Ali Rıza Taşkale
@alirizataskale.bsky.social
https://alirizataskale.com
External Lecturer at Roskilde University
@distinktionjournal.bsky.social special issue editor
Recent pub: Reactionary futurism in Silicon Valley https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21624887.2025.2474781
External Lecturer at Roskilde University
@distinktionjournal.bsky.social special issue editor
Recent pub: Reactionary futurism in Silicon Valley https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21624887.2025.2474781
Pinned
How Silicon Valley Billionaires Use Sci-Fi to Rule – and How We Can Resist - Untold
Tech billionaires use science fiction to justify a dystopian future of AI rule and space colonization – but radical sci-fi still gives us tools to resist and rebuild.
untoldmag.org
My new piece is up: Silicon Valley billionaires use science fiction to justify dystopia, AI overlords, space colonies, escape plans. I call this “science fiction materialized”. But radical science fiction offers blueprints for resistance + rebuilding and new worlds. untoldmag.org/silicon-vall...
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
Paolo Virno 1952-2025
November 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Paolo Virno 1952-2025
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
My new piece is up: Silicon Valley billionaires use science fiction to justify dystopia, AI overlords, space colonies, escape plans. I call this “science fiction materialized”. But radical science fiction offers blueprints for resistance + rebuilding and new worlds. untoldmag.org/silicon-vall...
How Silicon Valley Billionaires Use Sci-Fi to Rule – and How We Can Resist - Untold
Tech billionaires use science fiction to justify a dystopian future of AI rule and space colonization – but radical sci-fi still gives us tools to resist and rebuild.
untoldmag.org
August 27, 2025 at 8:15 AM
My new piece is up: Silicon Valley billionaires use science fiction to justify dystopia, AI overlords, space colonies, escape plans. I call this “science fiction materialized”. But radical science fiction offers blueprints for resistance + rebuilding and new worlds. untoldmag.org/silicon-vall...
Another seminal essay by Fred Turner, this time on "The Texan Ideology": While the Californian Ideology fused 1960s counterculture with tech entrepreneurship to imagine a connected digital utopia, the Texan Ideology combines neoliberal economics, Christian nationalism, and resource extraction.
November 7, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Another seminal essay by Fred Turner, this time on "The Texan Ideology": While the Californian Ideology fused 1960s counterculture with tech entrepreneurship to imagine a connected digital utopia, the Texan Ideology combines neoliberal economics, Christian nationalism, and resource extraction.
This is a great special issue that explores capitalism and its visual representation, revealing how exploitative production is masked as free, equal exchange, with images serving as the key tool of this concealment and inversion.
it's here!
FILMING CAPITAL
special issue of SAQ
"Visual and film studies provide a distinctive lens through which to unravel and confront the complexities of capitalism’s elusive appearance."
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
FILMING CAPITAL
special issue of SAQ
"Visual and film studies provide a distinctive lens through which to unravel and confront the complexities of capitalism’s elusive appearance."
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
Volume 124 Issue 4 | South Atlantic Quarterly | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
This is a great special issue that explores capitalism and its visual representation, revealing how exploitative production is masked as free, equal exchange, with images serving as the key tool of this concealment and inversion.
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
it's here!
FILMING CAPITAL
special issue of SAQ
"Visual and film studies provide a distinctive lens through which to unravel and confront the complexities of capitalism’s elusive appearance."
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
FILMING CAPITAL
special issue of SAQ
"Visual and film studies provide a distinctive lens through which to unravel and confront the complexities of capitalism’s elusive appearance."
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
Volume 124 Issue 4 | South Atlantic Quarterly | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
November 2, 2025 at 3:45 PM
it's here!
FILMING CAPITAL
special issue of SAQ
"Visual and film studies provide a distinctive lens through which to unravel and confront the complexities of capitalism’s elusive appearance."
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
FILMING CAPITAL
special issue of SAQ
"Visual and film studies provide a distinctive lens through which to unravel and confront the complexities of capitalism’s elusive appearance."
read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlant...
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
Today is the official UK publication day for Silicon Empires! I'm excited to have it out and hear what people think.
There's an enormous amount happening every day in AI, and it's difficult to gain a stable perspective. I wrote the book to try and get some secure hold on that constant flux. 🧵
There's an enormous amount happening every day in AI, and it's difficult to gain a stable perspective. I wrote the book to try and get some secure hold on that constant flux. 🧵
October 31, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Today is the official UK publication day for Silicon Empires! I'm excited to have it out and hear what people think.
