A Coalition Of Apocalyptic Ideologies: When Exploited Beliefs Serve Financial Interests

Part One (2020)

Network Contagion’s report outlining the viral spread of the Boogaloo Boi meme, and its influence on real life outcomes, described the Boogaloo Bois as an “apocalyptic militia ideology”. This description is well suited and can be drawn out to illustrate how the Boogaloo Bois are situated the within the wider Accelerationist movement.

Recent analysis of Accelerationism in media, academic, and counter terror circles have presented the phenomena as inherently right wing; emphasizing the ethnocentric and nationalist views espoused by Nick Land. Landian theory has certainly become the dominant form of Accelerationism; what we’ve come to understand as Neo Reactionary (NRx) Accelerationism or, colloquially, the Dark Enlightenment. This focus on only one school of thought, within a larger philosophical framework, prevents us from understanding why Accelerationism has such viral potential as a form of memetic warfare. Not only do we not see the forest through the trees in understanding its appeal, but we set ourselves up to be caught off guard by not fully appreciating the nature of the beliefs, the mechanisms by which they are spread, and the extent to which they are already embedded in our society. 

To truly understand the nature of Accelerationism and where we sit, as a nation, relative to it, we must look to what is a remarkably broad body of writing. Here, we can see the ways that Accelerationists have been at odds with one another, and how they have schism’d. Much in the way that the Christians believe different versions of, fundamentally, the same Abrahamic religion, Accelerationists have taken on different interpretations of the same fundamental belief system.

NeoReaction- NRx

The concept of Accelerationism was born of Science Fiction. In 1967, Roger Zelazny, in his novel Lord of Light, coined the term Accelerationist to describe

“a group of revolutionaries who wanted to take their society ‘to a higher level’ by suddenly transforming its attitude to technology.” 

This desire to elevate technological advancement has been the driving theme throughout the history of Accelerationism. This concept endured through decades of Science Fiction mythology; the androids of Blade Runner or the self governance of SkyNet, for example. 

Throughout the second half of the 20th c, Science Fiction has focused largely on either damaged humans finding ways to transcend their vulnerabilities by physically incorporating technology or the fear of technological advancement eventually leading to human subservience-the solution to which is often for the human to become part machine. The idea of the human body becoming fused with technology is known as Transhumanism. 

This fixation on the societal impact of technological advancement should make clear why a philosophy centered around society’s interaction with technology might be so popular- technology is central to the human experience. From WiFi connected refrigerators, to phones we never put down, to the mini surveillance state we sign up for with Alexa or Nest, to Social Media- platform of civil discourse; we are at the mercy of an internet connection and affordability of devices. 

As technology and economy have grown more intrinsically connected, Accelerationism has become more and more focused on not just the desire to hurtle toward a fully automated society, but to free capitalism from the boundaries of regulation and, in keeping with the memetic theme, achieve final form. That is to say that, at its root, Accelerationism states that humanity is hindered by the constraints we put on our ability to advance at the fastest possible rate; we should aim to move beyond those social constructs seen as barriers to transcending our human weaknesses.

This sort of unrestricted movement lends itself, quite nicely, to the Libertarian ideals of deregulation, a free market, elimination of taxation, and an understanding of freedom and property rights closely aligned with those of John Locke The danger we now face was set in motion as Accelerationism and Libertarianism found each other, as natural allies, in the writings of Nick Land.

In the early 1990’s Land could be found on the campus of Warwick University, speaking to small groups of students in the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU) about a philosophy which he derived from a variety of romantic and ill fated historical moments. Like the Italian Futurists who followed their passion for technology into a lust for war machines, Nick Land created a mythos that allowed its adherents to feel powerful. This was the philosophical embodiment of the Science Fiction trope that led to Transhumanism. 

Land fancied himself a Philosopher King, seemingly oblivious to Plato’s warning that virtue, wisdom, and justice are subjective. Land embraced a Hobbesian view of man’s nature as a state of war which needed an absolute leader to maintain control of the Leviathan (society). Social Darwinism was incorporated to justify the desire to eliminate the social safety net. Land believed in more than just survival of the fittest, though. Land believed in a genetic hierarchy. Through eugenics, technology could make humans perfect while relegating to a life of suffering those whose perceived lack of genetic sufficiency prevented them from “succeeding”.

As Nick Land introduced college students to this philosophy, purporting to be based in a a quantitative understanding of human existence, the internet was rapidly expanding its reach. Online influence on culture became indelible in the blink of an eye. We all remember AOL with their 1500 free minute discs, jealously hoarded by teens and college students using Instant Messenger to keep in touch with friends. Hacker culture, once the realm of geeks, nerds, and phreaks who found happiness quietly making things work...differently, found themselves in the spotlight in 1995, with Zero Cool screaming “hack the planet!” to theaters across the country. 2600 subscriptions skyrocketed. IRC was the playground of insomniacs, misfits, trouble makers, and more than one SysAdmin. Schools began to require students to take computer based classes. This sudden explosion in freedom to communicate information and ideas not only laid the groundwork for the growing appeal of Accelerationism, but the infrastructure that allows for the virility of a meme and the insidious flashes of meaning  across a spectrum of subcultures that ensue when a meme goes viral.

In 1992, just as Land was drawing young people into Accelerationism using CCRU’s study of rave, drug, and internet culture to appeal to college undergrads’ newfound autonomy, Peter Thiel was graduating Stanford Law. Thiel soon walked away from a career in law and started Thiel Capital Management Fund in 1996. In 1998, Thiel started PayPal with Elon Musk and Max Levchin. This was the same year Nick Land vanished from academia. Thiel went on to invest in many of the tech companies we use to communicate every day including Facebook and Twitter. Thiel also invests heavily in online news media. From bitcoin mining servers in Kazakhstan to mass surveillance program Palantir, the billionaire Libertarian has his money and his tech in virtually every facet of our lives. Thiel has played an outsized role in building the internet we recognize today. In Nick Land’s technocracy, Peter Thiel is the Philosopher King.

I’ve got some more work to do on Part 2 which will cover the way NeoReaction functions as a global network and some of the ways it’s funded.