The Latin word interregnum denotes a transitional time when the past no longer belongs to us and the future is yet to come. The current interregnum is heralded by the ubiquitous term Anthropocene. It emerged in 2000 to denote the epoch in which humanity is the decisive geological force on planet Earth and can destroy its only home in the cosmos through its activities. Communication technologies have transformed public spaces into global digital shallows, where instead of opinion statements, majorities form wildly liking and hating. Society is polarizing, apocalyptic moods are spreading, and fears of powerful conspiracies are growing. Hyperobjects like global warming have invaded our life worlds. They affect everything, harm everywhere, and we are simultaneously both victims and perpetrators. Majestic mega-entities like nations or empires have torn apart, and in the gaps between them, an activist democracy of critical masses of effectively communicating but independent individuals is beginning to take shape – a plethocracy. In it, there is no longer a battle between one 'great subject of liberation' (demos) against one 'great subject of oppression' (capital); rather, street fights are underway, in which centers and peripheries, forms of ownership, capital and labor, global and local identities are hybridizing.
