Gilles Deleuze and the Atheist Machine

F. LeRon Shults is Professor at the Institute for Global Development and Planning at the University of Agder and Research Professor at the NORCE Center for Modeling Social Systems in Kristiansand, Norway. He is the author of Iconoclastic Theology: Gilles Deleuze and the Secretion of Atheism (EUP, 2014) and Practicing Safe Sects: Religious Reprodution in Scientific and Philosophical Perspective (Brill, 2018). He is co-editor of Deleuze and the Schizoanalysis of Religion (Bloomsbury, 2016).

Not since DeLanda’s Philosophy and Simulation has there been so penetrating an analysis of the philosophic consequences of systems thinking. Shults has found the atheist machine and wants us all to know that there’s no turning it off.

• Preface1. Atheism as Philosophy’s Achievementi.Achieving atheismii.The speculative and practical purposes of philosophyiii.Given philosophy, what machine can produce it?iv.Given an atheist machine, what can it be used for?v. Philosophy and computational simulation machines2. Assembling the Atheist Machinei.Alliance and fighters and bias – oh my!ii.The assemblage of (a)theismiii.Deleuzian social machines and the bio-cultural sciences of religioniv.Becoming-atheist: naturalism and secularismv.10,000 years of nonlinear, social-machinic history3. The Reversal of Platonism and the Rise of Simulationi.The reversal of Platonismii.The rise of simulationiii.DeLanda on multiplicities and mechanism-independenceiv.Virtual phase space and actual simulationsv.The achievement of Deleuze’s metaphysics4. Assemblage Theory and Multi-Agent Artificial Intelligence Modelingi.Theorizing assemblages in human geographyii.A thousand abstract machinesiii.DeLanda’s assemblage theory and the simulation of emergenceiv.Emergent social assemblages in multi-agent artificial intelligence modelingv.Simulating sustainable social assemblages5. Simulating (Non)Religioni.The modeling religion project(s)ii.The causes and consequences of "religion"iii.Micro, meso, and macro level mechanisms in religious radicalizationiv.Computational models that predict (and prevent) theismv.The achievement of Deleuze’s metaepistemology6. Strategies for Promoting Safe SectsiThe (mal)adaptiveness of theismii.Talking about safe sectsiii.Experimenting with safe sectsiv.Prebunking theismv.Sustainable altruism in the Anthropocene7. A Germ of Tranquil Atheismi.How Christ was born(e)ii.How Christianity will dieiii.Theist credulity and conformity biases in "philosophy of religion"iv.Computer modeling and philosophy of religionv.The achievement of Deleuze’s metaethics8. How Do You Make Yourself an Atheist Body without Organs?i.To be done with the Judgment of Godii.A joy immanent to desireiii.Becoming-sorcereriv.The brain-subjectv.The philosopher’s serenityReferencesIndex