This introductory chapter establishes the conceptual frame of immediate modernity, outlining the key ideas and terminology that structure the following chapters. It introduces The Decline as a lens through which to understand contemporary culture’s acceleration towards collapse under the intertwined forces of technology and capital. Rather than offering fixed conclusions, this collective work presents a flexible theoretical toolkit for interpreting a rapidly changing world, positioning acceleration, deterritorialisation, and technocapital as defining dynamics of the present moment. In doing so, it prepares the groundwork for the analyses developed in the following chapters.