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Tech Hype’s Very Long History & Why That’s Good
From Mesmer’s magnetic wands to AI’s digital dreams, we’ve been overhyping tech for centuries. Turns out our collective FOMO is actually how innovation gets done.
Francois was feeling hopeful. His arthritis was growing worse and pain was a constant. He donned the special robe and set foot into the large tub in the centre of the room. The treatment he was told, would be painless and while it took a bit, the results would prove wonderful. The media had been praising the treatment for months. The tub was filled with iron filings, with bottles and rods sticking out here and there. It was 1776 in Paris, and Francois was about to be mesmerised.
Human societies have long hyped new and emerging technologies, going as far back as the time of the Egyptians, possibly longer, we just can’t really know. But this hype of technologies may actually be a feature rather than a bug. Why?
The story of the Mechanical Turk is a very well known one. A man hid inside a box made to look like a machine and people would play chess with the “machine.” Except it was a human. The first vaporware? In Egyptian times, they built “robots” that were often presented as having consciousness? AGI anyone?
