Paper Short Abstract:

Following digital imaginaries within Czech conspiritual milieu this paper shows blockchain emerging as a technology associated with freedom and new modes of governance, as opposed to “totalitarian” AIs, further asking to what degree are such dreams implicated within the logic of neoliberalism.

Paper Abstract:

This paper follows digital imaginaries in the conspiritual milieu in the Czech Republic. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork among people who found their voice in the language of conspiracy and spirituality. Now they attempt to mobilize into political force and resist forces they describe as “the System” or “the Matrix,” by gardening, healing, and preparing for global awakening.

Their political ambitions and desires to prefigure different futures are deeply intertwined with imaginaries of digitalization – both positive and negative. They share stories about nefarious plans of globalists that seek to utilize AIs to replace humans or create the Metaverse and eventually enslave humanity in virtual prisons. Other technologies are associated with freedom and presented as possible means of escape, most prominently blockchain. For some, cryptocurrencies become a tool of resistance and liberation from “the System.” Others plan to develop “a blockchain collective,” a digital platform that will cover all needs of future, liberated society, from voting to trade and barter. Various digital imaginaries thus become attached to notions of democracy, freedom, and proper governance.

The digital sphere becomes a site for the final battle between good and evil, where the future of mankind will be decided. I ask with what political formations these dreams of finding salvation in blockchain resonate. While cryptocurrencies (and blockchain more generally) became entangled with libertarianism and the interests of big capital, do they also carry a potential to move beyond the logic of late neoliberalism, even while expressed through language of conspiracy and suspicion?