Nick Land
Nick Land (born 14 March 1962) is an English
philosopher who has been described as "the Godfather
of accelerationism".[2] His work has been tied to the
development of speculative realism,[3][4] and departs
from the formal conventions of academic writing,
incorporating unorthodox and esoteric influences.[5]
Much of his writing was anthologized in the 2011
collection Fanged Noumena.
In the 1990s, Land was closely affiliated with the
Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU), a "theoryfiction" collective co-founded by Land and
cyberfeminist philosopher Sadie Plant at the University
of Warwick.[6][7] During this era, Land drew inspiration
from post-structuralist theory and leftist thinkers such
as Bataille, Marx, and Deleuze & Guattari as well as
science fiction, rave culture, and the occult.[8] He also
coined the term "hyperstition" to refer to memetic ideas
which bring about their own reality.
Nick Land
Born
14 March 1962
Nationality British
Era
Contemporary philosophy
Region
Western philosophy
School
Continental philosophy[1]
Accelerationism
Dark Enlightenment
Institutions University of Warwick
Main
interests
Acceleration · nihilism ·
materialism · cybernetics ·
antihumanism · cyberpunk ·
horror
Notable
ideas
Accelerationism
Land resigned from Warwick in 1998. Following a period of amphetamine abuse, he suffered a
breakdown in the early 2000s and subsequently moved to Asia.[9] After several years, he remerged as
a figure on the political right, becoming a founding thinker in the neo-reactionary movement known
as the Dark Enlightenment. His related writings have explored anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic
ideas.
Biography
Land obtained a PhD in 1987 in the University of Essex under David Farrell Krell, with a thesis on
Heidegger's 1953 essay Die Sprache im Gedicht, which is about Georg Trakl's work.[10] He began as a
lecturer in Continental philosophy at the University of Warwick from 1987 until his resignation in
1998.[5] In 1992, he published The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent
Nihilism.[11] Land published an abundance of shorter texts, many in the 1990s during his time with
the CCRU.[6] The majority of these articles were compiled in the retrospective collection Fanged
Noumena, published in 2011.
At Warwick, Land and Sadie Plant co-founded the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU), an
interdisciplinary research group described by philosopher Graham Harman as "a diverse group of
thinkers who experimented in conceptual production by welding together a wide variety of sources:
futurism, technoscience, philosophy, mysticism, numerology, complexity theory, and science fiction,
among others".[12] During his time at Warwick, Land participated in Virtual Futures, a series of cyberculture conferences. Virtual Futures 96 was advertised as "an anti-disciplinary event" and "a
conference in the post-humanities". One session involved Nick Land "lying on the ground, croaking
into a mic", recalls Robin Mackay, while Mackay played jungle records in the background."[9] He was
also the thesis advisor of some PhD students.[13] Following his resignation, the CCRU continued
meeting under his leadership. In the early 2000s, Land suffered a breakdown after a period of
"fanatical" amphetamine abuse.[9]
Land taught at the New Centre for Research & Practice until March 2017, when the Centre ended its
relationship with him "following several tweets by Land this year in which he espoused intolerant
opinions about Muslims and immigrants".[14]
As of 2017, Land resided in Shanghai.[15]
Concepts and influence
Early work
Land's work with CCRU, as well as his pre-Dark Enlightenment writings, have all been influential to
the political philosophy of accelerationism, an idea resembling that of the "fatal strategy" of "ecstasy"
in the earlier work of Jean Baudrillard, where "a system is abolished only by pushing it into
hyperlogic, by forcing it into an excessive practice which is equivalent to a brutal amortization." Along
with the other members of CCRU, Land wove together ideas from the occult, cybernetics, science
fiction, and poststructuralist philosophy to try to describe the phenomena of techno-capitalist
acceleration.
