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 "theory-fiction" 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 like Bataille, Marx, such as 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.

Land resigned from Warwick in 1998, after which he moved to China.^[9] Later, he re-emerged as a figure on the political right, becoming a foundational thinker in the neo-reactionary movement known as the Dark Enlightenment. His related writings have explored anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic ideas.