The first NNCT conference takes its cue from a well-known quote by Antonio Gramsci: The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. In this interregnum, monsters appear. Several authors (Fraser 2019, Stahl 2019, Streeck 2024, Ó Rálaigh 2025) have applied Gramsci’s diagnosis to our own time. Old structures and practices…