Existential Risks: The Biggest Threats to Life as We Know It with Luke Kemp
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2024
⏱️ 101 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
(Conversation recorded on October 22nd, 2024)
The human system as we know it today – which powers our economies, global supply chains, and social contracts – is a fragile network based on innumerable complex components. Yet we rarely stop to recognize its many vulnerabilities, instead taking for granted that it will continue to securely operate indefinitely. But if we take a more careful look, how can we assess the risks of major catastrophic events that could destroy life as we know it?
Today, Nate is joined by Luke Kemp, a researcher whose work is focused on existential risks (or X-risks), which encompass threats of human extinction, societal collapse, and dystopian futures. How can we begin to understand the likelihood and gravity of these ruinous events, and what kinds of responses from people and governments could further undermine social cohesion and resilience?
What roles do human biases, hierarchical power structures, and the development of technologies, like artificial intelligence and geoengineering, play in X-risks? How can we collaborate across industries to protect our modern systems through effective risk management strategies? And in what ways do our institutions need to become more inclusive to better democratize decision-making processes, leading to safer futures for humanity?
About Luke Kemp:
Luke is a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) and Darwin College at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on understanding the history and future of extreme global risk. Luke has advised the WHO and multiple international institutions, and his work has been covered by media outlets such as the BBC, New York Times, and the New Yorker. He holds both a Doctorate in International Relations and a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies with first class honours from the Australian National University (ANU). His first book on the deep history and future of societal collapse (titled Goliath's Curse) will be published with Penguin in June 2025.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It is tragic that essentially no US election has been decided by the candidate's policy on nuclear |
| 0:06.9 | weapons. |
| 0:07.6 | The most devastating thing that could ever be done is the US launching a nuclear strike. |
| 0:12.6 | And yet, that can be decided by a single person, the president. |
| 0:15.8 | And yet that never factors into elections whatsoever. |
| 0:22.2 | You're listening to the Great Simplification. |
| 0:25.6 | I'm Nate Hagen's. |
| 0:26.7 | On this show, we describe how energy, the economy, the environment, and human behavior all |
| 0:32.2 | fit together and what it might mean for our future. |
| 0:35.8 | By sharing insights from global thinkers, we hope to inform and inspire more humans to play |
| 0:41.6 | emergent roles in the coming great simplification. |
| 0:49.1 | Joining me today is existential risk and societal collapse researcher Luke Kemp. Boy, I bet that's a great |
| 0:56.7 | way to introduce yourself at parties. Luke is a research affiliate at the Center for the Study |
| 1:02.8 | of Existential Risk at University of Cambridge. His research focuses on understanding the history |
| 1:09.0 | and the future of extreme global risks. |
| 1:12.5 | His first book called Goliath's Curse is on the deep history and future of societal collapse |
| 1:19.1 | and will be available in June of 2025. |
| 1:22.5 | But today, Luke joins me to unpack first before his book, |
| 1:26.7 | the primary existential risks that humans face globally, |
| 1:30.9 | such as nuclear war, environmental catastrophe, and an engineered pandemic. We also discuss how |
| 1:37.3 | we're able to study such questions and what the potential paths forward are for reducing |
| 1:42.3 | either the probability or the severity of such events. |
... |
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