< The future as a lock, futures as the key

~mellita

You ever read any Mark Fisher? He wrote a lot about politics and the imagination of the future, particularly in his writings on Hauntology. Off the top of my head, the thematic focal points of hauntological writing are 1) the traumatic compulsion to repeat, 2) anticipation which shapes current behavior, and 3) the foregrounding of spectrality. He was particularly concerned with what he saw as a sort of breakdown in the cultural engines formerly devoted to future-depiction, giving way to ceaseless repetition and pastiche. Might be of some interest to you, if you've yet to encounter him.

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~fremtenkt wrote (thread):

Reading Mark Fisher's *Ghosts of My Life* now, thanks for the tip—I really like it!

~fremtenkt wrote:

No, never read Mark Fisher, nor heard about Hauntology. The "breakdown in the cultural engines formerly devoted to future-depiction, giving way to ceaseless repetition and pastiche" certainly sounds apposite of our present moment, though I do have some hope that this is gradually beginning to shift towards a re-recognition of the importance of utopian thinking to everyday political agency. I will definitely check it out, thank you!