responses to climate change. He has written several books, including The Collapse of Complex Societies and Drilling Down: The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma.
For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/27-joe-tainter