I agree about emulation. It is also emerges out of the moment where Deleuze and Guattari-influenced Accelerationist theory was all the rage, and that was the context that I read it in.

I read it much later than that, but I first came across a quote of it in an essay a bit over a decade ago and never forgot it. The book is quite poetic. Anyone not familiar with the CCRU (particularly Land) stuff and D&G would definitely struggle a bit because he freely uses that kind of terminology, but I feel like the writing is compelling enough that someone could still enjoy it without.