Céline Keller

The day after Trump’s election I traveled to Bonn to give a presentation at the Conference 'Development Beyond Growth' about ‘Who Is Afraid of Degrowth?’, effective accelerationism and the tech broligarchs joining forces with the Atlas Network and Project 2025.

According to Julia Steinberger, Professor of Societal Challenges of Climate Change at the University of Lausanne, and political graphic artist, expert in wealth-warped worldviews and climate activist Céline Keller, we have entered a new economic era: that of ‘cataclysm capitalism’—a merger of neoliberal and far-right ideology espoused by the ‘tech bros’ of Silicon Valley. Going even beyond previous neoliberal efforts to curb the capacity of democracies to enact pro-social and pro-environmental regulation, cataclysm capitalism dispenses with any illusion of ultimately serving the greater good. Entire categories of human beings are deemed dispensable, along with a livable planet. The authors argue our current politics and academia are ill-equipped to face the speed and scale of this new threat. To counter it, more people need to understand what we are up against, and organise around a positive alternative vision worth fighting for.

"Meine Präsentation wird deshalb auch aus 2 Teilen bestehen.

Im ersten Teil werde ich, über den Zusammenhang von KI, TechnoFaschismus, und dem was Francesca Albanese in ihrem UN Bericht 2025 als eine Ökonomie des Völkermordes bezeichnete, reden. Ich werde den Begriff jedoch etwas genereller verwenden, und argumentieren, dass solch eine Ökonomie des Völkemordes, die logische Folge unseres Wirtschaftssystems darstellt und schon jetzt “What happens in Gaza” nicht in Gaza bleibt.

Im zweiten Teil wird es darum gehen, wie wir statt der Zukunftsdystopien der Tech Bros, unsere eigenen Utopien und Wünsche ins Jetzt holen können. Mein Ziel ist es, dass ihr nach meinem Vortrag, falls ihr das nicht eh schon tut selbst hinterfragt, und mit anderen darüber redet, ob es wirklich so etwas wie neutrale Technologie geben kann. Brauchen wir einfach nur die richtigen Gesetze und Regeln, um das immer wieder beschworene Potential “künstlicher Intelligenz” Gutes zu schaffen, endlich zu entfesseln?
Oder muss statt dessen Technologie, von Anfang an und in ihrer Struktur selbst, die Werte wieder spiegeln, die sie schaffen soll?"

From MontPélérin to Silicon Valley: The Rise and Reign of Anti-Scientific
Doomsday Ideologies"
Chair: Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne

The rise and dominance of neoliberalism since the 1950s is now bearing strange and extreme
fruit, of mortal danger to sustainability transitions. Alliances of conviction and patronage
between mega fortunes and neoliberal theorists launched an armada of think tanks, many
funded and coordinated by the shadowy Atlas Network, pushing neoliberal ideology alongside
climate denial-delay. The success of this movement, in terms of rising inequality and an
accelerating climate crisis, is hard to overstate. Meanwhile, influenced by neoliberalism's
individualism and even social Darwinism, Silicon Valley is infested by a new AI cult drawing
on a combination of eugenics, fascist thought, apocalyptic mindset, neo-reactionary
Catholicism, belief in own supremacy, and madness. A common element of this neoliberal
extremism and "end-times tech fascism" potpourri is lack of empathy. While its unclear how
much AI is a tool and how much AI is their master, the confluence of technology and cult
results in problematic considerations for human priorities, even survival. Here, we first want
to invite contributions aiming to understanding the ideological and religious character of the
new neoliberal-AI cult, and its implications. Second, we invite ideas on how to counter these
(pseudo-) religious thoughts by other narratives and ideas. In this session, we are not
interested in pragmatic requlation, but mainly in religion, philosophy and storytelling,
Speakers:
Felix Creutzig, MCC Berlin
Julia Steinberger, University of Lausanne
Céline Keller, Graphic Artist and Science Communicator
Christian Arnsperger, University of Lausanne, tbc
Matthias Schmelzer, Universität Flensburg

For a transcript and further information and background reading material, please visit: WHY THE ZOMBIE HAUNTS THE CYBORG - UNVEILING THE INHERENT RACISM OF TRANSHUMANISM @RE:PUBLICA 2018 #RP18

For more information, links to further reading and a transcript, please visit:
The Utopian Impulse & Its Trouble with Postmodernity (Fredric Jameson) re:publica #RP17

A transcript of my presentation for Utopia, Now! The sixth symposium of the Imaginaries of the Future Leverhulme International Research Network, Chelsea College of Arts, London, 29th- 31st August 2017
You can find a audio recording of my presentation here:
http://www.krustelkram.com/utopian-dreaming/2017/9/12/utopia-now-audio-recordings

I was invited to present and take part in a panel about IP exploitation and the creative industries.
It wasn't recorded but you can read what I had to say.