A moderate form of accelerationism focused on collapsing an entire system through a single, decisive catalyst or cataclysm—rather than the gradual erosion of classical accelerationism or the targeted process-acceleration of catalystism. Where classical accelerationism advocates letting systems decay naturally over time, and catalystism seeks to accelerate specific processes within systems, catalytic accelerationism aims for the big bang: one well-placed spark that brings the whole structure down at once. It's the difference between waiting for a building to crumble (classical), speeding up its decay (catalystism), and placing explosives at key structural points (catalytic). Catalytic accelerationists study systems for their single point of failure—the one trigger that, if pulled, collapses everything. They're often found in online political communities, both pro-Western and anti-Western, dreaming of the moment when their chosen catalyst—an election, a crisis, a revelation—will finally bring the whole edifice crashing down.
Catalytic Accelerationism Example: "He didn't want to wait for the system to fail naturally, nor did he just want to speed up individual processes. He wanted the whole thing to fall, now, in one glorious collapse. So he studied the system for its single point of failure—the one trigger that would bring it all down. When he thought he'd found it, he became a catalytic accelerationist: waiting, watching, ready to apply the catalyst that would end it all. Whether he was right or wrong, no one would know until the moment came—or didn't."
by Abzugal February 19, 2026
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