#Accelerate I:
The Accelerationist Reader

Instructor: Mohammad Salemy & Jason Adams Guests: Diann Bauer, Benjamin Noys, Nick Srnicek, & Ross Wolfe Credit: Module: 1 of 2 Date & Time: September & October 2014

“The Most important division in today’s left is between those that hold to a folk politics of localism, direct action, and relentless horizontalism, and those that outline what must be called an accelerationist politics at ease with the modernity of abstraction, complexity, globality, and technology.” -Alex Williams and Nick Srnicek

DESCRIPTION: This two part seminar will introduce the concepts of acceleration and accelerationism through the reading of the newly published book #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader (Urbanomic/ Merve Verlag, 2014). The seminar follows the thematic structure of the book, focusing on concepts that anticipate, formulate, and shape the future of left accelerationist thought. It will examine and respond to the core accelerationist arguments and terminology proposed in the Reader which are becoming increasingly influential on political and theoretical debates. For example, the insufficiency of local politics in light of larger global problems; the failures of the Western left, both Marxist and poststructuralist; challenging the onslaught of neoliberalism; the rejection of the total destruction of capitalism; the proposal for salvaging usable parts of the current geopolitical system in our post capitalist future; and, finally, the embrace of science and technology both as practical but also as conceptual tools for restructuring the humanities and cultural studies. The wide historical spectrum which the volume suggests for Accelerationism allows this two-part seminar to focus on materials from Marx, Veblen, Deleuze, Comte, and Lyotard, to more contemporary sources contemplating capitalism and technology, such as the Cybernetic Cultures Research Unit (CCRU), Nick Land, Ray Brassier and Reza Negarestani. This Fall seminar will also feature conversations with some of the contributors to the volume as well as its skeptics who have partaken in the shaping of the accelerationist discourse.

You cannot enroll in this Seminar because it has already been completed. To become a Monthly Memebr of The New Centre and watch the related videos, click here to go to PayPal and subscribe:

To see The New Centre Refund Policy CLICK HERE.