Desiring-Machines and (Hallucinatory) Modes of Alternativity, Affectivity, and Ethicality

This article explores the speculative implications and imbrications of artificial alternative intelligence(s) (AIs) on movements and conceptual forces that influence the actualization of ethicality. Moving with Manning’s wander lines and Deleuze and Guattari’s desiring-machines , this article calls for the field of (post)qualitative research to engage with the productive and contentious tensions and blockages that continue to surface across worlds determined by the flows of fascism. To do so, two digital socio-political videos or memes are affectively analyzed in an effort to further understand the significance and exigency of attending to the ways in which AIs have shifted the ethical ground from which all inquiry is performed.

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Publication Details

Journal
Qualitative Inquiry
Published
2026-10-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004261489165
Primary Topic
Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Desiring-Machines and (Hallucinatory) Modes of Alternativity, Affectivity, and Ethicality

Bretton A. Varga
Qualitative Inquiry
Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
article

Desiring-Machines and (Hallucinatory) Modes of Alternativity, Affectivity, and Ethicality

Bretton A. Varga
article en

Abstract

This article explores the speculative implications and imbrications of artificial alternative intelligence(s) (AIs) on movements and conceptual forces that influence the actualization of ethicality. Moving with Manning’s wander lines and Deleuze and Guattari’s desiring-machines , this article calls for the field of (post)qualitative research to engage with the productive and contentious tensions and blockages that continue to surface across worlds determined by the flows of fascism. To do so, two digital socio-political videos or memes are affectively analyzed in an effort to further understand the significance and exigency of attending to the ways in which AIs have shifted the ethical ground from which all inquiry is performed.

Qualitative Inquiry
California State University, Chico (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Posthumanist Ethics and Activism
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