Urgent Futures with Jesse Damiani

Jesse Damiani
  • 4.9 (34)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to the Urgent Futures Podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each episode, I sit down with leading thinkers for dialogues that clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. www.realitystudies.co

  1. 9H AGO

    When, How, & Why Complex Societies Collapse - Joseph Tainter | #64

    Having researched the topic of collapse for more than half a decade, I can say with some confidence that interest in it has increased over the past few years. And it makes sense—wherever you look, be it politics, climate change, the economy, tech accelerationism, or otherwise, we’re getting a lot of scary signals. But collapse is a slippery word—what exactly does it mean? And what exactly qualifies a particular breakdown as collapse? Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). To get granular, I’m happy to share this conversation with collapsology legend, Joseph Tainter, who was researching collapse long before it was en vogue, notably authoring The Collapse of Complex Societies nearly forty years ago. Perhaps his most notable argument from this work is that collapse occurs when a civilization reaches a point of diminishing returns on complexity—that is, when increasing amounts of capital, energy, and resources are required just to sustain the system, until the cost of maintaining it outweighs the benefits. It’s a provocative argument, and folks like existential risk researcher Luke Kemp, who I had on the show late last year, have proposed alternative viewpoints—but which nevertheless build on Professor Tainter’s remarkable scholarly legacy. This argument is especially worth considering when we look at the current strain on the “rules-based” international order that the United States has (otherwise) maintained since the end of WWII. There’s so much in this conversation, drawing together his collapsology research with his contributions to energy and sustainability research—and much more, examining how it all fits together in today’s global context. BIO: Joseph Tainter is an anthropologist and retired professor, formerly at Utah State University. He is the author of The Collapse of Complex Societies, and co-author with Timothy F. H. Allen and Thomas W. Hoekstra of Supply-Side Sustainability. With Roderick and Susan McIntosh he edited The Way the Wind Blows: Climate, History, and Human Action. With Tadeusz Patzek he wrote Drilling Down: The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma. Dr. Tainter’s research has been used in over 50 countries and his books have been issued in 10 languages. His work has been consulted in the United Nations Environment Programme, UNESCO, the World Bank, the Rand Corporation, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, the Earth Policy Institute, Technology Transfer Institute/Vanguard, and the Highlands Forum. His research has been applied in economic development and energy. CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 1m

  2. 3D AGO

    Criticizing the Democratic Party, Resisting ICE & Fascism, Lessons from Minneapolis, the 'Wrong Kind of Muslim' & More - Qasim Rashid | Rapid Response #19

    Is it okay for folks on the left to criticize the Democratic Party? Qasim Rashid lost thousands of followers because he did. What are our responsibilities as Americans who believe in democracy and resisting fascism? What strategies can we use? Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). In this conversation, we discuss what informed, ethical resistance looks like as authoritarianism continues its march into American politics—and why it's okay to demand better of "your side" if they're not advancing justice. We also get into Minneapolis, corporate media's complicity in authoritarianism, Qasim's reading club around his book The Wrong Kind of Muslim, including a touching moment where Qasim shares more about his relationship with his father and faith journey. BIO: Qasim Rashid, Esq. is a human rights lawyer, author, and former nominee for U.S. Congress. He received his BSc from the University of Illinois at Chicago, his JD from Richmond Law, and served as a visiting fellow at Harvard University. Qasim’s human rights work includes supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, representing asylum seekers, and serving as a first responder to global disasters. He has published numerous books, academic law reviews, and articles across the media spectrum in TIME, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and USA Today. Qasim is the Founder and President of Just Win, a creator representation firm focused on social justice and human rights. He runs a popular human rights Substack with more than 165,000 subscribers titled “Let’s Address This with Qasim Rashid,” and has more than 2.25 million social media followers. You can find him across platforms @QasimRashid. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    55 min

  3. FEB 3

    "We All Know What We're Fighting Against, but There's a Deafening Silence Every Time we Ask What We're Fighting for"—On Hannah Arendt & Loving the World in Dark Times - Roger Berkowitz | #63

