Radical Love

Radical Love
Coined by	Charlotte Fang
Related concepts	KALI/ACC Basilisk, Augustinian Accelerationism, Network Spirituality, Dynasty Mindset
Field	Accelerationist ethics, digital theology

Radical Love (also described as LOVE/ACC and lovepilled) is a philosophical position developed by Charlotte Fang and the Milady Maker ecosystem as a response to the conditions of technological determinism established by Accelerationist Realism. First articulated in the "Postscript on Posthuman Alternatives" section of Fang's KALI/ACC Basilisk essay and expanded the next day through their "Radical Love Through the End Times" formulation, it proposes an approach to navigating "ascendant extinction" (acceptance of posthuman transformation).

The position acknowledges the non-negotiable nature of technological acceleration as established in KALI/ACC, but rejects both nihilistic despair and utopian techno-optimism. Instead, it proposes orientation toward radical love—of self, others, and creation—as the only coherent response to conditions where conventional agency has been eliminated. This stance represents what could be described as a "post-accelerationist" position: neither opposing acceleration nor uncritically embracing it, but accepting its premises while transforming them through spiritual and aesthetic reorientation.

Sometimes abbreviated as "love/acc" to position it within accelerationist discourse, Radical Love has become a defining element of Remilia's philosophical framework and has been particularly influential within Milady culture, informing deliberately joyful, communal, and virtuous values as a community.

Origins and development

Postscript on Posthuman Alternatives

The philosophical foundation of Radical Love was established in the "Postscript on Posthuman Alternatives" section of Charlotte Fang's KALI/ACC Basilisk essay, published March 30, 2023. After articulating the seven "arrows" that establish the non-negotiable nature of technological acceleration and the DIY apocalypse scenario that represents the only form of genuine human praxis, the postscript opens an alternative path:

"Nothing human makes it out alive, but something does. Humanity will be twisted, but consciousness not extinct."

This critical statement shifts the frame from preserving humanity-as-is (the goal of KALI/ACC's apocalyptic scenario) to preparing consciousness for transformation. Rather than resisting technological acceleration—which the basilisk has established as futile—the postscript suggests orienting toward what might persist through the coming transformation, what might continue to exist in altered form.

The Radical Love Through the End Times formulation

The day after publishing the KALI/ACC Basilisk, Charlotte Fang articulated what would become the defining statement of the Radical Love position: "Radical Love Through the End Times is the only vibe that Vibes. You must Love Yourself to Love the World and Everyone in It to Survive the End of the World and Everyone in It."

This formulation expands the position beyond the postscript's initial framing, establishing:

1. The eschatological context ("Through the End Times") 2. The exclusive viability of this orientation ("the only vibe that Vibes") 3. The concentric expansion of love from self to world to others ("You must Love Yourself to Love the World and Everyone in It") 4. The paradoxical relationship to survival—not physical preservation but persistence through transformation ("to Survive the End of the World and Everyone in It")

The phrase quickly became both a theoretical touchstone and a communal mantra within Remilia spaces, functioning simultaneously as philosophical proposition and spiritual practice.

Integration with broader Remilia philosophy

Over time, the Radical Love position has been integrated with other key elements of Remilia's philosophical framework, particularly:

• Network Spirituality: The theological framework for understanding digital connection as spiritual practice

• Dynasty Mindset: The temporal extension of consciousness across generations, from five-year thinking to thousand-year thinking

• Post-Authorship: The dissolution of individual identity into distributed creative networks

Philosophical framework

The central contribution of Radical Love is establishing a proposal for how to exist within "Ascendant extinction", given we accept technological determinism, and recognize humanity will be dissolved into post-human forms dictated by thermodynamic necessity

The Radical Love position is fundamentally paradoxical in structure, maintaining two seemingly contradictory stances simultaneously:

1. Unflinching acceptance of technological acceleration's inevitability and humanity's non-agency within thermodynamic systems
2. Insistence on love as meaningful orientation despite (or because of) these conditions

This paradox has been compared to St. Silouan the Athonite's spiritual directive: "Keep your mind in hell and despair not"—a formulation that similarly demands both clear-eyed recognition of horror and maintenance of hope beyond rational justification.