Land coined the term "hyperstition", a portmanteau of "superstition" and "hyper", to describe
something which "is equipoised between fiction and technology". According to Land, hyperstitions are
ideas that, by their very existence as ideas, bring about their own reality.[16][17]
Later work
Land's Dark Enlightenment philosophy (also known as neo-reactionary movement and abbreviated
NRx) opposes egalitarianism. According to reporter Dylan Matthews, Land believes democracy
restricts accountability and freedom.[18] Shuja Haider notes, "His sequence of essays setting out its
principles have become the foundation of the NRx canon."[17]
His writing has variously discussed themes of scientific racism and eugenics, or what he briefly called
"hyper-racism".[19][20][21][22] Land's current version of accelerationism incorporates explicitly racist
views; since late 2016, he has increasingly been recognised as an inspiration for the alt-right.[23]
Land disputes that the NRx is a movement, and defines the alt-right as distinct from the NRx.[24]
Reception and influence
Mark Fisher, a British cultural theorist and student of Land's, argued in 2011 that Land's greatest
impact so far had been on music and art, rather than on philosophy. The musician Kode9, the artist
Jake Chapman, and others studied with or describe their influence by Land, often highlighting Land's
inhuman, "technilist", or "delirious" qualities. Fisher underscores in particular how Land's personality
during the 1990s could catalyze changes in those engaging with his work through what Kodwo Eshun
describes as a manner "immediately open, egalitarian, and absolutely unaffected by academic
protocol" which could dramatise "theory as a geopolitico-historical epic".[6]
Nihilist philosopher Ray Brassier, also formerly from the University of Warwick, stated in 2017 that
"Nick Land has gone from arguing 'Politics is dead', 20 years ago, to this completely old-fashioned,
standard reactionary stuff."[25]
Books
Heidegger's 'Die Sprache im Gedicht' and the Cultivation of the Grapheme (https://ethos.bl.uk/Ord
erDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.379384) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201031023447/htt
ps://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.379384) 31 October 2020 at the Wayback
Machine (PhD Thesis, University of Essex, 1987)
The Thirst For Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (An Essay in Atheistic Religion)
(https://books.google.com/books?id=ts7ixS9roP0C) (London and New York: Routledge, 1992)
Machinic Postmodernism: Complexity, Technics and Regulation (https://books.google.com/books?
id=GBTvkQEACAAJ) (with Keith Ansell-Pearson & Joseph A. McCahery) (SAGE Publications,
1996)
The Shanghai World Expo Guide 2010 (China Intercontinental Press, 2010)
Shanghai Basics (China Intercontinental Press, 2010)
Land, Nick (2011). Mackay, Robin; Brassier, Ray (eds.). Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings
1987-2007. London: Urbanomic. ISBN 978-0955308789.
Calendric Dominion (Urbanatomy Electronic, 2013)
Suspended Animation (Urbanatomy Electronic, 2013)
Fission (https://www.urbanomic.com/book/fission/) (Urbanomic, 2014)
Templexity: Disordered Loops through Shanghai Time (Urbanatomy Electronic, 2014)
Phyl-Undhu: Abstract Horror, Exterminator (Time Spiral Press, 2014)
Shanghai Times (Urbanatomy Electronic, 2014) ASIN B00IGKZPBA (https://www.amazon.com/dp/
B00IGKZPBA).
Dragon Tales: Glimpses of Chinese Culture (Urbanatomy Electronic, 2014) ASIN B00JNDHBGQ
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JNDHBGQ).
Xinjiang Horizons (Urbanatomy Electronic, 2014) ASIN B00JNDHDVY (https://www.amazon.com/
dp/B00JNDHDVY).
Chasm (Time Spiral Press, 2015) ASIN B019HBZ2Q4 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019HBZ2Q
4).
The Dark Enlightenment (Imperium Press, 2022) ISBN 978-1922602688
Xenosystems (Passage Publishing, 2024) ASIN B0D8MNTVHY (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D
8MNTVHY)
Urban Future (Noumena Institute, 2025) ISBN 978-1922602688
Outsideness: 2013–2023 (Noumena Institute, 2025) ISBN 978-0646712703
References
1. Fisher, Mark (2014) [2012]. "Terminator vs Avatar". In Mackay, Robin; Avanessian, Armen (eds.).
#Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader. pp. 341–2.
2. Beckett, Andy (11 May 2017). "Accelerationism: How a fringe philosophy predicted the future we
live in" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy
-predicted-the-future-we-live-in). The Guardian. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202204110
30541/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophypredicted-the-future-we-live-in) from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
3. Mackay, Robin; Avanessian, Armen (2014). "Introduction". In Mackay, Robin; Avanessian, Armen
(eds.). #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader (http://www.urbanomic.com/Publications/Accelerat
e/Accelerate-Introduction.pdf) (PDF). Falmouth: Urbanomic. pp. 1–46. ISBN 978-0-9575295-5-7.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20141227221900/http://www.urbanomic.com/Publications/A
ccelerate/Accelerate-Introduction.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 27 December 2014. Retrieved
2 January 2015.
4. Mackay, Robin; Brassier, Ray (2018). "Editors' Introduction". Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings
1987–2007 (6 ed.). Urbanomic. p. 8. ISBN 9780955308789.
5. Mackay, Robin (27 February 2013). "Nick Land – An Experiment in Inhumanism" (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20201125021229/http://divus.cc/london/en/article/nick-land-ein-experiment-im-inhuma
nismus). Divus. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020.
