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Listening to the audio book of Goliath's Curse performed by the author Luke Kemp.

Luke is looking at similar historical and anthropological data to that looked at by Graeber and Wengrow in The Dawn of Everything.
But from a different perspective - societal collapse.

The cowboys and Injuns TV shows of my childhood take on a whole different perspective ...

#GoliathsCurse #LukeKemp #GraeberAndWengrow

#lukekemp #history #lecture #inequality #psychiatricdisroders #men #societalcollapse #collapse Excellent lecture! 1/3 www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1le... #climatechange #ClimateEmergency #ClimateBreakdown #ClimateDisruption #ExtremeWeather #polycrisis #EcosystemCollapse #systemcollapse

Goliath's Curse: Climate, Ineq...

#lukekemp #history #lecture #inequality #psychiatricdisroders #men #societalcollapse #collapse
3/3
to rigorously exclude from having any say - or in notorious cases expel - individuals showing any signs of psychiatric disorders, openly egocentric, manipulative or covert malicious behavior.

#lukekemp #history #lecture #inequality #psychiatricdisroders #men #societalcollapse #collapse

2/3 where the community failed to expel them in time, which failure allowed these individuals to force their will upon the community and gain power.
Only egalitarian societies without any hierarchy are sustainable long term (see Khoisan). If we want to survive the #climatebreakdown, we as a community MUST use that lever, -> 3/3

#lukekemp #history #lecture #inequality #psychiatricdisroders #men #societalcollapse #collapse

Excellent lecture!
The lecturer does mention - but just shortly - the root cause of hierarchical and thus exploitative societies: Men born with psychiatric disorders, ->2/3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1le5Sj7Qp4

#climate #ClimateScience #climatechange #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #ClimateBreakdown #ClimateDisruption #globalWarming #globalHeating #ExtremeWeather #polycrisis #EcosystemCollapse #systemcollapse

Best podcast I listened to in sometime:

Don't be a dick

In his Leviathan-like Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse, by way of a solution for civilisational demise, #LukeKemp advises “don’t be a dick”.

Luke, an associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University Cambridge, argues, as I do in my book, that our global civilisation is careering towards the worst societal #collapse yet, with the main threat coming from leaders who are “walking versions of the dark triad” of vile personality traits - #narcissism, #psychopathy and #Machiavellianism.

https://sarahwilson.substack.com/p/dont-be-a-dick #sarahwilson

“ #Democracy is not just a form of #government; it is a #culture and a way of life. One that all of us need to recapture.” - #LukeKemp, Goliath’s Curse: The #History and #Future of #Societal #Collapse

A autoextinção é o mais provável
#LukeKemp, investigador do Centro de Estudos de Risco Existencial da #UniversidadedeCambridge, que escreveu o livro "Goliath's curse" (A maldição de Golias)

Leia o artigo original em: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse

"A autoextinção é a mais provável": a história e o futuro do #colapsosocial

Uma análise épica de 5000 anos de civilização defende que um #colapsoglobal está próximo, a menos que a desigualdade seja ultrapassada.

https://sustentabilidadeeaccao.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-autoextincao-e-o-mais-provavel.html

Ooo, this dropped today and I'm looking forward to inundating you all with quotes as I make my way through it. Stand by.

#Civilization #GoliathsCurse #LukeKemp

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691357/goliaths-curse-by-luke-kemp/

«𝗨𝗺𝗮 𝗮𝗻á𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲 é𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗱𝗲 𝟱𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮çã𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝘂𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗼 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘀𝘁á 𝗽𝗿ó𝘅𝗶𝗺𝗼, 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗷𝗮 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗱𝗮.

