The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

Goldilocks Technology - A Preliminary Checklist | Frankly 69

Aug 9, 2024

Explore the concept of 'Goldilocks technology,' which strikes a balance between efficiency and ecological sustainability. Discover a checklist designed for innovators that prioritizes local supply chains and energy reduction. Dive into the challenges posed by climate extremes and supply chain disruptions, emphasizing the need for sustainable solutions. Learn how biological instincts and culture influence economic behavior and how education can foster greener practices.

19:56

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Quick takeaways

Goldilocks technology signifies a balanced approach to innovation, prioritizing ecological stability and resource constraints over traditional growth models.

Reevaluating success metrics for technology is essential, emphasizing ecological impacts and social responsibility over mere profit margins.

Deep dives

The Imperative of Goldilocks Technology

The concept of Goldilocks technology emerges from the need for innovations that are neither excessive nor inadequate, tailored specifically for a resource-constrained future. As the podcast outlines, this approach considers the ecological limits we have likely reached or are approaching, prompting a shift away from the traditional model where growth and profitability are seen as endless. The speaker emphasizes that if technological advancements continue to operate under the assumption that resources are infinite, it will ultimately lead to unsustainable practices that disregard environmental and social consequences. This reorientation towards Goldilocks technology requires redefining success in innovation to include ecological stability and resilience.

Intro

15min

Reimagining Technology for a Sustainable Future

3min

Exploring Goldilocks Technology and Economic Dynamics

2min

(Recorded August 5 2024)

As a problem-solving species, technology is an embedded part of the human experience – we assess, innovate, invent and adapt. But as we move out of the anomalous era we have just lived through and into less stable economic, social, geopolitical and ecological circumstances, humanity will require different kinds of innovation for a livable future.

In this Frankly, Nate offers preliminary guidelines for what might be termed ‘Goldilocks Technology’ – not too hot (dopaminergic gadgets) and not too cold (stone age tech) inventions for the future. Can governance upstream of designers and engineers use prices and policy to incentivize more appropriate and reliable technology? Can values and behavioral choices change demand, shifting the products available toward more sustainable options? What would the materials, supply chains, and disposal of technology that is ‘just right’ look like - and how would it change our wider boundary relationship with the biosphere?

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