Scan barcode
volbet's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I guess I'm left with one major question: Isn't it antithetical to accelerationism to create a accelerationist genealogy?
From Marx to Land, this is a drawing of the ideas that would form accelerationism, or rather, the ideas that would from the abstract accelerationism. As concrete as some of the ideas put forth in these essays and snippets, it's also obvious, and somehow contradictory, that the more concrete ideas get, the more diffuse they appear.
As idealistic as Marx was in his plans for a post-capitalist society, it was obvious where Marx wanted his ideals to go.
This is contrasted with Nick Land, that has very concrete criticisms of modernity, but his ideals, at least at the time, were not clear.
One last thing to keep in mind when reading this compilation, is that the editors have a clear political framing for compiling these texts. At the time, this more left-leaning framing might have made sense. But reading this in 2020-2021, where the accelerationist ideas have found more of a home among reactionary groups, this framing ring rather hollow. Especially the last essay in the book seems almost ominous in it's naïve optimism.
But as much as I critique this compilation, I also found it a very enjoyable read, and it gave me a lot of recommendations for further studies. Also, the framing might be something to critique, but I can't falter the way the editors did it. The texts where al
From Marx to Land, this is a drawing of the ideas that would form accelerationism, or rather, the ideas that would from the abstract accelerationism. As concrete as some of the ideas put forth in these essays and snippets, it's also obvious, and somehow contradictory, that the more concrete ideas get, the more diffuse they appear.
As idealistic as Marx was in his plans for a post-capitalist society, it was obvious where Marx wanted his ideals to go.
This is contrasted with Nick Land, that has very concrete criticisms of modernity, but his ideals, at least at the time, were not clear.
One last thing to keep in mind when reading this compilation, is that the editors have a clear political framing for compiling these texts. At the time, this more left-leaning framing might have made sense. But reading this in 2020-2021, where the accelerationist ideas have found more of a home among reactionary groups, this framing ring rather hollow. Especially the last essay in the book seems almost ominous in it's naïve optimism.
But as much as I critique this compilation, I also found it a very enjoyable read, and it gave me a lot of recommendations for further studies. Also, the framing might be something to critique, but I can't falter the way the editors did it. The texts where al
More...