Simplifying Complexity

Latest Episodes:

Governing the power grid Jun 24, 2024

Show notes

In today’s episode, we’re once again joined by Seth Blumsack, Professor of Energy Policy and Economics and International Affairs in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, to talk about the power grid.

In the past, we’ve spoken to Seth about the history of the power grid and how the power grid fails. In today’s conversation, we discuss how it is governed.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What makes music sound ‘good’? Jun 10, 2024

Show notes

Today we're once again joined by Dmitri Tymoczko, Professor of Music at Princeton University. Last time, Dmitri talked about the geometry and patterns we hear in music and its history, particularly from the 1900s onwards.

In this episode, Dmitri delves into some underlying principles that make music sound ‘good’.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A puzzle, a problem, and a mess May 27, 2024

Show notes

Gerald Ashley is the Co-founder and Managing Director of St Mawgan & Co, a London-based strategy and risk consulting agency.

In today’s episode, Gerald explores the difference between risk and uncertainty, the challenges of managing them in the financial world, and how it can be powerful to split issues into either puzzles, problems, or messes.

Connect:

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is complexity economics the answer? May 13, 2024

Show notes

Nicholas Gruen is the CEO of Lateral Economics, Patron of the Australian Digital Alliance, and a Visiting Professor at Kings College London.

In this episode, Nicholas discusses the limitations of traditional economic models and emphasises the importance of nuanced problem-solving. He advocates for critical thinking and an interdisciplinary approach to decision-making within complex economic systems, and asks if embracing another paradigm, in this case, complexity economics, is really the answer.

Resources and links:

Lateral Economics website

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making sense of chaos with Doyne Farmer Apr 29, 2024

Show notes

J. Doyne Farmer is Director of the Complexity Economics programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, Baillie Gifford Professor in the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
In this episode, Doyne discusses his journey from chaos theory to complexity economics. He shares his experience developing agent-based models for the economy and talks about the importance of multidisciplinary work and applying complexity science principles to economics and climate change.

Resources:

Purchase ‘Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World’ here

Connect:

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Decoding the Panama Papers - Part 2 Apr 15, 2024

Show notes

Continuing from our last episode, we’re joined again by Brooke Harrington, Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Herbert Chang, Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science at Dartmouth College.

In this episode, Brooke and Herbert explore their research findings on the offshore financial system and discuss why policy interventions to date targeting wealth management have largely failed. They then explore how the findings of their research offer a way forward.

Connect:

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Decoding the Panama Papers - Part 1 Apr 01, 2024

Show notes

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Brooke Harrington, Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Herbert Chang, Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science at Dartmouth College, to discuss the world of offshore finance.

You’ll hear about how using offshore finance is akin to eating at a restaurant and skipping out on the bill, and how Brooke trained to be a wealth manager to better understand how the industry works. Brooke and Herbert then discuss how they used the data from the Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers to undertake quantitative research into the networks that make offshore finance possible.

Connect:

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How cities drive economic progress Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

What role do cities play in driving economic progress?

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Luis Bettencourt, Professor at the University of Chicago and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, who explains how cities allow us to do something magical - they allow us to specialise.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Ideas: The Origin of Life Mar 04, 2024

Show notes

How does a group of molecules transition into something that is life? And what do even mean when we say 'life'?

To explore the origin of life, we’re joined again by Sara Walker, Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Associate Professor in Earth and Space Exploration and Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

Connect:

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In conversation with Rory Sutherland - Part 2 Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

In today’s episode, we continue our conversation with Rory Sutherland, UK Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, where he discusses how our decision making, especially as consumers, while often appearing irrational, is actually the result of us deploying heuristics that have served us well in situations of low trust or when we don't have all the information.

Connect:

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.