The Psychology of Dictators

Explore the minds behind history’s worst atrocities and what they reveal about power, evil, and human nature. Followed by Q&A.

How does someone hurt a hundred thousand, starve their own people, or order an execution? Humanity has always imagined monsters – but our worst monsters have been real, and human – put there by us, through active revolt or unspoken complicity. This talk takes us on a tour from Pol Pot to Putin, from the Leviathan to the Levant, and from China to Chávez, asking how some humans become the darkest figures of their time in spite of a fervour for good intentions.

Together we’ll explore the patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour common to tyrants and autocrats – the mix of power, freedom, and dark personality traits that can corrupt otherwise ordinary people. Are these people truly unique, or do we all carry the seeds of such evil within us, just waiting to be triggered? We'll look at the old truth that power corrupts, and the combination of genetics, brain changes and personal circumstances that fuel the fire – stepping into the mind of a dictator, not to excuse evil, but to understand how to stop it.

**Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm - come down early to grab a good seat!**

**Follow us on IG @seedtalks**

Presented by Seed Talks

This is an 18+ event