Podcast Ep. 2... HYPE: WHY IS IT EATING THE WORLD?

LiteralMayhem is a podcast about how the stories we're told, and the stories we tell ourselves, shape the world.Our guest is Andrew Belsunces Gonçalves: a lecturer in Science and Technology studies at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, where he focuses on the relationship between power, technology, and what he conceptualizes as socio-technical fictions. He’s also a co-founder of the interdisciplinary Hype Studies Group, which is holding a Hype Studies Conference in September 2025, also in Barcelona.Our topic is, of course… HYPE! What is it? Where does it come from? And how do hype narratives affect us and our world?The conversation covers a lot of ground, from technology to social media to politics, with a special emphasis on artificial intelligence as a form of necessary "socio-technical fiction." Boosters of AI need hype to bring a not-yet-existing technology into existence by attracting investment and by reducing the likelihood of regulation. So they use hype to play up its potential benefits while downplaying its potential harms.It's just one example of how hype almost always comes with a financial and political agenda, and when we buy into the hype, we're tactically endorsing the agenda of the people creating the hype--always to their benefit, not always to ours. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.literalmayhem.com