d/acc
“Defensive acceleration” or “decentralized acceleration” — Vitalik Buterin’s philosophy of technological optimism, introduced in November 2023, which proposes a meta-frame of “defense” as the orienting principle for technology development. Unlike techno-accelerationism (which embraces technological growth without directional constraint), d/acc holds that the most valuable technologies are those which strengthen the defensive capacity of individuals and communities against coercive or extractive powers — preferring distributed, resilient infrastructure over concentrated capabilities.
D/acc is interpreted in these texts as providing a philosophical home for the convergence of web3 with decentralized physical production infrastructure (makerspaces, alternative energy, peer-to-peer supply chains). The concept is enriched by Lewis Mumford’s neotechnic frame: the emergence of electricity-and-alloy technologies carries an inherent tendency toward decentralization of productive capacity, and web3 coordination tools are the missing layer for realizing that tendency at scale.
The decentralization project applies both in “cyberspace and in soil” — “decentralized power, free association, peer production and individual improvisation propelled by common pool resources.” (— We Are the Neotechnics) How can decentralized digital infrastructure aid decentralized physical infrastructure, and vice versa? D/acc is the question that makes this reciprocal relationship legible.