Alongside the rise of discourse regarding the Anthropocene, there are several voices cautioning us to consider precisely what kinds of work space the term impels across the social and natural sciences. I referenced Clive Hamilton’s latest article here, in which he states that the social sciences (I presume he means the social sciences as he particularly defines them) are not going to make the transition to the working days that lie ahead for research in the Anthropocene.

Others have also been adding their take on the matter. For instance, Franklin Ginn argues that this is not the Anthropocene. Ginn’s point is not just that the Anthropocene has not technically been adopted by the scientific community that determines the different epochs, eras and so on used to delineate the geologic record. Rather, his is based on a critique of both the cache and the content of the idea of the Anthropocene itself.

On this point, the video below from Dipesh Chakrabarty is an interesting framing of what the Anthropocene invites us to consider, and what this invitation itself implies.