Ep. 13: Eliot Rosenstock on Accelerationism

On this edition of Parallax Views I speak with psychotherapist Eliot Rosenstock, Senior Editor of The Young Freudians magazine, and author of the forthcoming Zero Books publication Zizek in the Clinic: A Revolutionary Proposal for a New Endgame in Psychotherapy, about accelerationism.

Accelerationist depiction of Slavoj Zizek

"Accelerationism" has become a popular online meme/philosophy(?) since it was first devised by the ex-University of Warwick philosopher Nick Land, who Elizabeth Sandifer and I covered extensively in Parallax Views Ep. 2 on "Neoreaction". The New Statesman argues that, "Accelerationism is the idea that capitalism, or various processes attached to it, should be deepened or 'accelerated' in order to prompt radical change".

"Right Accelerationist" Nick Land's Fanged Noumena

Eliot and I try to parse out what exactly we and others mean by "accelerationism" as well as dealing with some of the key players involved in popularizing the term like Nick Land, whose version of accelerationism has become known as r/acc, and Nick Snricek, who is associated with the l/acc or the "left accelerationist" school of thought.

"Left Accelerationist" Nick Srnicek's Platform Capitalism

This leads into some others areas of discussion including the "Dark Enlightenment" figure Mencius Moldbug's (aka Curtis Yarvin) concept of "patchwork", Nick Land's formulation of capitalism as an "aritificial intelligence" or "Frankenstein's Monster", and Land's now infamous essay "Meltdown". We delve into whether ideas like patchwork are useful to the left and if accelerationism can be approached pragmatically rather than as a fringe philosophy meme.

We also touch briefly on Eliot's interest in psychoanalysis, particularly the theories of Jacques Lacan, and fascination with philosopher Max Stirner and Egoism.