Responding to the work of Bataille, Nick Land’s The Thirst For Annihilation was the first English language attempt to respond to the philosopher. Perhaps, this is already a fool’s errand, something which Land himself points out, though Bataille’s concerns lie amongst the religious, the erotic and myth. Land seeks to use Bataille’s philosophy in order to examine what he refers to as our, humanities, ‘thirst for annihilation’, That is to say, the accelerationist urge to push forward to self destruction so that the world can start over, so that capitalism is forced to reset.
Later in life, Land has unfortunately become a right-wing reactionary, however The Thirst For Annihilation is more nuanced. The philosophy is undoubtedly edgy, and Land’s stance is extreme. There is a danger of sliding into ecofascism, and thus there is much to be critiqued about Land’s philosophy. However, in positioning The Thirst For Annihilation is the abstract I am able to consider the implications of a technological capitalism, and how we can consider alternative versions of a future outside of capitalism.