6. Fisher, Mark (1 June 2011). "Nick Land: Mind Games" (http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandcultur
e/article/10459/1/nick-land-mind-games). Dazed and Confused. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20180609120705/http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/10459/1/nick-land-mindgames) from the original on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
7. Land, Nick (2011). Fanged Noumena: Collected Writings 1987–2007. Introduction by Ray Brassier
and Robin Mackay. Falmouth: Urbanomic. ISBN 978-0955308789.
8. Wark, McKenzie. "On Nick Land" (https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/3284-on-nick-land?srs
ltid=AfmBOorZol4tHY0cUSqa5US3lJfSuyzjupEhrmTKqQMfDL3vx66v8VCf). Verso. Retrieved
23 January 2025.
9. Beckett, Andy (11 May 2017). "Accelerationism: how a fringe philosophy predicted the future we
live in" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy
-predicted-the-future-we-live-in). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/
0261-3077). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220411030541/https://www.theguardian.co
m/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy-predicted-the-future-we-live-in)
from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
10. Acknowledgement section of Heidegger's 'Die Sprache im Gedicht' and the Cultivation of the
Grapheme (https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.379384) Archived (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20201031023447/https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.379384) 31
October 2020 at the Wayback Machine (PhD Thesis, University of Essex, 1987)
11. Wark, McKenzie (20 June 2017). "On Nick Land" (https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3284-on-nic
k-land). Verso Books. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190714222143/https://www.versob
ooks.com/blogs/3284-on-nick-land) from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
12. Harman, Graham (2011). The Speculative Turn: Continental Materialism and Realism (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=coBDqJQeAQYC&q=%22a+diverse+group+of+thinkers+who+experiment
ed+in+conceptual+production+by+welding+together+a+wide+variety+of+sources%3A+futurism%
2C+technoscience%2C+philosophy%2C+mysticism%2C+numerology%2C+complexity+theory%2
C+and+science+fiction%2C+among+others.%22&pg=PA6). re.press. ISBN 978-0980668346 – via
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13. Sawhney, Deepak Narang (May 1996). Axiomatics : the apparatus of capitalism (http://webcat.war
wick.ac.uk/record=b1402738~S15) (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Warwick.
14. "Statement on Nick Land" (https://www.facebook.com/thenewcentre/posts/644026572465531).
Facebook. 29 March 2017. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190907225256/https://www.fa
cebook.com/thenewcentre/posts/644026572465531) from the original on 7 September 2019.
Retrieved 14 July 2019.
15. "Accelerationism: how a fringe philosophy predicted the future we live in" (https://www.theguardia
n.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy-predicted-the-future-we-live-i
n). The Guardian. 11 May 2017. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170511050642/https://w
ww.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy-predicted-the-fu
ture-we-live-in) from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
16. Carstens, Delphi; Land, Nick (2009). "Hyperstition: An Introduction: Delphi Carstens interviews
Nick Land" (https://www.orphandriftarchive.com/articles/hyperstition-an-introduction/). Orphan Drift
Archive. Archived (https://archive.today/20201208185054/https://www.orphandriftarchive.com/artic
les/hyperstition-an-introduction/) from the original on 8 December 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
17. Haider, Shuja (28 March 2017). "The Darkness at the End of the Tunnel: Artificial Intelligence and
Neoreaction" (https://www.viewpointmag.com/2017/03/28/the-darkness-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-ar
tificial-intelligence-and-neoreaction/). Viewpoint Magazine. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
20171013172504/https://www.viewpointmag.com/2017/03/28/the-darkness-at-the-end-of-the-tunn
el-artificial-intelligence-and-neoreaction/) from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved
13 October 2017.
18. Matthews, Dylan (25 August 2016). "Alt-right explained" (https://www.vox.com/2016/4/18/1143409
8/alt-right-explained). Vox. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170831155255/https://www.vo
x.com/2016/4/18/11434098/alt-right-explained) from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved
13 June 2017.
19. Burrows, Roger (10 June 2020). "On Neoreaction" (https://www.thesociologicalreview.com/on-neo
reaction/). The Sociological Review. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201221004210/http
s://www.thesociologicalreview.com/on-neoreaction/) from the original on 21 December 2020.
Retrieved 11 June 2020.
20. Topinka, Robert (14 October 2019). " "Back to a Past that Was Futuristic": The Alt-Right and the
Uncanny Form of Racism" (http://www.boundary2.org/2019/10/robert-topinka-back-to-a-past-thatwas-futuristic-the-alt-right-and-the-uncanny-form-of-racism/). b2o. Archived (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20191028121430/http://www.boundary2.org/2019/10/robert-topinka-back-to-a-past-that-wa
s-futuristic-the-alt-right-and-the-uncanny-form-of-racism/) from the original on 28 October 2019.
