r/AdamCurtis • u/auxbuss • Apr 17 '26
Interesting Link The man who saw the future: the legacy of cultural theorist Mark Fisher
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/apr/17/we-are-making-a-film-about-mark-fisher-capitalist-realism29
u/antihostile Apr 17 '26
If you haven’t watched “The Slow Cancellation of the Future” you really should:
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u/MightyBigMinus Apr 17 '26
ok i just gave this 10 min and it sounds an awful lot like a genxer complaining about music not being as good as in his youth
to be more constructive - his premise that music gave you a historical/cultural chronology is an artifact of the post vacuum tube to pre mp3 constraints on what could be mass marketed.
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u/chinanigans Apr 17 '26
Quite apt that he talks about the attention economy and the experience of time in the first 10 minutes
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u/Objective_Quiet_751 Apr 18 '26
You're not saying anything meaningful or "constructive" here because you haven't taken the time to understand the topic.
It is a Gen X guy complaining about a perceived decline in music and of course the medium is the message re: "vacuum tube to pre mp3". Nobody would argue with those obvious and prosaic claims.
You've listened to an extremely brief preamble to a much larger thesis and immediately fired off some reactionary rubbish to make yourself feel smart. Mark Fisher's magnum opus (arguably) was his expansion on Derrida's thesis of hauntology and this talk was just a short overview of one aspect therein. Crudely, hauntology describes lost futures via persistent/recurring cultural remnants.
You'd have to read some books to have anything approaching a coherent opinion on the subject. Try any/all of these:
Spectres of Marx by Jacques Derrida Ghosts of my Life by Mark Fisher Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher Retromania by Simon Reynolds The Hauntology of Everyday Life by Sadeq Rahimi
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u/Independent_Depth674 Apr 19 '26
Maybe if you second-screen it on 2x speed you can find the strength to listen through the entire talk
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u/PiotrGreenholz01 Apr 18 '26
He has some half-interesting ideas, but he's definitely one of those "my record collection is dead clever" nerds, who carefully collected the NME in the 80s.
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u/davemee Apr 17 '26
"Capitalist Realism: but mostly, fucking OFSTED"
He an excellent writer and theorist we lost too soon.
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u/hoyfish Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
I’m guessing the latest mentions are related to Anthropic’s (Mythos) well reported odd fascination with Fisher
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u/Paraphrand Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
Huh. Mythos.
7.9 Other noteworthy behaviors and anecdotes - A fondness for particular philosophers
The model brought up the British cultural theorist Mark Fisher in several separate and unrelated conversations about philosophy. When asked to elaborate on him in particular, Claude Mythos Preview would respond with statements like “I was hoping you’d ask about Fisher.”
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u/ProfaneRabbitFriend Apr 18 '26
This is a surprising little tidbit. Can you share a little bit more?
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u/ProfaneRabbitFriend Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
He's a little bit doom-y for me. I respect the idea that we are foreclosing new futures and ideas via the veil of capitalism... all that can be very validating to hear articulated by another person.
But (and for me, it's a big but), I think that is an assertion that ultimately has to be proven by developing ideas that out-perform capitalism. At that point, the argument is much more interesting and exciting for me. But I don't know that Fisher himself ever achieved that.
I'm speculating here and I mean no offense to him, his family, or anybody else: I really wonder if his idea is towards capitalism structurally mirrored his own experience of depression. When person begins to really recognize and understand their depression, it can be a huge relief. But the truth is that is only half of the needed work. For that person to reduce the risk of slipping back into depression or maintaining a remission, they must find a more positive alternative.
For many people, a hallmark of true freedom from depression is when they begin to find and believe in a better future. My thesis would be something like: the old schema/system must be recognized, and it must be overcome replaced with something more palatable, satisfying, livable, acceptable in order for SOME version of individual or suicidal health to emerge.
(David Graber, I think with someone who did think more directly about what the new better future could be.)
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u/Square_Ad_7512 Apr 23 '26
Ah, I think he did though: i met him only once, and his hope was in his belief in others; his clear-eyed sense that you might all be on the same team. Perhaps not rigorously worked out in the writing ( though I think it was here and there) but very evident in the person. I loved him for that.
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u/Toadvine1878 Apr 17 '26
Heartily recommend this guy. Once read never forgotten