There's an enormous amount happening every day in AI, and it's difficult to gain a stable perspective. I wrote the book to try and get some secure hold on that constant flux. 🧵
There's an enormous amount happening every day in AI, and it's difficult to gain a stable perspective. I wrote the book to try and get some secure hold on that constant flux. 🧵
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
The West has decided coastal Bangladesh will drown. Bangladeshis disagree. @amitav.bsky.social on apocalyptic thinking, disastrous "climate solutions," and who gets to imagine the future. With photos by
Dayanita Singh www.equator.org/articles/bey...
Dayanita Singh www.equator.org/articles/bey...
Beyond the Apocalypse • Articles • EQUATOR
How visions of catastrophe shape the ‘climate solutions’ imposed by aid agencies
www.equator.org
October 29, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The West has decided coastal Bangladesh will drown. Bangladeshis disagree. @amitav.bsky.social on apocalyptic thinking, disastrous "climate solutions," and who gets to imagine the future. With photos by
Dayanita Singh www.equator.org/articles/bey...
Dayanita Singh www.equator.org/articles/bey...
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
Copenhagen looks to be swinging significantly to the left in local election. Social democrats (currently leading a centrist government nationally) are collapsing in the polls. Parties to the left of SD could gain a majority for the first time in the city (and probably any Danish municipality)
Denmark, Epinion poll:
Copenhagen Municipal election
Ø (LEFT): 27% (+2)
F (Greens/EFA): 22% (+11)
A (S&D): 10% (-7)
C (EPP): 8% (-5)
B (RE): 8% (-4)
I (EPP): 7% (+4)
V (RE): 6% (-2)
...
Fieldwork: 04 September - 13 October 2025
Sample size: 1,314
➤ europeelects.eu/denmark
Copenhagen Municipal election
Ø (LEFT): 27% (+2)
F (Greens/EFA): 22% (+11)
A (S&D): 10% (-7)
C (EPP): 8% (-5)
B (RE): 8% (-4)
I (EPP): 7% (+4)
V (RE): 6% (-2)
...
Fieldwork: 04 September - 13 October 2025
Sample size: 1,314
➤ europeelects.eu/denmark
October 30, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Copenhagen looks to be swinging significantly to the left in local election. Social democrats (currently leading a centrist government nationally) are collapsing in the polls. Parties to the left of SD could gain a majority for the first time in the city (and probably any Danish municipality)
Great piece - AI isn’t saving society; it’s corroding truth, democracy, and mental stability while enriching a handful of tech corporations. The real danger isn’t future superintelligence, but the present-day chaos that governments are enabling by failing to regulate.
The AI industry wants us to believe AI superintelligence is the real threat from generative AI.
But that narrative was crafted to distract from the many ways genAI is being used to tear our societies apart, as we saw this week when a deepfake video rocked the Irish election. It must be reined in.
But that narrative was crafted to distract from the many ways genAI is being used to tear our societies apart, as we saw this week when a deepfake video rocked the Irish election. It must be reined in.
Generative AI is a societal disaster
Governments are deluding themselves into believing investment justifies allowing AI to upend society
disconnect.blog
October 28, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Great piece - AI isn’t saving society; it’s corroding truth, democracy, and mental stability while enriching a handful of tech corporations. The real danger isn’t future superintelligence, but the present-day chaos that governments are enabling by failing to regulate.
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
Feed: "Untold"
By: Ali Rıza Taşkale on Tuesday, August 26, 2025
By: Ali Rıza Taşkale on Tuesday, August 26, 2025
How Silicon Valley Billionaires Use Sci-Fi to Rule – and How We Can Resist
Tech billionaires use science fiction to justify a dystopian future of AI rule and space colonization – but radical sci-fi still gives us tools to resist and rebuild.
untoldmag.org
August 28, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Feed: "Untold"
By: Ali Rıza Taşkale on Tuesday, August 26, 2025
By: Ali Rıza Taşkale on Tuesday, August 26, 2025
New at @distinktionjournal.bsky.social: Immediacy, mediation and praxis: reading @annakornbluh.bsky.social through the lens of Guy Debord.
The article is currently open access!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The article is currently open access!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
October 17, 2025 at 7:41 PM
New at @distinktionjournal.bsky.social: Immediacy, mediation and praxis: reading @annakornbluh.bsky.social through the lens of Guy Debord.
