2026-02-05
My views on e/acc by Nick Land
Disclaimer
- Quick Note
- Creating this stub so I actually sit and write the article latter.
Main
- People's views
- I have lot of respect for Nick Land's position that ASI is inevitable and nothing can be done to stop it, and how this ties into broader arguments around why tech progress is inevitable.
- Many Silicon Valley founders who as of 2026 claim to be e/acc don't actually have a consistent ideological position they've put time into. But atleast a few people have put time into it (including Land himself).
- A very similar view to believing ASI is inevitable is believing that only an extremely anti-tech ideology (like 16th century christianity during newton, or the amish today) can stop ASI, and no compromise position is possible.
- My views
- In the short run (>10 years), I think we have empirical evidence of specific tech being both accelerated and decelerated by specific people. Many inventions would have been delayed by atleast a few years if their inventors didn't invent them. (Imagine they dropped dead or something, for an alternative future.) Some specific inventions have been delayed for some years, such as human gene cloning or human genetic engg, or CFCs.
- In the long run (>100 years), I don't think we have good empirical evidence of anyone intentionally accelerating or decelerating any technology. (It is possible I haven't read enough.) Most of my ideas for how to do so (US-China coordination over centuries, new world religion, improved coordination via zero privacy) are historically unprecedented.
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