My guest this month is Gregg Harmston. Gregg is an independent researcher, writer and music producer from the UK who focuses on esotericism and occultism alongside media and literature theory, cyberculture, fictioning, and non-standard philosophy. He graduated an MA in Spirituality and Religion from University of Amsterdam in 2025 and is currently working on expanding his thesis research into a PhD project.
This is Part One/ Free Content of Episode 46. The full version of this interview is available for YouTube members and Patreon members; alternately, it can be purchased for a one-time fee at my Patreon page (see Shop link).
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My guest this month is Gregg Harmston. Gregg is an independent researcher, writer and music producer from the UK who focuses on esotericism and occultism alongside media and literature theory, cyberculture, fictioning, and non-standard philosophy. He graduated an MA in Spirituality and Religion from University of Amsterdam in 2025 and is currently working on expanding his thesis research into a PhD project. In this episode, Gregg peels back the layers of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, or CCRU, a group that stands as one of the most unique and enigmatic forms of modern occultism.
Using a "matryoshka doll" methodology, we look briefly at the core members of the group, and then explore the CCRU as a collective myth and an independent entity. We’ll trace their origins from the intellectual split between Sadie Plant’s cyberfeminism and Nick Land’s "dark" inhumanism, fueled by the rhythmic, non-linear influences of the 1990s jungle dance scene. We discuss "Time Sorcery," the Numogram, and the mechanics of hyperstition—the process by which fictions "make themselves real" through cybernetic feedback loops to reshape our present reality.
To explain this concept a bit further, the core of Gregg’s thesis focuses on "Hyperstition as the idea of fictions that make themselves real by functioning as "time-circuits" or self-fulfilling prophecies. Gregg illustrates how the CCRU’s use of "theory-fiction" was not merely a literary style, but a deliberate "writing magic" designed to bypass rational thought and manifest "inhuman" entities or future outcomes into the present. Ultimately, the work positions the CCRU as a unique bridge between 20th-century esoteric practices (like Chaos Magic) and the digital-age occultism of the 21st century, suggesting that the group’s influence persists today as a collective entity or "egregore" that continues to shape contemporary culture and philosophy.
For Patreon and YouTube members, we dive even deeper into the controversial legacy of Nick Land in Part 2, re-evaluating him not just as a philosopher, but as an experimental occultist who used extreme methods to achieve ego-dissolution. We also tackle the complex evolution of accelerationism, tracing the pipeline from CCRU-era theories to the intellectual foundations of the Alt-Right and the modern phenomenon of "Meme Magic." However, we also explore the alternative, hopeful sides of these "weird" tools—examining Left-Accelerationism, and Mark Fisher’s "Acid Communism" to see how these theories can be used to reclaim lost futures and foster collective hope.
PROGRAM NOTES
Gregg Harmston - University of Amsterdam
Instagram
Ccru: Writings 1997-2003
Cybernetic Culture Research Unit - Monoskop
Rowan Elizabeth Cabrales - University of Amsterdam
RR Podcast E4 P1 Rowan E. Cabrales: Hyperstition - Fictions Becoming Real?
RR Podcast E4 P2 Rowan E. Cabrales: Hyperstition - Fictions Becoming Real?
Aesthetaphysicks and the Anti-Dialectical Hyperoccultation of Disenchanted Representation: Hyperstitional Esoterrorism as Occultural Accelerationism
The Hyperstitional Philosophy of Time-Travel Cybernetics: Theosophy, the CCRU, and Black-Box Poiesis
RR Pod E28 P1 Bob Cluness - An Esoteric Menagerie...
RR Pod E28 P2 Bob Cluness - An Esoteric Menagerie...
Theme Music and Editing: Daniel P. Shea
Research and End Production: Stephanie Shea