Symptomologies of Post-Anthropocene

This chapter looks at the symptoms of the post-Anthropocene with the speculation that the capitalist system has brought on the onset of a range of neural disorders via the media and the commodification of the social order. I hypothesize that the autistic spectrum is indicative of the cultures that we live in which have been progressively ‘bubblized;’ that is, shrinking in terms of our perspectives toward open diversity. The case of the Hikikomori is presented as a symptom of this trend. There is a side-tracked discussion regarding Žižek and Malabou concerning brain physiology and psychoanalysis: what use is psychoanalysis in brain injury cases? There is a broad discussion on the role of dopamine in brain chemistry and what are the neurological implications concerning addiction in the post-Anthropocene. Sloterdijk’s ‘bubbles’ re-emerge as does the proletarization of contemporary society where the question of the pharmakon comes up once more. The dopamine system as linked with social media within ‘limbic capitalism’ ends in a relentless laboring under conditions of precarity and deficient social support systems. Given this situation, there is a section on learning to live with climate change. There are two further important discussions. The first is about the spectrum of autism, while the second discusses the question of neurodiversity in education. In brief, this chapter frames the symptoms of post-Anthropocene and what this means to education in relation to neurodiversity.