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Luke Kemp

@lukekemp.bsky.social
519 followers 1 following 16 posts

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.

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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today, 'Obsolete' by @garrisonlovely.bsky.social is released. I've called it "The best book on AI I've read" and I think it will be the most important book of this year. It's message is simple: AI is an elite project which is attempting to render us all obsolete. www.obsoletebook.org
obsoletebook.org
Obsolete: The AI Industry's Trillion-Dollar Race to Replace Us—and How to Stop It
Is AI a bubble or humanity's last invention? Impossible or inevitable? Obsolete cuts through the hype to answer all the AI questions you have, while raising some you probably aren't prepared for.
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Armando MC @armandomc.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
idk I feel like this is gonna top the MCU. No pressure @lukekemp.bsky.social but parts 1 & 2 were incredible.
Page titled "PART THREE: Endgame" from Luke Kemp's GOLIATH'S CURSE: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF SOCIETAL COLLAPSE
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
For thousands of years, a solar eclipse has been a prophetic harbinger of a spectacular, epoch-making event. Just saying. #VoteBinface #Clacton
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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
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
tinyurl.com
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.
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Peter Michael Bauer @anthrodidact.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
How #hierarchy forms and gets stuck in a feedback loop is something that many people have a hard time grasping. Today I’m speaking with @lukekemp.bsky.social, author of the book #goliathscurse. www.patreon.com/posts/hierar...
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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
“The best book I’ve read on AI. It’s supremely timely, it takes no prisoners, and Sam Altman would hate it.” That's my blurb for @garrisonlovely.bsky.social new book 'Obsolete'. Do yourself a favour and preorder it now
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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Very late notice, but today I'll be speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival (unsurprisingly in Oxford)- shorturl.at/5HEKu Do come along if you are in the area (or pass it on to anyone who might be!)
shorturl.at
Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse | Oxford Literary Festival
Luke Kemp - Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse
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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
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
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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
I really enjoyed these discussions with David! It offers a much deeper dive into each part of my book 'Goliath's Curse'.
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Luke Kemp @lukekemp.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Thanks Dagomar! Given how much I respect you and your work, this is just as meaningful as any blurbs or reviews I've received
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Kit Opie @kitopie.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
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.
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Annie Leymarie @annieleymarie.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Experts @lukekemp.bsky.social and @laurielaybourn.bsky.social give us the lowdown on non-linear and 'derailment' risks ("that could easily cause us to spiral closer and closer into the climate change storm") "The more clearly we see the climate end game, the better our chances of never reaching it."
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The Climate Pod @climatepod.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New Episode! @lukekemp.bsky.social on how collapse happens and the unique threats we face today. Listen with the links below iOS: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... Spotify 👇 open.spotify.com/episode/6Nz9... #climatechange #climatecrisis
podcasts.apple.com
How Collapse Happens (w/ Luke Kemp)
Podcast Episode · The Climate Pod · 10/08/2025 · 1h 7m
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