Luke Burgis began his career on Wall Street in investment banking and private equity and went on to found multiple companies in technology, consumer products, and wellness. He is Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Director of Programs at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship at The Catholic University of America, where he is also a professor of business. He graduated from New York University’s Stern School of Business with a degree in Finance and Accounting and later studied philosophy and theology at a pontifical university in Rome.
Luke is the co-author of the book Unrepeatable: Cultivating the Unique Calling of Every Person, with Dr. Joshua Miller, and the bestselling book Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life (St. Martin’s Press), inspired by the ideas of the social theorist René Girard on the mimetic or imitative nature of human desire.
In our conversation, we talked about what beauty has to do with mimetic desire and rivalry, especially in the worlds of science and technology.
In this episode, we explore:
1. What attracted Luke to pursue finance, entrepreneurship, and then to study philosophy and theology
2. What is mimetic desire, and why does it matter?
3. The work of Rene Girard on mimetic desire
4. How mimetic rivalry relates to unhealthy competition in science
5. How to foster healthy competition instead of mimetic rivalry
6. Comparing the worlds of technology and academia when it comes to mimetic desire
7. Luke’s conceptual framework called The Three-City Problem, examining the relationship between reason, faith, and technology
9. How one can focus on deeper beauty rather than mimetic desire
10. The scapegoating mechanism and the mimetic crisis
11. How to become anti-mimetic
To learn more about his work, visit his website and subscribe to his newsletter
Check out his book:
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
https://www.amazon.com/Wanting-Power-Mimetic-Desire-Everyday/dp/1250262488
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