Critical Theorists Hate This One Weird Trick

We’re living in a world of hurry and shortcuts, of intimacy on tap and just-in-time production. But what’s the link between a flow state at work and a TV monologue to camera? Or between autofiction and delivery apps?

All are parts of our contemporary blossoming of synthetic immediacy effects – effects that make the forces that shape our experiences seem to vanish into thin air.

Immediacy can make us feel like we’re touching something absolutely real, but Anna Kornbluh argues it’s also a kind of trap. She spoke to Richard Hames about Fleabag, TikTok, climate sabotage, Palestine solidarity, AI and not yucking each other’s yums.

Her new book, Immediacy: Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism is out now from Verso Books.