[gom_jabbar]

Hype is very interesting. The concept of Hyperstition describes fictions that make themselves real. In this sense, hype is an essential part of capitalism:

"Capitalization is [...] indistinguishable from a commercialization of potentials, through which modern history is slanted (teleoplexically) in the direction of ever greater virtualization, operationalizing science fiction scenarios as integral components of production systems." [0]

"Within capitalist futures markets, the non-actual has effective currency. It is not an "imaginary" but an integral part of the virtual body of capital, an operationalized realization of the future." [1]

This corresponds to the idea that virtual is opposed to actual, not real.

[0] https://retrochronic.com/#teleoplexy-12

[1] https://retrochronic.com/#on-accelerate-2b

[seadan83]

Religion too. Those that are told a prophecy is to come, have a lot of incentive to fulfill that prophecy. Human belief systems are strange and interesting because (IMO) of the entanglement of beliefs with identity