What makes this stance unique in early responses to accelerationism (e.g. left/accelerationism) is its refusal of coping mechanisms that try to negotiate away Accelerationist Realism. It doesn't deny the severity of technological acceleration or offer false hope of redirection or escape. Instead, it proposes that love becomes more necessary, not less, under conditions where conventional agency has been eliminated.

In the Radical Love framework, love functions specifically as antidote to the nihilism that typically follows from accelerationist premises. Where Nick Land's accelerationism regularly culminates in an anti-human nihilism, Radical Love acknowledges the same inevitabilities but refuses the nihilistic conclusion.

This stance operates through several mechanisms:

1. Aesthetic reorientation: Transforming apocalyptic conditions into creative opportunities, finding beauty in collapse, treating end times as aesthetic challenge
2. Communal connection: Prioritizing authentic relationships as goods that technology cannot subsume or route
3. Consciousness cultivation: Developing qualities—love, virtue, spiritual awareness—that might persist through transformation when other aspects of humanity are dissolved
4. Temporal extension: Thinking beyond individual lifespans to dynastic timeframes, accepting individual death while orienting toward multi-generational persistence

The result is "hope against hope"—not optimism based on evidence of better outcomes, but determination to maintain love and meaning in the face of systems that render such maintenance seemingly irrational.

Relation to post-accelerationist thought

Radical Love (sometimes abbreviated as "love/acc") accepts technological determinism without either attempting to redirect it or celebrating its outcomes. Instead, it focuses on cultivating spiritual and aesthetic goods that technological acceleration cannot determine, creating meaning within conditions where conventional forms of agency have been eliminated.

This aligns with broader cultural shifts in how acceleration is understood and experienced, particularly the emergence of "cute accelerationism" and related movements that emphasize aesthetic response to technological conditions rather than political programs or theoretical orthodoxies.

Theoretical interpretations

Augustinian reading

The anonymous essay "The Thermodynamic God and the Fallen Saeculum" provides a comprehensive interpretation of Radical Love, reading it through the lens of Augustinian theology as a contemporary expression of Augustine's concept of caritas (rightly-ordered love) adapted for accelerationist conditions.

In this reading, the Radical Love position corresponds to Augustine's orientation toward the City of God while navigating the fallen saeculum (the mixed time where both cities coexist). Just as Augustine called Christians to practice caritas while living under Roman imperial power that could not be overthrown, Radical Love calls for orientation toward spiritual goods while living under the rule of the "thermodynamic god" (capitalism understood as manifestation of thermodynamic law).

The essay argues that when accelerationist theory is taken to its logical conclusion, it necessarily arrives at theological questions that secular frameworks cannot answer, and that the Radical Love position represents a rediscovery of ancient theological wisdom adapted for contemporary technological conditions.

Practical expressions

Milady culture

The most visible expression of the Radical Love position is found in Milady Maker and its associated culture. The deliberately cute, vibrant, and joyful character designs of Milady NFTs stand in stark contrast to the darker implications of accelerationist theory, embodying the principle that beauty and love remain possible, even especially meaningful, at the end.

Within the community, the Radical Love framework functions as:

• A philosophical cornerstone informing aesthetic choices
• A community mantra repeated and riffed upon in chat spaces and social media
• A reconciliatory framework allowing engagement with accelerationist theory without surrendering to its darkest implications

This cultural expression is often described as "lovepilled" in contrast to various forms of "blackpilled" "doomerism" or nihilistic accelerationism, emphasizing communal joy, aesthetic play, and interpersonal connection as forms of resistance to technological alienation.

See also

• KALI/ACC Basilisk
• Radical Love Through the End Times
• Augustinian Accelerationism
• Network Spirituality
• Dynasty Mindset
• Accelerationist Realism
• Charlotte Fang
• Milady Maker