The article is currently open access!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The article is currently open access!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
The second (excellent) article from Distinktion’s special issue on Silicon Valley imaginaries is now available. Check it out below.
The second article has just been published! The always brilliant Sherryl Vint argues that Silicon Valley’s core product is a “science-fictional ideology". It promotes an identity where one aims to be capital itself, ever-growing and immortal, erasing the working class & undermining solidarity.
October 17, 2025 at 12:15 AM
The second (excellent) article from Distinktion’s special issue on Silicon Valley imaginaries is now available. Check it out below.
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
My article in @the-breakdown.bsky.social is now free to read online!
While far-right parties have traditionally ignored climate, I explore how the Sweden Democrats embrace it as a wedge issue, creating redistributive conflicts around class & urban-rural divides:
www.break-down.org/petrol-for-t...
While far-right parties have traditionally ignored climate, I explore how the Sweden Democrats embrace it as a wedge issue, creating redistributive conflicts around class & urban-rural divides:
www.break-down.org/petrol-for-t...
Petrol For the People
Sweden’s far right defines its vision of climate action.
www.break-down.org
October 16, 2025 at 9:10 AM
My article in @the-breakdown.bsky.social is now free to read online!
While far-right parties have traditionally ignored climate, I explore how the Sweden Democrats embrace it as a wedge issue, creating redistributive conflicts around class & urban-rural divides:
www.break-down.org/petrol-for-t...
While far-right parties have traditionally ignored climate, I explore how the Sweden Democrats embrace it as a wedge issue, creating redistributive conflicts around class & urban-rural divides:
www.break-down.org/petrol-for-t...
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
Today the application period starts for our Master’s Programme in Human Ecology: Culture, Power, and Sustainability (CPS). Come to Lund and learn about radical alternatives and get critical perspectives on contemporary environmental and societal challenges!
Human Ecology - Culture, Power and Sustainability - Master of Science programme | Lund University
www.lunduniversity.lu.se
October 16, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Today the application period starts for our Master’s Programme in Human Ecology: Culture, Power, and Sustainability (CPS). Come to Lund and learn about radical alternatives and get critical perspectives on contemporary environmental and societal challenges!
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
We’ve met with Greta Thunberg and others in the flotilla. They describe hours-long scenes of torture and sexual harassment in Israeli captivity. Experts conclude that they have been subjected to serious crimes – Sweden’s foreign minister believes they have themselves to blame.
tinyurl.se/crR
tinyurl.se/crR
Greta Thunberg: “They kicked me every time the flag touched my face”
– Greta Thunberg on her days in Israeli captivity Beating, kicking, and threats of being gassed in cages. Greta Thunberg and several others from the flotilla ar
www.aftonbladet.se
October 15, 2025 at 12:08 PM
We’ve met with Greta Thunberg and others in the flotilla. They describe hours-long scenes of torture and sexual harassment in Israeli captivity. Experts conclude that they have been subjected to serious crimes – Sweden’s foreign minister believes they have themselves to blame.
tinyurl.se/crR
tinyurl.se/crR
Great piece on Peter Thiel’s off-the-record Antichrist lectures: a mix of Silicon Valley anxieties, pop culture, and self-reflection. Less theology, more self-fashioning; he’s both prophet and protagonist in his own apocalypse.
www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
Peter Thiel’s off-the-record antichrist lectures reveal more about him than Armageddon
Silicon Valley titan desperately tries to detach self from power in amateurish talks attempting to ape his favorite philosopher
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Great piece on Peter Thiel’s off-the-record Antichrist lectures: a mix of Silicon Valley anxieties, pop culture, and self-reflection. Less theology, more self-fashioning; he’s both prophet and protagonist in his own apocalypse.
www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
Excited to share that I’ve signed with @springernature.com for my book, Fictional Worlds and Financial Realities in Speculative Literature and Film. The book explores the critical intersections between speculative finance & speculative fiction, and I look forward to bringing it into the world soon!
October 9, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Excited to share that I’ve signed with @springernature.com for my book, Fictional Worlds and Financial Realities in Speculative Literature and Film. The book explores the critical intersections between speculative finance & speculative fiction, and I look forward to bringing it into the world soon!
Wonderful research day at the University of Essex - great discussions, networking, and the pleasure of giving a talk. So happy to be back in the UK after a decade!
