The idea of approaching tech narratives as folklore actually works better than it did eight years ago.

Yesterday we did a post on how most of the ideas in the techno-optimist movement are just old sci-fi tropes. Tomorrow we'll be talking about some of the AI movement's more cult-like aspects (wait till we get to “Roko’s Basilisk”). This seems like a good transition.Tuesday, June 26, 2018 I'm afraid even the Brothers Grimm would have found Bitcoin a little too fantastic I'm edging closer to the notion that the tools which we would normally use to critique journalism are no longer up to the task of discussing the 21st century technology narrative. Instead, the appropriate methods are probably those of the folklorist. We are rapidly approaching the realm of the myth and the tall tale. Why not start thinking in those terms? It is standard practice when discussing something like a Jack tale to list the Aarne–Thompson classification. For example, Jack in the beanstalk fall under the classification AT 328 ("The Treasures of the Giant"). We could do something similar with the vast majority of…