CONCEPT
Morbid Symptoms
The specific pathologies that appear in the interregnum of an organic crisis — authoritarian reaction, conspiracy theory, institutional collapse, deepening polarization — which are not random dysfunctions but predictable consequences of hegemonic dissolution.
Gramsci's image of morbid symptoms names the specific pathologies that appear when a hegemonic order is losing its legitimacy but has not yet been replaced. These are not random dysfunctions but predictable consequences of the interregnum — the crisis produces them as characteristic forms. In the AI transition, the morbid symptoms include the resurgence of authoritarian politics exploiting displacement anxiety without addressing its causes, the proliferation of conspiracy theories offering causal narratives where official narratives have failed, the collapse of institutional trust as institutions fail to explain the reality their members experience, and the deepening of social polarization as shared common sense fragments.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The Gramsci volume argues that the morbid symptoms of the AI transition are already visible. The displacement of professional workers has not produced a broad coalition demanding structural response; it has produced atomized anxiety that authoritarian movements exploit by blaming scapegoats rather than analyzing structure. Conspiracy theories about AI — both