Silicon Valley's sovereign individuals and the rise of occult politics

Hager Weslati

Silicon Valley's sovereign individuals and the rise of occult politics

Hager Weslati (Contributor)

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

Abstract

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bensaïd did not believe that philosophical thinking had to be redefined within the horizon of terror (after September 11). He nonetheless considered the normalization of the state of exception as a dangerous development, and a major driving force towards de-secularisation and de-politicisation. This talk looks into parallels and possible links between the recent resurgence of a distinctive brand of populist reason amongst alt-right groups in Europe and North America, and the spread of esoteric occultism and new age spiritualism amongst Silicon Valley‘s second generation of tech elites.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 11 Nov 2018
Event	15th Annual Historical Materialism Conference 'Taking on the Right' - London, U.K. Duration: 8 Nov 2018 → 11 Nov 2018

Conference

Conference	15th Annual Historical Materialism Conference 'Taking on the Right'
Period	8/11/18 → 11/11/18

Bibliographical note

Impact: The paper was presented at the 15th annual Historical Materialism conference 'Taking on the Right' (8-11 November 2018) at SOAS University of London. The presentation was part of a panel co-organised with independent researcher Darren Roso for the 'Strategy Stream' [Panel title:Profane Politics and the Uncertainties of the In-Between'] The panel was also an apportunity to promote the forthcoming translation of Daneil Bensaid 's In Praise of Profane Politics (Brill, Historical Materialism series, June 2019)

Organising Body: Historical Materialism in collaboration with the Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Committee

Keywords

Communication, cultural and media studies

Cite this

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ER -

Silicon Valley's sovereign individuals and the rise of occult politics

Abstract

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Cite this