The neo-fascist philosophy that underpins both the alt-

right and Silicon Valley technophiles

By Olivia Goldhill • June 18, 2017

/ CARLO ALLEGRI

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 REUTERS/
Before the alt right, there was Dark Enlightenment.

From the outside, America’s alt right is a nebulous movement based on racism, nationalism,
and white supremacy. In contrast, the tech elites in Silicon Valley look like a relatively
worldly bunch, despite the calls from some quarters of the valley to break away from the
plebeian masses of the US.

But despite their differences, strands of the two groups share strong links to “Dark
Enlightenment,” an obscure neo-fascist philosophy started by a British academic in the
1990s.

The birth of a manifesto

The primary gure behind Dark Enlightenment is Nick Land, who was a philosophy
professor at Warwick University until he quit academia in 1998. His work is a form of
“accelerationism” (broadly speaking, a belief that the tools of capitalism and technology
should be sped up and dramatically enhanced) and he was, for a time, something of a cult
gure for his work on internet and cyber culture.

While at Warwick, Land was part of “Cybernetic Culture Research Unit,” which explored
drugs, raves, and science ction, and was af liated with such notable gures as the
philosopher Sadie Plant and the artists Jake and Dinos Chapman. Land has never been a
typical academic, and that shows in his writing. His Dark Enlightenment manifesto,
published online in 2012, is orid, contradictory, and opaque.

Land’s writings on in his blog and twitter can read like an alt-right rant, and comment
sections on the far-right outlet Breitbart are apt to mention his work. Academic writers and
former students of Land’s have expressed ideas that are vaguely in uenced by Dark
Enlightenment. Others are more outspoken: One philosopher with clearly Landian ideas,
Jason Reza Jorjani, who lectures at New Jersey Institute of Technology, is co-founder of
altright.com and spoke at a white nationalist meeting led by Richard Spencer.

What are the tenets of Dark Enlightenment theory? There are a few consistent themes,
circling around technology, warfare, feudalism, corporate power, and racism. “It’s an
acceleration of capitalism to a fascist point,” says Benjamin Noys, a critical theory professor
at the University of Chichester and author of Malign Velocities: Accelerationism and
Capitalism.

Read full
Those who have studied Dark Enlightenment story an almost cult-like vision of a
describe
dystopian future “It is a worship of corporate power to the extent that corporate power

silicon valley, alt-right, fascist, nick land, dark enlightenment

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