October 8, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Wonderful research day at the University of Essex - great discussions, networking, and the pleasure of giving a talk. So happy to be back in the UK after a decade!
I’ve just received wonderful news here in London! My book proposal, Fictional Worlds and Financial Realities in Speculative Literature and Film, has been accepted for publication by Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. The book will be out in July 2026 - I couldn’t be happier!
October 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM
I’ve just received wonderful news here in London! My book proposal, Fictional Worlds and Financial Realities in Speculative Literature and Film, has been accepted for publication by Palgrave Studies in Science and Popular Culture. The book will be out in July 2026 - I couldn’t be happier!
The tech oligarchy today isn’t new. What’s new is its open rejection of democracy, replaced by a privatized techno-authoritarianism built on surveillance, monopoly, and “noble lies". This piece explains it well.
jacobin.com/2025/10/pete...
jacobin.com/2025/10/pete...
Peter Thiel, Would-Be Philosopher King, Takes on Democracy
Billionaire Peter Thiel insists that freedom and democracy are incompatible, and his portfolio of data mining and political bets puts that belief into practice. His is a program of authoritarian contr...
jacobin.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:42 AM
The tech oligarchy today isn’t new. What’s new is its open rejection of democracy, replaced by a privatized techno-authoritarianism built on surveillance, monopoly, and “noble lies". This piece explains it well.
jacobin.com/2025/10/pete...
jacobin.com/2025/10/pete...
Whatever Dylan Riley writes merits close reading. Here he argues we’re entering a “post-mass culture”: not high or low, but after both, where class fragments even leisure, and culture becomes a mirror of inequality. Disney queues as political economy.
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Dylan Riley, Contra Arendt — Sidecar
On civil society.
newleftreview.org
October 5, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Whatever Dylan Riley writes merits close reading. Here he argues we’re entering a “post-mass culture”: not high or low, but after both, where class fragments even leisure, and culture becomes a mirror of inequality. Disney queues as political economy.
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
Greta Thunberg is held prisoner by Israel at a jail in the Negev. Read what Sweden’s embassy in Israel reports are the conditions of her detention ⬇️
Now just imagine: if Israel treats a world-famous Swedish activist this way, how badly are its prisons abusing Palestinians?
1/
Now just imagine: if Israel treats a world-famous Swedish activist this way, how badly are its prisons abusing Palestinians?
1/
October 5, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Greta Thunberg is held prisoner by Israel at a jail in the Negev. Read what Sweden’s embassy in Israel reports are the conditions of her detention ⬇️
Now just imagine: if Israel treats a world-famous Swedish activist this way, how badly are its prisons abusing Palestinians?
1/
Now just imagine: if Israel treats a world-famous Swedish activist this way, how badly are its prisons abusing Palestinians?
1/
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
My essay on stupidology (originally published in N+1) is in today's Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...
A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0
If the first term of Donald Trump provoked anxiety over the fate of objective knowledge, the second has led to claims we live in a world-historical age of stupid, accelerated by big tech. But might th...
www.theguardian.com
October 2, 2025 at 6:08 AM
My essay on stupidology (originally published in N+1) is in today's Guardian www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
“Venture capitalists in clean tech are starting to say out loud what they’ve suspected for a while: China’s dominance has left key sectors in the West uninvestable.”
China Road Trip Exposes List of Uninvestable Assets in the West
Venture capitalists in clean tech are starting to say out loud what they’ve suspected for a while: China’s dominance has left key sectors in the West uninvestable.
www.bloomberg.com
October 2, 2025 at 9:43 PM
“Venture capitalists in clean tech are starting to say out loud what they’ve suspected for a while: China’s dominance has left key sectors in the West uninvestable.”
Reposted by Ali Rıza Taşkale
"What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline."
Love this line by Adorno, as quoted in this truly brilliant essay by Jacob Blumenfeld:
curedquail.com/Managing-Dec...
Love this line by Adorno, as quoted in this truly brilliant essay by Jacob Blumenfeld:
curedquail.com/Managing-Dec...
Cured Quail
curedquail.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:00 PM
"What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline."
Love this line by Adorno, as quoted in this truly brilliant essay by Jacob Blumenfeld:
curedquail.com/Managing-Dec...
Love this line by Adorno, as quoted in this truly brilliant essay by Jacob Blumenfeld:
curedquail.com/Managing-Dec...