"𝙉ã𝙤 𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙭𝙖𝙧 𝙪𝙢𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖 𝙤 𝙅𝙪í𝙯𝙤 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡, 𝙢𝙖𝙨, 𝙖𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙨 5000 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙨 [𝙙𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙖çã𝙤], 𝙥𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙟𝙚𝙩ó𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙟𝙚 – 𝙚 𝙖 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙞𝙣çã𝙤 é 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫á𝙫𝙚𝙡", 𝗮𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮 𝗼 𝗗𝗿. 𝗟𝘂𝗸𝗲 𝗞𝗲𝗺𝗽, 𝗱𝗼 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼 𝗱𝗲 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗼𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗮 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲.»

#extinção #extincao #lukekemp #Guardian

https://sustentabilidadeeaccao.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-autoextincao-e-o-mais-provavel.html

Tales of collapse may be imperial propaganda.

https://aeon.co/essays/the-great-myth-of-empire-collapse

#AeonMagazine #LukeKemp #EmpiresDie #Collapse #CivilizationCollapse #AncientHistory #Archeaology

I find it astonishing that the vast majority of the world's political leaders are completely oblivious to the imminent, and already active, threats of civilizational collapse: accelerating climate change, overwhelming depredation of resources, exponentially growing inequalities—with billionaires becoming all-powerful—and wars multiplying for more or less hidden reasons, with apocalyptic nuclear threats.

#CivilizationalCollapse #Guardian #LukeKemp

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse

“History is best told as a story of organised crime”

Guardian-Interview mit Luke Kemp (Carrington, 2025) zu dessen Weltgeschichte der Ungleichheit Goliath’s Curse (Kemp, 2025). Die Folgen extremer Ungleichheit führen fast immer zum gesellschaftlichen Kollaps. Zwei Zitate aus dem Interview:

“History is best told as a story of organised crime,” Kemp says. “It is one group creating a monopoly on resources through the use of violence over a certain territory and population.”

Kemp says his argument that Goliaths require rulers who are strong in the triad of dark traits is borne out today. “The three most powerful men in the world are a walking version of the dark triad: Trump is a textbook narcissist, Putin is a cold psychopath, and Xi Jinping came to rule [China] by being a master Machiavellian manipulator.”

Die zitierten Sätze sind plausibel, als historischer Rundschlag könnte das Buch allerdings etwas oberflächlich sein. Überhaupt nicht oberflächlich, sondern subtil wirken auf mich die Überlegungen Kemps zum ökologischen Zusammenbruch und dem Risiko des Aussterbens der Menschheit in dem Band The Era of Global Risk (Kemp, 2023, Gratis-PDF).

‘Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse.

An epic analysis of 5,000 years of civilisation argues that a global collapse is coming unless inequality is vanquished.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250802-self-termination-is-most-likely-the-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

#SocietalCollapse #Inequality #Society #Evolution #ClimateCrisis #Anthropology #Environment #Future #History #LukeKemp #Science

elites, while past collapses often improved the lives of ordinary citizens.

@TheGuardian
#LukeKemp, author of Goliath’s Curse 📕

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse

@muellertadzio
Sounds like a must read.
#LukeKemp calls us Goliaths:
"All Goliaths, however, contain the seeds of their own demise, he says.
(...)
“Then as elites extract more wealth from the people and the land, they make societies more fragile, leading to infighting, corruption, immiseration of the masses, less healthy people, overexpansion, environmental degradation and poor decision making by a small oligarchy.”"

On my list: #book by #LukeKemp:
“ #History is best told as a story of organised crime,” ... “It is one group creating a monopoly on resources through the use of violence over a certain territory & population. [...]The key thing is this is not about all of #humanity creating these threats. It is not about human nature. It is about small groups who bring out the worst in us, competing for profit and power and covering all the risks up.”

#mustread #collapse #capitalism

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/02/self-termination-history-and-future-of-societal-collapse

@David

Yowsas, not quite what was in my school history textbook.

"“History is best told as a story of organised crime.” “It is one group creating a monopoly on resources through the use of violence over a certain territory and population.”
- #LukeKemp
#History
https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=Kd-EpXgAAAAJ&hl=th