Andreu Belsunces
@imaginaries.bsky.social
Researching on socio-technical fictions, hype, financialisation and cyberlibertarianism
Academic research at Tecnopolitica.net / IN3-UOC
Just + Sustainable Transitions at Holon.cat
Futures at Becoming.network
Artistic research at Engineering-fiction.org
Academic research at Tecnopolitica.net / IN3-UOC
Just + Sustainable Transitions at Holon.cat
Futures at Becoming.network
Artistic research at Engineering-fiction.org
Also at @mozilla.org Fest, check out this AMAZING interactive installation, a visual database of AGI hype discourse, created by a group of talented students: hype-arenas.xyz It’s beautiful to see how one’s own research can step beyond academic language and become this ⬇️
AGI Hype arenas
A visual database of AGI hype discourse mapped into six key dimensions of uncertainty using qualitative research methodologies.
Shown at the Mozilla Festival 2025.
hype-arenas.xyz
November 7, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Also at @mozilla.org Fest, check out this AMAZING interactive installation, a visual database of AGI hype discourse, created by a group of talented students: hype-arenas.xyz It’s beautiful to see how one’s own research can step beyond academic language and become this ⬇️
Getting ready to my talk on Artificial General Intelligence as a form of both Deep Hype and as Futures Governance instrument at @mozilla.org Fest. Come by if you around! schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/159
November 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Getting ready to my talk on Artificial General Intelligence as a form of both Deep Hype and as Futures Governance instrument at @mozilla.org Fest. Come by if you around! schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/159
If you’re at @mozilla.org Fest this Saturday, join @hypestudies.bsky.social for a conversation on hype as a tech governance instrument by other means. The discussion will be facilitated through the first version of our Hype Literacy Toolkit 🖖
🔗 schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/31
🔗 schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/31
November 4, 2025 at 7:46 AM
If you’re at @mozilla.org Fest this Saturday, join @hypestudies.bsky.social for a conversation on hype as a tech governance instrument by other means. The discussion will be facilitated through the first version of our Hype Literacy Toolkit 🖖
🔗 schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/31
🔗 schedule.mozillafestival.org/session/31
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
"Ten lossmaking artificial intelligence start-ups have gained close to $1tn in valuation over the past 12 months, an unprecedented increase that adds to fears about an inflating bubble in private markets that could spill over into the wider economy."
‘Of course it’s a bubble’: AI start-up valuations soar in investor frenzy
Unprecedented funding leads 10 groups including OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI to gain almost $1tn in value in past year
www.ft.com
October 16, 2025 at 11:20 AM
"Ten lossmaking artificial intelligence start-ups have gained close to $1tn in valuation over the past 12 months, an unprecedented increase that adds to fears about an inflating bubble in private markets that could spill over into the wider economy."
The weird & reactionary technopolitics of today are the result of 30+ years of debate among US technologists. Our paper with @arturocastro.bsky.social "Cryptofinancial Imaginaries" is out in the new issue of Journal of Cultural Economy.
Thrilled to be part of this debate: tinyurl.com/24ptrbkn
Thrilled to be part of this debate: tinyurl.com/24ptrbkn
Journal of Cultural Economy
Volume 18, Issue 5 of Journal of Cultural Economy
www.tandfonline.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The weird & reactionary technopolitics of today are the result of 30+ years of debate among US technologists. Our paper with @arturocastro.bsky.social "Cryptofinancial Imaginaries" is out in the new issue of Journal of Cultural Economy.
Thrilled to be part of this debate: tinyurl.com/24ptrbkn
Thrilled to be part of this debate: tinyurl.com/24ptrbkn
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
And that's a wrap! @hypestudies.bsky.social conference over and out! 🫡Thank you so much to all the incredible people who attended.
This is what academia can be 🫶
This is what academia can be 🫶
September 13, 2025 at 9:38 AM
And that's a wrap! @hypestudies.bsky.social conference over and out! 🫡Thank you so much to all the incredible people who attended.
This is what academia can be 🫶
This is what academia can be 🫶
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
Final preparations for our conference! 🎩
We are tremendously excited to welcome all participants in-person and online tomorrow for the first conference on Hype Studies! The time has come 😊😊
Wishing safe travels to all those who are joining us from afar!
We are tremendously excited to welcome all participants in-person and online tomorrow for the first conference on Hype Studies! The time has come 😊😊
Wishing safe travels to all those who are joining us from afar!
September 9, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Final preparations for our conference! 🎩
We are tremendously excited to welcome all participants in-person and online tomorrow for the first conference on Hype Studies! The time has come 😊😊
Wishing safe travels to all those who are joining us from afar!
