The Hype Cycle

The media and the politicians are always screaming at us

about horrifying, end-of-the-world threats, and also about miraculous new

technologies that will save us and transform our lives. These are the two types of Hype--Fear Hype and

Hope Hype. They work together to

befuddle our minds and keep us on edge.

Both forms of Hype, according to Arnold Schelsky are overblown, exaggerated to the nth degree, and scientifically

worthless. Climate change does not threaten us with extinction, machines can

never conspire against their human creators--and on the other hand, "global

governance" cannot solve any of our serious problems, while most of the

miraculous expectations for quantum physics are scientific nonsense.

AI is a focus of both types of Hype, with provably

false predictions that machines will be able to think and create, provably

false predictions that machines will replace employees causing mass

unemployment, and provably false predictions that machines can conceive

purposes or intentions hostile to humans.

Fear Hype

justifies the move toward a permanent state of emergency while Hope Hype

titillates us with wild dreams which can never be realized.

The political result is a system Schelsky calls "neo-feudalism." The

psychological result is a rapid oscillation between extreme, unwarranted Fear

and extreme, unwarranted expectations of salvation and bliss.

In the

life of any animal, overactivity is short-lived and restricted to emergency

situations. No living being can sustain overactivity for longer periods without

self-harm. Hype is a form of toxic

overactivity of entire societies. Today

the West is in an accelerated Hype Cycle, hyping ourselves from one peak of

excitement to the next.

Values

conducive to the Hype Cycle have been developing in the West since the

1920s. Schelsky favors renewed

emphasis on pre-1920s values.

Arnold Schelsky lives in Germany and frequently visits the United States. He is a medical doctor, scientist, and

entrepreneur, who now runs his own AI company and never exaggerates the merits

of his products.