Like a zombie in Pompeii The neurological subject in his cyberagora

Abstract

In current iconographic culture the brain plays an important role. In their turn brain images engage in a compelling way today’s subjectivity. In this paper I claim that, while contemporary subjectivity implies an identification with the brain-image, the latter is already constructed and given form by the psychological and neurological discourses. First, I will explore more closely how the psycho-neurological discourses themselves are caught in the logic of iconographic culture. Then, I will address in more details how the new technologies and the dimension of virtuality gives this scheme another twist. In this way I argue that contemporary subjectivity has its counterpart in what I call the psycho-neurological avatar. Finally I will pass from the personal to the social level to ask the question of the status of the current public sphere: is the cyberworld yes or no a new form of the public? The main question will be then what is the function of the brain (materializing and virtualizing human existence in one and the same movement) for the modes of production and consumption of late capitalism.