Open Book with Anthony Scaramucci Society Is Closer To Collapse Than We Think - Luke Kemp
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Mar 12, 2026 
Luke Kemp, a Cambridge researcher on existential risk and author of Goliath's Curse, explores why states form and how they fall. He explains dominance hierarchies, lootable resources, and why inequality and gender oppression make societies fragile. He warns modern threats like climate change, nuclear weapons, AI, and engineered pandemics could combine with slow, invisible decline. He ends on resilience through inclusion.
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Civilization Is Organized Dominance
- Civilization is better described as dominance hierarchies where a small elite uses force to extract resources rather than an enlightened cultural pinnacle.
- Luke Kemp shows early states united by coercive rule, not by cities or writing, reframing 'civilization' as organized dominance.
Prestate Life Was Less Violent Than Assumed
- Prestate hunter-gatherers often had low lethal-violence rates (~1–2%) and egalitarian, democratic decision-making.
- Kemp cites genetic and archaeological evidence and modern forager behavior to rebut Hobbes' nasty brutish short thesis.
Goliath Fuel Explains Why States Rise
- Goliath fuel consists of lootable resources, monopolizable weapons, and caged land that enable elites to build states by extraction and force.
- Kemp contrasts wheat and rice states (long-storable crops) with New Guinea's yam-based societies to show why Goliaths form.
