Tech Hype Is Cannibalizing the Future ⇥ techpolicy.press

Sun-ha Hong, Tech Policy Press:

Sometimes, failures do lead to wider stigma and skepticism around the technology in question. But this does not happen anywhere near as often as the massive levels of investment and inflated promises might warrant. The distinct characteristic of tech hype of the 21st century is the overwhelming centralization of wealth, cultural prestige and, increasingly, political autonomy that is used to instill a sense of inevitability around Silicon Valley visions of the future, and a sense of learned helplessness, or even “futurelessness,” for those who would prefer another path. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta thus live to dream another day, relatively unscathed from the over $80 billion burned at the altar of the Metaverse.

This pretty well encapsulates the myth-making qualities of Elon Musk, too, particularly after yesterday’s nonsense-filled Tesla “Roadster” announcement. (About which, by the way, Jameson Dow at Electrek has a theory.)