Retrieved 28 October 2019. "Land proposes an acceleration of the "explicitly superior" and
already "genetically self-filtering elite" through a system of "assortative mating" that would offer a
"class-structured mechanism for population diremption, on a vector toward neo-speciation"."
21. Burrows, Roger (2018). "Urban Futures and The Dark Enlightenment: A Brief Guide for the
Perplexed". In Jacobs, Keith; Malpas, Jeff (eds.). Towards a Philosophy of the City:
Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Perspectives. London: Rowman & Littlefield.
22. Land, Nick (4 October 2014). "HYPER-RACISM" (https://web.archive.org/web/20141007023855/ht
tp://alternative-right.blogspot.com/2014/10/hyper-racism.html). Archived from the original (http://alt
ernative-right.blogspot.com/2014/10/hyper-racism.html) on 7 October 2014.
23. Bacharach, Jacob (23 November 2016). "I Was a Teenage Nazi Wannabe" (https://newrepublic.co
m/article/138983/teenage-nazi-wannabe). The New Republic. Archived (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20191216234035/https://newrepublic.com/article/138983/teenage-nazi-wannabe) from the
original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
York, Chris (25 November 2016). "What Is The Alt-Right Movement And Who Is In It? The
Frightening Rise And Rise Of The White Nationalists" (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/
what-is-the-alt-right_uk_58371275e4b0b60ceeaa01ae). HuffPost UK. Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20180124055616/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/what-is-the-alt-right_uk_
58371275e4b0b60ceeaa01ae) from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 12 November
2019.
Gray, Rosie (10 February 2017). "Behind the Internet's Anti-Democracy Movement" (https://ww
w.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/behind-the-internets-dark-anti-democracy-movemen
t/516243/). The Atlantic. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20190630170019/https://www.t
heatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/behind-the-internets-dark-anti-democracy-movement/5
16243/) from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
Blincoe, Nicholas (18 May 2017). "Nick Land: the Alt-writer" (https://www.prospectmagazine.c
o.uk/philosophy/nick-land-the-alt-writer). Prospect Magazine. Archived (https://web.archive.or
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Goldhill, Olivia (18 June 2017). "The neo-fascist philosophy that underpins both the alt-right
and Silicon Valley technophiles" (https://qz.com/1007144/the-neo-fascist-philosophy-that-unde
rpins-both-the-alt-right-and-silicon-valley-technophiles/). Quartz. Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20170618123305/https://qz.com/1007144/the-neo-fascist-philosophy-that-underpins-b
oth-the-alt-right-and-silicon-valley-technophiles/) from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved
12 November 2019. ". He advocates for racial separation under the belief that "elites" will
enhance their IQs by associating only with each other."
Duesterberg, James (2 July 2017). "Final Fantasy: Neoreactionary politics and the liberal
imagination" (https://thepointmag.com/politics/final-fantasy-neoreactionary-politics-liberal-imagi
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October 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
Topinka, Robert (14 October 2019). "Back to a Past that Was Futuristic: The Alt-Right and the
Uncanny Form of Racism" (https://www.boundary2.org/2019/10/robert-topinka-back-to-a-past-t
hat-was-futuristic-the-alt-right-and-the-uncanny-form-of-racism/). b2o. Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20210423052820/http://www.boundary2.org/2019/10/robert-topinka-back-to-a-p
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Beauchamp, Zack (18 November 2019). "Accelerationism: the obscure idea inspiring white
supremacist killers around the world/" (https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/11/11/2088200
5/accelerationism-white-supremacy-christchurch). Vox. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
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24. Gray, Rosie (10 February 2017). "The Anti-Democracy Movement Influencing the Right" (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20190630170019/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/behindthe-internets-dark-anti-democracy-movement/516243/). The Atlantic. Archived from the original on
30 June 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
25. Beckett, Andy (11 May 2017). "Accelerationism: how a fringe philosophy predicted the future we
live in" (https://web.archive.org/web/20220411030541/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/m
ay/11/accelerationism-how-a-fringe-philosophy-predicted-the-future-we-live-in). The Guardian.
Archived from the original (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/11/accelerationism-howa-fringe-philosophy-predicted-the-future-we-live-in) on 11 April 2022.
External links
Outsideness Newsletter (https://zerophilosophy.substack.com) (Land's Substack newsletter)
Outside In (https://web.archive.org/web/20200810122512/https://xenosystems.net/) (Land's Dark
Enlightenment blog, archived from the original (https://www.xenosystems.net) on 2020-08-10)
Urban Future (2.1) (https://web.archive.org/web/20200810120043/https://www.uf-blog.net/)
(Land's accelerationism blog, archived from the original (https://www.uf-blog.net) on 2020-08-10)
@xenocosmography (https://x.com/xenocosmography) (Land's Twitter account)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nick_Land&oldid=1282083375"