Event Horizon: Sexuality, Politics, Online Culture, and the Limits of Capitalism

When our desires become the product of tech giants, what ways are there left for us to dream? in an age where Silicon Valley dictates what it means to innovate, a painless future, knowledge and enjoyment are fertile breeding grounds of political contestation. But it’s not exactly democracy. We are controlled through platforms that turn us into data for the profit of billionaires. Control has become so playful that we carry it in our pockets, as we continue to crave likes and followers.

What is to be done? Should the Left continue to cling to the promise of a political Event, patiently waiting for a revolutionary rupture where new possibilities emerge? Is there a way to delineate its horizons amidst the chaos?

Through a psychoanalytic interrogation of the intersections of online culture, sexuality, and politics, Bonni Rambatan and Jacob Johanssen explore such horizons at the limits of capitalism. Event Horizon examines how capitalist ideology functions in our current moment, and, more importantly, how it breaks down. With the increasing urgency of formulating a proper Leftist response to the rapidly growing violence that seriously threatens the lives of marginalised communities, this book could not be more timely.

I’ve split this episode up into two. This first half is:

A general overview of the book and some of the problems it seeks to address

An introduction to Lacan and why it’s his analysis in particular which is so relevant for the present day

An explanation of Lacan’s discourses, particularly the 5th discourse of capitalism

How the master signifier is now the database which undergirds platform capitalism

The role of conspiracy and its relationship to capitalism (and the discourses)

How trolling is an essential part of this conspiracy thinking (the jouissance of this being an excess which capital can profit from).

If you like this podcast generally you should buy the book. It's about 11 quid. https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/event-horizon-sexuality-politics-culture

Jacob has of course appeared on the show in our conversation about Fantasy and Online Misogyny. Scroll back a few episodes in the feed to find it.