Accelerationism

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Accelerationism: a short, easy guide

What is accelerationism?
Accelerationism is a family of ideas that looks at capitalism and its tech not as a finished system to defend, but as a force that could be pushed to create big changes. Some thinkers want to speed up its worst parts to spark a radical break, while others want to steer its progress toward a post-capitalist future. The movement draws on ideas from postmodern philosophy, science fiction, and technology studies, and it has many different voices and goals.

Three waves of accelerationism
- First wave (late 1960s–70s): French thinkers like Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jean Baudrillard explored deterritorialization—the way capitalism dissolves old orders—and asked how those forces might be redirected in emancipatory ways. Their work helped seed accelerationist thought, though it was not a unified program.
- Second wave (1990s): The Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU) at the University of Warwick, led by Nick Land, pushed a more radical, right-leaning version. They imagined self-accelerating capitalism that could reach a technological singularity, with AI surpassing humanity. The CCRU faded in the early 2000s.
- Third wave (2010s and beyond): The term was popularized to describe a growing split:
- Left-accelerationism (e.g., Nick Srnicek, Alex Williams, Reza Negarestani, Peter Wolfendale, etc.): using capitalist tech and infrastructure to push past stagnation and build a more democratic, tech-enabled future. This strand often links to Promethean ideas—embracing change and rational progress.
- Right-accelerationism (e.g., Land and neoreactionaries): embracing capitalism’s forces aggressively, sometimes critiquing democracy and egalitarianism in favor of technocratic or CEO-led systems and a faster path to the singularity.
- Later strands include Xenofeminism (a form of left-accelerationism that uses technology to fight gender inequality) and “effective accelerationism” (a push toward using technology to solve big problems, sometimes drawing on effective altruism).

Key ideas and terms
- Deterritorialization and reterritorialization: capitalism constantly breaks old social rules and repurposes things as commodities, then new rules push back. Accelerationists want to push these processes to their limit.
- Desiring-production: a view of desire as a powerful, productive force shaped by social and economic systems.
- Hyperstition: ideas that start as fiction or rumor but can become real through their influence on culture and technology.
- Inhumanism / antihumanism: some accelerationists reject human-centered thinking, aiming for forms of intelligence or social organization beyond present human limits.
- Prometheanism: the belief that reason and technology can overcome natural limits, often with a sense that humans should expand capabilities even if it changes or ends traditional human life as we know it.
- Rationalist inhumanism: a version of thinking that uses rational methods to transform humanity into something less tied to current human conditions.
- Xenofeminism: a feminist-left approach that uses technology to challenge gender essentialism and broaden liberation, often seen as compatible with left-accelerationism.
- Effective accelerationism (e/acc): a strand influenced by effective altruism, pushing for unrestricted progress to solve big problems, sometimes contrasting with calls to regulate or slow down AI risk.

Notable threads and influences
- Deleuze and Guattari: their ideas about desire and deterritorialization deeply shaped accelerationist thinking.
- Nick Land and the CCRU: a controversial, highly influential precursor that emphasized fast, impersonal forces in capitalism and technology.
- Mark Fisher and hauntology: explored cultural futures that never arrived, influencing left-accelerationist hopes to reclaim unrealized possibilities.
- Left-accelerationists like Srnicek and Williams: argued for using capitalism’s own tech to move beyond it, with policies like automation, universal basic income, and more coordinated political infrastructure.
- Xenofeminists (Laboria Cuboniks) and techno-feminist ideas: linked gender liberation to tech and science.

Critiques and cautions
- Mixed goals and methods: accelerationism contains both hopeful plans for a better future and apocalyptic or sensational ideas, which has led to confusion and disagreement.
- Risk of abuse: some right-leaning strands have been linked to authoritarian tendencies and to the use of violence or destabilization as political tactics.
- Public reception: critics warn that certain accelerationist ideas can glorify the destruction of existing systems without offering clear, humane alternatives.
- Debates about Marx and beyond: some thinkers read Marx as compatible with accelerationist goals, while others argue accelerationism moves past traditional Marxist limits.

Where accelerationism stands today
- The CCRU’s core era is often treated as a landmark but finished chapter; newer work revisits it to address AI, big data, and global tech networks.
- Left-accelerationism remains active in debates about automation, jobs, universal basic income, and how to steer technology toward social good.
- Right-accelerationism and neoreactionary currents connect to broader debates about democracy, governance, and long-term technological power.
- Controversies continue, including how to handle the potential dangers of rapid technological change and how to avoid repeating the mistakes of earlier political movements.

Bottom line
Accelerationism is a broad, contested set of ideas about using capitalism’s own force for transformative ends. It splits into left and right camps, with debates over technology, democracy, human future, and how fast or in what direction to push change. It remains a live topic in philosophy, political theory, and discussions about AI, automation, and the future of work.