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!

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Speaker Bio:

Dr Jonathan Iliff is a psychiatrist and medical doctor in the NHS, with a background in neuroscience and psychedelic drug research. His research focused on the use of psychedelic compounds, like LSD and psilocybin - the active ingredient in magic mushrooms - a promising new treatment for depression. Today his focus is clinical - focusing on helping with people, and their problems in the here and now. His mission is to stoke conversation about health and mental health, change attitudes that persist in even the most tolerant parts of our society, and encourage innovation like the use of psychedelic drugs that aim to improve the lives of the billions of people that suffer directly and indirectly from mental health disorders.

This talk is 16+

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