Luke Kemp

@lukekemp.bsky.social

I am a researcher at the University of Cambridge and author of 'Goliath's Curse: Then History and Future of Societal Collapse'. I study the end of the world and how we got here.

I joined 'Alive to This' for a panel with the philosopher A.C Grayling and author Sarah Wilson to discuss democracy, collapse, and our current age- tinyurl.com/542btk8j

Ch. 2 Collapse of Systems, not our Humanity | AC Grayling, Sarah Wilson & Luke Kemp

Author and journalist Sarah Wilson, philosopher AC Grayling and existential risk researcher Luke Kemp bring three vantage points to the same unravelling. Civilisations have always fallen like great Goliaths, but this one is global, and the weapons in its hands are totalising: nuclear, algorithmic, atmospheric. Compounding these weapons is the logic that wields them. A handful of actors locked in a race no one wins, and the assumption that whatever can be built should be. The question is not whether we are in collapse, but what survives it. We are far better cooperating than competing in the face of this leviathan, change that draws its force from the ground up as much as from coordination across borders. This is the fork. Small right moves are contagious, and no one is coming to save us. We are the adults in the room. To be human is to be attuned to the living world, both magnificent and destructive. Untether from the mythology of more, and the system collapsing us may be the one we outlast. Hosted by Eleanor Gammell. www.alivetothis.com ___ Guests Luke Kemp Research affiliate · Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge A research affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, and author of the recent Goliath’s Curse. Kemp has lectured in economics and human geography, and has advised the World Health Organization, the Australian Parliament, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, and many other institutions. His research has been covered by The New York Times, the BBC and The New Yorker. Sarah Wilson Author and social philosopher · host, Wild podcast A multi-New York Times bestselling author and social philosopher, Wilson founded the global I Quit Sugar movement and wrote First, We Make the Beast Beautiful and This One Wild and Precious Life. She now explores modern philosophy, existential risk and climate change through her recent book I Eat the Stars, the Wild podcast and her Substack. Sarah lives nomadically between Paris and Sydney. A.C. Grayling Philosopher · Principal, Northeastern University London A British philosopher and Principal of Northeastern University London, Grayling is the author of more than thirty books on philosophy, ethics and democracy, including Democracy and Its Crisis, Who Owns the Moon? and the 2025 Discriminations. A prominent public intellectual, he has long argued that representative democracy is structurally failing, and that stewarding civilisation through this moment requires concrete institutional reform, not despair.

tinyurl.com

I'll be soon submitting the amendments for the paperback version of Goliath's Curse! I want it to be as accurate as possible, so if you've spotted any errors (either factual, grammatical, or otherwise) then please let me know asap and I'll make sure they are addressed

Thanks Dagomar! Given how much I respect you and your work, this is just as meaningful as any blurbs or reviews I've received

Dagomar Degroot@dagomardegroot.bsky.social · 11mo ago

I'm often skeptical of big histories that focus on disaster. Yet Goliath's Curse (by @lukekemp.bsky.social) is masterful. It explores the causes & consequences of collapse as a historical phenomenon. It's clear, insightful, harrowing - but ultimately hopeful. #EnvHist www.amazon.com/Goliaths-Cur...

Our research shows strong evidence to support James Scott's view of the origin of the state @lukekemp.bsky.social, as you discuss in your great book Goliath's Curse.

Kit Opie@kitopie.bsky.social · 8mo ago

The invention of agriculture (around 9,000 years ago) spurred the rise of early states? NO. Our research www.nature.com/articles/s41... (with @drqueue.bsky.social) in @nathumbehav.nature.com supports an alternative theory that States almost invariably formed in societies that grew cereal grains.