Atractores a distancia: mecanismos de aceleración y gobierno temporal bajo la racionalidad neoliberal y algorítmica

Abstract

This study examines temporal experience as an object of governance and a critical element in the processes of subjectivation within the framework of neoliberal and algorithmic rationality. A Foucauldian discourse analysis is employed, focusing on the concept of the experience focal point, which facilitates the examination of systems of veridiction, governmental procedures, and practices of the self that shape experiences of temporal governance. A series of acceleration mechanisms, termed "Distant Attractors," are identified. Assisted by artificial intelligences, these mechanisms streamline and remove obstacles to the free movement of cognitions (generative attractors simulating thought), bodies and commodities (mobility attractors), leisure-associated content (entertainment attractors), and social or affective interactions, such as romantic and friendly encounters (socio-affective attractors). The rationality underpinning these attractors, rooted in temporal optimization, fosters a desirability for acceleration and apathy toward slowness. The study concludes that acceleration is a characteristic feature of the temporal regimes of modern societies. However, it is a misconception to regard acceleration as inherently neoliberal. What is unique to neoliberal rationality is a specific mode of acceleration: the boundless self-acceleration of the internalized (entrepreneurial) machine, which becomes more pervasive when coupled with the use of distant attractors.