Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe | Niall Ferguson

Hidden Forces

Demetri Kofinas

Business, Government

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2021

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In Episode 189 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with historian Niall Ferguson about his latest book, "Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe." The book is a historical tour de force of epic disasters ranging from pandemics to botched military responses, to nuclear accidents. What all these catastrophes share in common is a striking combination of operator and managerial error resulting from systemic problems that became calamities in the face of predictable, though unimaginable crises.

While Doom is mainly a history of disaster, its lessons apply most urgently in our own time, which provided us an opportunity to explore some of the contemporary challenges that we face in western society with someone who thinks and writes about such risks and opportunities regularly. At the top of this list is an emerging cold war between the United States and a coalition of authoritarian powers led by China and Russia, two nations that are increasingly cooperating on matters of national and economic security. This episode also includes a discussion about financial markets, digital assets, and the health of Western economies.

In place of an overtime, Demetri recorded a premium-only episode with Grant Williams on endgame scenarios for the economy, including a conversation about the prospects for runaway inflation and how to manage that risk for your portfolio.

You can access the premium episode, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

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Episode Recorded on 04/26/2021

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up, everybody? My name is the Medric of Phoenix, and you're listening to Hidden Forces,
0:26.8	a podcast that helps investors, entrepreneurs, and everyday citizens get an edge by
0:32.5	equipping themselves with the knowledge needed to anticipate the challenges and opportunities
0:37.9	of tomorrow. By sharing my critical thinking approach and by challenging consensus narratives
0:44.0	about the power structures shaping our world, I help you make the connections to see the bigger
0:50.0	picture, empowering you to make smarter decisions. On this week's episode, I speak with historian
0:56.4	Nile Ferguson about his latest book, Doom, The Politics of Catastrophe. The book explores some
1:02.8	of history's most epic disasters, ranging from pandemics to botched military responses to nuclear
1:09.6	accidents. What they all share in common is a striking combination of operator and managerial error,
1:16.8	resulting from systemic problems that become catastrophic in the face of predictable,
1:22.4	though unimaginable crises. While the book is mainly a history of disaster,
1:27.2	its lessons apply most urgently today in our own time, which means that this was also an
1:32.4	opportunity for me to explore some of the contemporary challenges that we face in Western society,
1:38.7	including the commencement of a new Cold War and what it means for economic and national security,
1:44.7	COVID-19, and future pandemics, and the transformation and health of financial markets,
1:50.4	digital assets, and the economy, in the face of a potential breakout of consumer and producer
1:56.6	prices to heights not seen in almost 50 years. This conversation is meant to expose you to some
2:03.8	of these deeper systemic forces that have been building in our society and which turn otherwise
2:09.5	predictable events into inconceivable catastrophes. Is COVID-19 one of them? Possibly,
2:16.6	though if it isn't, our obsession over it, our obsession over the infection rates,
2:21.8	case fatality numbers, and vaccine rollouts may be distracting us from the larger, more imminent
2:28.0	challenge that is materializing right before our eyes, and which could change our lives in ways
	...

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