    If you’re looking for historical thinkers who can help you navigate authoritarianism, fascism, totalitarianism, and questions of human rights, you’d do worse than to start with Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. I’ve found myself returning to her words repeatedly over the past few years for exactly this reason. You’re perhaps already familiar with the phrase “the banality of evil.” This is one of her most famous contributions to thought, and emerged from her analysis of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the key Nazi figures in organizing the Holocaust in the book Eichmann in Jerusalem. Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). Bard College is home to the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, whose mission is to “create and nurture an institutional space for bold, risky and provocative thinking about our political world in the spirit of Hannah Arendt,” and to “to empower a plural people to at once (re)discover their unique opinions and political agency and also find common ground to build together a shared world through thinking, listening, and talking with one another.” Today’s guest is the founder and academic director of the Center, and as you’d guess, we have a wide-ranging conversation linking the aforementioned topics to today’s political environment, with a special eye on the US. We also discuss the 2025 edition of the Center’s annual conference, themed “Joy: Loving the World in Dark Times,” which feels especially pertinent as America continues to tilt toward authoritarianism—an evolution I’ve called quantum fascism. Notably, Roger disagrees that we Americans are currently living under a fascist regime, though understands why people are inclined to think we are. Whether or not you agree, his argument is compelling and based in close analysis. What I so appreciate about this conversation is that Roger is committed to his political and personal ethics, and in some cases this means he gets a little controversial relative to more mainstream liberal or leftist positions. The result is a bracing, edifying conversation. We get into so much, in fact, that we held off on diving deep on his forthcoming book, A World We Share: Hannah Arendt and the Power of Friendship in a Broken World. The good news is Roger has agreed to come back on the show in the fall to go deep on it with me. Until then, please enjoy this powerful conversation with Roger Berkowitz. BIO: Roger Berkowitz is Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College. He is author of The Gift of Science: Leibniz and the Modern Legal Tradition (Harvard, 2005, Fordham, 2010; Chinese Law Press 2011) and his new book A World We Share: Hannah Arendt and the Power of Friendship in a Broken World will appear in 2026 from Yale University Press. Berkowitz is the host of the podcast, Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz. He is also a regular panelist on The Roundtable, a daily news show for WAMC, the NPR affiliate in Albany, NY, and hosts For the Love of the World on Radio Kingston. Berkowitz wrote the Introduction for On Civil Disobedience: Henry David Thoreau and Hannah Arendt (Library of America, 2024), and he has edited Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism (DeGruyter, 2025) and Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology and the Human Condition (Blackrose Books, 2022). He is co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), The Intellectual Origins of the Global Financial Crisis (2012) and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch (2017). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The American Interest, Bookforum, The Paris Review Online, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, and many other publications. He is a co-editor of the book series “Thinking With Arendt” published by DeGruyter and past editor of Just Ideas, a book series published by Fordham University Press. CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Kyriaki (Claire) Lampidou shot & produced this episode, & Adam Labrie edited the video version, which is available on YouTube. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 53m

  4. JAN 28

    From 'Prepper' to 'Resilient Citizen' - Chris Ellis | #62

    Folks who have followed the channel will know that the subject of preparedness—what you colloquially hear referred to as “prepping”—is a subject of great importance to me. For a while now, I’ve felt like it was necessary for us to reclaim, normalize, and broaden the notion of prepping away from the stranglehold that the lone survivalist has on the prepper stereotype. The world that is fast emerging is what US military experts have referred to as VUCA—volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous. As we learned during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are some disasters that the government just cannot—or will not—save you from, or even help you recover from. Why not instead weather disasters by embracing the radical potential of our wits, creativity, perseverance, and communities? Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). After I released an episode sharing these thoughts, Kate Parsons, a friend of mine from the new media art scene, and who it turns out has a vested interest in the subject, introduced me to today’s guest, Dr. Chris Ellis. He had a soon-to-be-released book called Resilient Citizens—a book that I’d later get to read in advance of this conversation. Buy Resilient Citizens here: https://amzn.to/3NHVnfz This book is an absolute must-read, breaking down the “people, perils, and politics of modern preparedness.” This is a jam-packed episode—we dive into his definition of a resilient citizen, the history of prepping and prepper stereotype, the five types of resilient citizens, why it’s vital to remember that resilience is a mindset, and how to integrate it into your life. This form of preparedness might evoke a very particular stereotype, but in practice it’s a way of developing self-reliance, new skills, and strong, vibrant communities. I think that’s something we can all get behind. BIO: Dr. Chris Ellis is a career Army officer, disaster readiness expert, and lifelong student of how people, communities, and nations prepare for the worst. With over twenty-six years of military service—including time in combat zones and collaborative work across five continents—Chris has seen firsthand what resilience looks like under pressure. Chris holds a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, along with four other advanced degrees covering public policy, military strategy, and international security. His work blends academic insight with boots-on-the-ground experience, tackling big-picture threats like civil unrest, nuclear catastrophe, economic collapse, and even the end of the world. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 60m

  5. JAN 26

    We Must Decarbonize...but How? On Methods, Challenges, & the 'Physics of Capitalism' - Erald Kolasi | Rapid Response #18

