Simulacra and Simulation: Baudrillard, Techno-Fascism, and the Tyranny of Advertising
Cameron Carsten is back with us to enjoy an exploration of Jean Baudrillard’s concept of “absolute advertising” and its transformation of communication, desire, and the public sphere. This discussion addresses the rise of techno-fascism and the symbolic saturation of everyday life in view of Baudrillard's 'Simulacra and Simulation'. What happens when advertising becomes the default mode of mediation, indistinguishable from culture itself? Together, we unravel how content collapses into form—and how even resistance may be a commodity.Cameron's blog: https://camtology.substack.com/Hire the inimitable Adam C. Jones: @SanktMaxTCI on Twitter or email us: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Support the showSupport the podcast:https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonAcid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/ Join The Schizoanalysis Project: https://discord.gg/4WtaXG3QxnSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438Merch: http://www.crit-drip.comSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438 LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDHappy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.comRevolting Bodies (Will's Blog): https://revoltingbodies.comSplit Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/
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1:13:40
Melanie Klein, Symbol Formation, and Autism: A Psychoanalytic Conversation with Dr. Ben Morsa
What happens when the ego fails to form a symbol? In this episode of Acid Horizon, we're joined by Dr. Ben Morsa, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic thinker working at the intersection of queer theory, neurodiversity, and mental health. Together, we dive into Melanie Klein’s pivotal essay The Importance of Symbol Formation, examining how sadism, fantasy, and ego development shape our early psychic life. We explore Klein’s controversial case of “Dick” and how her analysis anticipates modern discussions of autism, while also considering the implications of her work through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari. Dr. Morsa offers critical insight into the enduring tensions between diagnosis, subjectivity, and the symbolic order—and asks whether the failure to symbolize might offer a form of resistance rather than pathology. This episode is a rich synthesis of psychoanalysis, philosophy, and the radical potentials of care.Connect with Ben's work: www.tidepools.orgSupport the showSupport the podcast:https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonAcid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/ Join The Schizoanalysis Project: https://discord.gg/4WtaXG3QxnSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438Merch: http://www.crit-drip.comSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438 LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDHappy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.comRevolting Bodies (Will's Blog): https://revoltingbodies.comSplit Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/
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1:18:40
Ketamine King: Tech Bros, AI Delusions, and the Politics of Dissociation
CW: Includes references to drug use and racialized violence discourse.King Ketamine: https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/king-ketamineAcid Horizon welcomes back Taija Mars McDougall to discuss her latest essay “King Ketamine,” published in Parapraxis Magazine. Together, we examine how ketamine—favored by Silicon Valley elites like Elon Musk—has become the drug of the techno-fascist sacrament, fueling disassociation and delusions of divine-like Promethean capitalism. Drawing on personal encounters and haunting hallucinations, Taija explores how the drug mirrors and intensifies a chimerical ruling-class subjectivity in which power is sanctified through suffering and algorithmic detachment. The conversation charts a chilling terrain: from the political theology of tech billionaires and the racial substrate of “techno-optimism” to the convergence of AI, surveillance, and “libertarian” psychoanalysis.Support the showSupport the podcast:https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonAcid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/ Join The Schizoanalysis Project: https://discord.gg/4WtaXG3QxnSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438Merch: http://www.crit-drip.comSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438 LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDHappy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.comRevolting Bodies (Will's Blog): https://revoltingbodies.comSplit Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/
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1:04:48
Save CRMEP: The Assault on Humanities in the UK
Follow the Campaign over at: https://www.instagram.com/crmepers/ Eflux Open letter: https://www.e-flux.com/notes/658933/open-letter-from-crmep-students-researchers-on-kingston-university-s-proposed-closure-of-the-department-of-humanitiesVerso Open Letter: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/open-letter-from-crmep-students-researchers-on-kingston-university-s-proposed-closure-of-the-department-of-humanitiesSupport the showSupport the podcast:https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonAcid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/ Join The Schizoanalysis Project: https://discord.gg/4WtaXG3QxnSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438Merch: http://www.crit-drip.comSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438 LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDHappy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.comRevolting Bodies (Will's Blog): https://revoltingbodies.comSplit Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/
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20:32
The Anarchist Imaginary: Nicolas de Warren on Glissant, Levinas, and a New Radical Ethics
Craig's designs: https://www.etsy.com/shop/critdripThe Ordeal: https://splitinfinities.substack.com/p/crossing-the-line-the-repeater-booksPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/acidhorizonpodcastWe are joined by philosopher Nicolas de Warren to explore his concept of the anarchist imaginary, drawn from his essay "Anarchism, the Shock from Elsewhere: Glissant and Levinas". Together, we unpack how anarchism operates not merely as a political program, but as an ethical and temporal force—a heterotopia that resists monolingualism, sovereign authority, and the foreclosure of otherness. Nicholas discusses the right to opacity, indirect reciprocity, and an anarchist ethics of reading that dismantles institutional power while cultivating new forms of literacy and solidarity. Drawing on the work of Glissant, Levinas, Derrida, and others, this conversation maps a terrain where impossibility becomes the site of political and philosophical renewal. We also reflect on the prospects for anarchist institutions, public pedagogy, and the future of thought in an age of digital unthinking.Support the showSupport the podcast:https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonAcid Horizon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast Boycott Watkins Media: https://xenogothic.com/2025/03/17/boycott-watkins-statement/ Join The Schizoanalysis Project: https://discord.gg/4WtaXG3QxnSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438Merch: http://www.crit-drip.comSubscribe to us on your favorite podcast: https://pod.link/1512615438 LEPHT HAND: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDHappy Hour at Hippel's (Adam’s blog): https://happyhourathippels.wordpress.comRevolting Bodies (Will's Blog): https://revoltingbodies.comSplit Infinities (Craig’s Substack): https://splitinfinities.substack.com/Music: https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/ and https://thecominginsurrection.bandcamp.com/
Ireland