Episode 046: Dr Luke Kemp
Is Western Civilisation doomed?
In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Luke Kemp, an existential risk researcher at Cambridge University and the author of Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.
Luke spends his life thinking about how societies rise, why they fall, and what really puts our future at risk. What surprised me most is how hopeful this conversation turned out to be.
Luke argues that history is best understood as a story of organised crime.
From early civilisations to modern governments, tech giants and today’s global system, he shows how the same patterns keep repeating: power, control and inequality.
Together, we talk about:
How and why early civilisations formed
Why data might be the most dangerous resource we have today - and how AI might impact civilisation
The modern versions of grain, weapons and geography
How close the world has come to nuclear disaster - and the people who quietly stopped it
Whether global collapse is actually likely - and what we can do about it
Why studying worst-case scenarios can sometimes make you more optimistic, not less
This is a wide-ranging conversation about power, history, human nature and possibility.
If you’ve ever wondered where we’re heading - or how we might build something better - I think you’ll really enjoy this one.
There is a technical issue - one of the camera batteries died halfway through...! I, Rich, take full idiot responsibility. Something had to happen sometime.
Watch or listen to this week’s episode with Dr Luke Kemp:
