{"product_id":"the-hype-cycle-uppers-and-downers-in-our-bipolar-culture-9781637700556","title":"The Hype Cycle: Uppers and Downers in Our Bipolar Culture","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe media and the politicians are always screaming at us\u003cbr\u003eabout horrifying, end-of-the-world threats, and also about miraculous new\u003cbr\u003etechnologies that will save us and transform our lives. These are the two types of Hype--Fear Hype and\u003cbr\u003eHope Hype. They work together to\u003cbr\u003ebefuddle our minds and keep us on edge.\u003c\/b\u003eBoth forms of Hype, according to Dr. Arnold Schelsky, are overblown, exaggerated to the nth degree, and scientifically\u003cbr\u003eworthless. Climate change does not threaten us with extinction, machines can\u003cbr\u003enever conspire against their human creators--and on the other hand, \"global\u003cbr\u003egovernance\" cannot solve any of our serious problems, while most of the\u003cbr\u003emiraculous expectations for quantum physics are scientific nonsense.AI is a focus of both types of Hype, with provably\u003cbr\u003efalse predictions that machines will be able to think and create, provably\u003cbr\u003efalse predictions that machines will replace employees causing mass\u003cbr\u003eunemployment, and provably false predictions that machines can conceive\u003cbr\u003epurposes or intentions hostile to humans.Fear Hype\u003cbr\u003ejustifies the move toward a permanent state of emergency while Hope Hype\u003cbr\u003etitillates us with wild dreams which can never be realized.The political result is a system Schelsky calls \"neo-feudalism.\" The\u003cbr\u003epsychological result is a rapid oscillation between extreme, unwarranted Fear\u003cbr\u003eand extreme, unwarranted expectations of salvation and bliss.In the\u003cbr\u003elife of any animal, overactivity is short-lived and restricted to emergency\u003cbr\u003esituations. No living being can sustain overactivity for longer periods without\u003cbr\u003eself-harm. Hype is a form of toxic\u003cbr\u003eoveractivity of entire societies. Today\u003cbr\u003ethe West is in an accelerated Hype Cycle, hyping ourselves from one peak of\u003cbr\u003eexcitement to the next.Values\u003cbr\u003econducive to the Hype Cycle have been developing in the West since the\u003cbr\u003e1920s. Schelsky favors renewed\u003cbr\u003eemphasis on pre-1920s values. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSchelsky, Arnold:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eArnold Schelsky\u003c\/b\u003e is the pen-name of a German scientist working in applied mathematics. He has lived in Belgium and Switzerland, frequently visits the Unites States, and now operates in private sector research. He is a Lutheran, married with children. Mostly under his real name, he has written numerous articles and delivered sundry lectures on many of the topics discussed in this book.","brand":"Open Universe","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51720813150482,"sku":"9781637700556","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2071930d-7563-4dd2-a731-ba8bc654465c.jpg?v=1762937198","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-hype-cycle-uppers-and-downers-in-our-bipolar-culture-9781637700556","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}