Buy the book: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/disconsolate-dreamers-pessimism-utopia Our world is increasingly sceptical of happy endings. Notions of resistance or alternatives - of hope - seem evermore ill-fated as we resign to a slow and painful descent further into capitalism. However, from a critical position, one that does not shy away from the scale of the horror facing us, we can begin to rethink utopianism, and plot new and speculative pathways for collective escape. Through quiet acts of naysaying to the world, of nihilistic or self-destructive events, or in wider-ranging renegotiations of what’s acceptable and possible at the limits of reason, pessimism revives the possibility for radical change. It calls for a disentanglement from the world and, in so doing, offers a glimpse at the utopian impossible. Against the pernicious machinations of modern-day capitalism and a perverse optimism that sustains it, Disconsolate Dreamers explores the extent to which pessimism is compatible with a radical utopian goal - namely, a collective escape from the misery of modern existence. It shows that, in a thoroughly hopeless world devoid of rational alternatives, it is time for the Left to consider the pessimist a helpful guide out of the somnolence of capitalist realism, revealing how pessimism necessitates a radical revision of utopian alterity. Support Zer0 Books and Repeater Media on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zerobooks Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SubZeroBooks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZeroBooks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/zer0books ----- Other links: Check out the projects of some of the new contributors to Zer0 Books: Acid Horizon Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/acidhorizon Merch: crit-drip.com The Philosopher’s Tarot from Repeater Books: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/the-philosophers-tarot/ The Horror Vanguard Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/horror-vanguard/id1445594437 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/horrorvanguard Buddies Without Organs Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/buddies-without-organs/id1543289939 Website: https://buddieswithout.org/ Xenogothic: https://xenogothic.com/ ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G18ZggvpUak

Professor Heidi Matthews researches and teaches in the areas of international criminal law, the law of war, international legal history and political theory. She is an assistant professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and recently she wrote an essay for Aeon magazine entitled “How do we understand sexual pleasure in this age of ‘consent’?" And this essay is the topic of conversation in this week’s podcast. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDrVjYnvrcM

Support Zero Books on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zerobooks Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SubZeroBooks This is the second video in a series of two videos on the topic of the Intellectual Dark Web. How and why are these free speech warriors misunderstanding Marx and how is it that Capitalist Realism is contributing to the rise of the right and the weakness of the left. Check out Brendan Cooney's youtube channel on Marxism. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3F695D99C91FC6F7 Watch the most popular Zero Books episodes: http://bit.ly/2KbC2hF Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZeroBooks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/zer0books Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zerobooks Books: Capitalist Realism http://www.zero-books.net/books/capitalist-realism Zero Books Manifesto: The modern world is at an impasse. Disasters scroll across our smartphone screens and we’re invited to like, follow or upvote, but critical thinking is harder and harder to find. Rather than connecting us in common struggle and debate, the internet has sped up and deepened a long-standing process of alienation and atomization. Zer0 Books wants to work against this trend. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUY_zEkVz88

This video tackles the sociological pessimism embedded in psychology by considering Freud, Ernest Becker, and Eugene Thacker’s In the Dust of This Planet. What’s blocking the development of socialism? Does the problem stem from our political economy or from a transhistorical feature of human nature? Relevant Books In the Dust of This Planet by Eugene Thacker https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-dust-of-this-planet-eugene-thacker/1113584105 The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/denial-of-death-ernest-becker/1100330926 Support Zero Books on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zerobooks Subscribe: http://bit.ly/SubZeroBooks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZeroBooks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/zer0books Zero Books Manifesto: The modern world is at an impasse. Disasters scroll across our smartphone screens and we’re invited to like, follow or upvote, but critical thinking is harder and harder to find. Rather than connecting us in common struggle and debate, the internet has sped up and deepened a long-standing process of alienation and atomization. Zer0 Books wants to work against this trend. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmJrJbNZ-Zk