Catalystism

A moderate form of accelerationism focused on provoking a single, specific reaction in order to accelerate a particular process—rather than the classical accelerationist goal of collapsing entire systems. Where classical accelerationism seeks total societal breakdown as a path to rebirth, catalystism is surgical: identify a process, find its bottleneck, and provoke the reaction that breaks the logjam. It's the difference between burning down the factory to rebuild it (classical) and pouring a chemical into a stuck valve to make it open (catalystism). Catalystism is especially common among online political groups, both pro-Western and anti-Western, who seek to hasten electoral outcomes, policy changes, or social shifts through targeted provocations. The catalystist doesn't want the whole system to fall; they just want this particular thing to happen faster. They're playing with fire, but carefully—they hope.

Example: "He didn't want the whole political system to collapse; he just wanted his party's candidate to win the primary. So he engaged in catalystism: spreading just enough controversy about the frontrunner to provoke a backlash that would consolidate support around his candidate. The process worked—the frontrunner stumbled, his candidate surged. Catalystism had accelerated the outcome without burning everything down. He felt clever, and he was—for now. Catalystism is safe until it isn't."

by Abzugal February 19, 2026