#Accelerate: Introduction

🔗 https://www.urbanomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Accelerate-Introduction.pdf
Posted on Jan 1, 1

Overview & Context

This 2015 introductory essay by Robin Mackay & Armen Avanessian opens #Accelerate, a pivotal Urbanomic anthology tracing the evolution of accelerationism—from ’90s cyber-culture and Nick Land’s CCRU to contemporary theory-fiction and political critique.

🔍 Core Insights

  • Accelerationism as heresy: Proposes that the only radical response to capitalism is to accelerate its processes, not protest or critique—embracing technological and economic intensification.
  • Cultural genealogy: Links accelerationist ideas back to 1990s UK cyberculture, CCRU, and thinkers like Sadie Plant, Nick Land, and Félix Guattari.
  • Theory‑fiction mode: Advocates for “writing as speculation” and blending philosophy, narrative, and critique to think beyond capitalism’s limits.

⚖️ Significance & Implications

  • Positions accelerationism as political philosophy, not just cultural critique—formulating a proactive strategy for engaging with capitalism’s momentum.
  • Provides the conceptual infrastructure for Nick Land’s techno‑libertarian acceleration, and also influenced left-wing variants such as those by Srnicek & Williams.
  • Signals a shift toward techno-capitalist futurism, where theory embraces machinic tools, data flows, and speculative design as political instruments.

📚 Citation

Mackay, R. & Avanessian, A. (2015, March). #Accelerate: Introduction. Urbanomic. Retrieved from https://www.urbanomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Accelerate-Introduction.pdf
Summary generated by ChatGPT (GPT‑4).