Forget Deleuze! | Alexander R. Galloway

ARG: We must forget Deleuze. It’s troubling to admit, given how
influential Deleuze has been on my own thinking. But it’s imperative
today that we forget Deleuzianism in all its many guises.

First, we must forget the Google Deleuzians, those who see the world
as a vital assemblage, proffering untold bounties of knowledge – and
riches. From clouds, to humans, to molluscs, to molecules, the world is
nothing but systems. Lines of flight slice through assemblages, creating
new living landscapes. Systems are open, dynamic, and robust. Networks
produce value. These are some of the many mantras of the Google
Deleuzians.

We must also forget the Carl Sagan Deleuzians. Remember Carl Sagan
and his awestruck odes to the ‘billions and billions of stars’? Carl
Sagan Deleuzians are those who think that ontology is about producing a
sense of sublime grandeur in the mind of the thinker. These kinds of
Deleuzians assume that ‘nature’ and ‘human nature’ coincide, and that
the world is there ‘for us’ or, more specifically, to ‘impress’ us. For
the Carl Sagan Deleuzians ontology means awesome-ology.