    We all know that we have to end our addiction to fossil fuels, but how do we actually do that in practice? Today's guest, Erald Kolasi, breaks it down. Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). BIO: Erald Kolasi is a writer and independent researcher focusing on the nexus between energy, technology, economics, complex systems, and ecological dynamics. His first book, The Physics of Capitalism, came out from the Monthly Review Press in February 2025. He received his PhD in Physics from George Mason University in 2016. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 14m

  6. JAN 22

    How Does AI Actually Work, & How is it Changing Our World? On 'Understanding AI' - Timothy B. Lee | #61

    If there are two letters in the English language you’ve been unable to escape over the past four years, it’s A and I. Artificial intelligence has emerged as the buzziest tech category since the metaverse and NFTs, but unlike those, AI has managed to reach a level of market dominance that almost defies imagination—so whether you like it or not, it's in your best interest to understand how it actually works. Today's guest, Timothy B. Lee, helps you do just that. Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). BIO: Timothy B. Lee is a reporter who has written about technology, economics, and public policy for more than a decade. Before he launched Understanding AI in 2023, he wrote for the Washington Post, Vox.com, and Ars Technica. He has a master’s degree in computer science from Princeton. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 24m

  7. JAN 14

    Capitalism Doesn't Value Nature Because It Can't—Understanding 'Free Gifts' - Alyssa Battistoni | #61

    Why is capitalism incapable of valuing the more-than-human world? This question might sound obvious, but it's at the heart of the polycrisis. If our dominant economic system literally cannot place value on nature, we're destined to live out of alignment with it. This is the subject of Alyssa Battistoni's superb new book, Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. We dive into it in today's conversation! In the meantime, grab your copy of Free Gifts here! Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). BIO: Alyssa Battistoni is assistant professor of political science at Barnard College. She is the coauthor of A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, Boston Review, n+1, Dissent, The New Statesman, Jacobin, and New Left Review. Free Gifts is a searing, imminently readable breakdown of how and why capitalism is incapable of “valuing” nature, treating it instead as a “free gift.” I’ve had folks on the show before talking about ecosystem services—check out my conversations with Paul R. Ehrlich, Gerardo Ceballos, and Rodolfo Dirzo as starting points!—and while Free Gifts addresses those ideas too, it goes much deeper. It’s not merely that what we call nature provides countless services that never get factored into the economy, it’s that the incentives of capitalism are fundamentally antithetical to human beings living sustainably on this planet. In the book, she conducts Marxist feminist analysis on how we got here, what it means for us, and ultimately drives us toward the necessary changes we must make if we want to survive. She reveals how, by treating nature as “free,” capitalism ultimately diminishes human freedom; it bars us from making truly ethical choices in how we value and relate to the more-than-human world. A quick reminder: all the messy politics you’re witnessing right now—such as rising authoritarianism—is downstream of our economic system, which determines the shape of what is possible. Alyssa’s work reveals how entangled our economic systems are in everything from social systems to individual choices, and it’s an absolutely critical time to contend with that. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 17m

  8. JAN 12

    Rewiring the Global Economy, AI, the Cringiness of Big Tech Oligarchs, MMT, Stablecoins, & 'Releisure' - Brett Scott | Rapid Response #17

    Capitalism is a problem. How exactly do we address it? First we have to cut through the noise. Today's guest, Brett Scott, is one of those special transdisciplinary thinkers—rooted in deep understandings of economics and finance—that I absolutely love to host conversations with. In this case, it was prompted by a shared frustration with how transhumanists believe about life-extension and immortality (typified by the actions of Bryan Johnson, of “Don’t Die” fame). Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email). As expected, this conversation gets into so much more than I even expected, including crypto, central bank digital currencies, degrowth/post-growth, and more. We have to remember that so much of the (geo)political nonsense we’re experiencing is ultimately downstream of the economy—and Brett is somebody who’s illuminating the problems, paradoxes, and responses in accessible language. Make sure to give him a follow and subscribe to asomo.co. BIO: Brett Scott has spent over a decade exploring the architecture of global money and big finance, and is constantly on the search for ways to rewire our economic system. In 2013 he published The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money (Pluto Press), and in 2022 I published Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets (Penguin / Harper Collins). He has written for some of the world’s biggest publications, has appeared on major channels, and has spoken at over 300 events in over 30 countries. People call him many things – financial activist, economic hacker – but deep down he says he’s also an artist, and in Altered States of Monetary Consciousness he’ll take you on creative journey to bring our economic system to life using visual imagery and metaphor. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

    1h 33m
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About

Welcome to the Urgent Futures Podcast, the show that finds signal in the noise. Each episode, I sit down with leading thinkers for dialogues that clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos. www.realitystudies.co

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