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The Machinery of Abundance

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Manage episode 499717853 series 2333472
Content provided by Brad Harris. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Brad Harris or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Modern life runs on hidden engine rooms—vast, intricate systems most of us never see. The Haber-Bosch process, which turns air into fertilizer, is one of them. It feeds billions, yet almost no one outside of science or industry could explain how it works or why it matters.

In this episode, we explore Haber-Bosch not just as a technological marvel, but as a parable for our dependence on complex systems most of us barely understand. From the fight over bird droppings in the 19th century to the industrial alchemy of fixing nitrogen, we trace how human ingenuity transformed the limits of nature, and how that transformation fostered both abundance and fragility.

This is a story about the machinery that sustains us, and the risks we run when we forget it’s there.

To keep the show ad-free and access over a dozen bonus episodes, join me on Patreon or subscribe through Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

  continue reading

43 episodes

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The Machinery of Abundance

Context with Brad Harris

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Manage episode 499717853 series 2333472
Content provided by Brad Harris. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Brad Harris or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

Modern life runs on hidden engine rooms—vast, intricate systems most of us never see. The Haber-Bosch process, which turns air into fertilizer, is one of them. It feeds billions, yet almost no one outside of science or industry could explain how it works or why it matters.

In this episode, we explore Haber-Bosch not just as a technological marvel, but as a parable for our dependence on complex systems most of us barely understand. From the fight over bird droppings in the 19th century to the industrial alchemy of fixing nitrogen, we trace how human ingenuity transformed the limits of nature, and how that transformation fostered both abundance and fragility.

This is a story about the machinery that sustains us, and the risks we run when we forget it’s there.

To keep the show ad-free and access over a dozen bonus episodes, join me on Patreon or subscribe through Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

  continue reading

43 episodes

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