We are tremendously excited to welcome all participants in-person and online tomorrow for the first conference on Hype Studies! The time has come 😊😊
Wishing safe travels to all those who are joining us from afar!
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
We are most honoured to host our book launch event for Neil Pollock and Robin Williams's deeply anticipated 'After Hype'!
September 10, 2025 at 1:13 PM
We are most honoured to host our book launch event for Neil Pollock and Robin Williams's deeply anticipated 'After Hype'!
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
A very special applause for our group's rising star Isa Luiten! Isa not only presented her amazing work on NewSpace and Hype from her forthcoming Thesis, but is also our tireless research assistant, keeping the Hype Studies group and conference in place. Thank you, Isa!
September 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
A very special applause for our group's rising star Isa Luiten! Isa not only presented her amazing work on NewSpace and Hype from her forthcoming Thesis, but is also our tireless research assistant, keeping the Hype Studies group and conference in place. Thank you, Isa!
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
Fantastic panel today on 'AI Hype: Between Power and Resistance' with amazing contributions by Kat Fuller, @danmk.bsky.social, Tianqi Kou, Dana Calacci, Nasser Eledroos, and Jacek Mańko who also acted as stellar chair, debating power across multiple themes, from anti-trans hype to AGI!
September 10, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Fantastic panel today on 'AI Hype: Between Power and Resistance' with amazing contributions by Kat Fuller, @danmk.bsky.social, Tianqi Kou, Dana Calacci, Nasser Eledroos, and Jacek Mańko who also acted as stellar chair, debating power across multiple themes, from anti-trans hype to AGI!
What is deep hype? 🕳️ This week at @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference I'll present a paper where I define deep hype as a "long-term dynamic that projects civilisational transformation through uncertain futures, making its promises unverifiable in the present" arxiv.org/pdf/2508.19749
arxiv.org
September 8, 2025 at 11:17 AM
What is deep hype? 🕳️ This week at @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference I'll present a paper where I define deep hype as a "long-term dynamic that projects civilisational transformation through uncertain futures, making its promises unverifiable in the present" arxiv.org/pdf/2508.19749
Join us at the hybrid keynote at the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference by Gemma Milne, author of "Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It"
Wednesday 10Sept from 17 to 18:30 CEST.
Free with previous registration: framaforms.org/dont-believe...
Wednesday 10Sept from 17 to 18:30 CEST.
Free with previous registration: framaforms.org/dont-believe...
September 5, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Join us at the hybrid keynote at the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference by Gemma Milne, author of "Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It"
Wednesday 10Sept from 17 to 18:30 CEST.
Free with previous registration: framaforms.org/dont-believe...
Wednesday 10Sept from 17 to 18:30 CEST.
Free with previous registration: framaforms.org/dont-believe...
The final programme and the abstract booklet for the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference is out!
Programme: hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Booklet hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Join us online at from 10-12/9 at hypestudies.org
Programme: hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Booklet hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Join us online at from 10-12/9 at hypestudies.org
hypestudies.org
September 4, 2025 at 2:01 PM
The final programme and the abstract booklet for the @hypestudies.bsky.social Conference is out!
Programme: hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Booklet hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Join us online at from 10-12/9 at hypestudies.org
Programme: hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Booklet hypestudies.org/media/pages/...
Join us online at from 10-12/9 at hypestudies.org
Nuestro artículo de @techpolicypress.bsky.social sobre las políticas del hype en relación al capitalismo tecno-financiero y sus derivas autoritarias ha sido traducido al español en @elsaltodiario.com.
www.elsaltodiario.com/atenea_cybor...
www.elsaltodiario.com/atenea_cybor...
Más allá de las burbujas tecnológicas: entender el hype para proteger la democracia
El hype exagera los posibles beneficios de una nueva tecnología mientras ofusca sus efectos negativos. Es una estrategia especulativa diseñada para atraer capital y atención mediática, y así materiali...
www.elsaltodiario.com
September 2, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Nuestro artículo de @techpolicypress.bsky.social sobre las políticas del hype en relación al capitalismo tecno-financiero y sus derivas autoritarias ha sido traducido al español en @elsaltodiario.com.
www.elsaltodiario.com/atenea_cybor...
www.elsaltodiario.com/atenea_cybor...
The phantom of the AI bubble bust is back. Jascha Bareis and I wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social about how hype is a political force, benefitting some while harming others.
Hype literacy and @hypestudies.bsky.social matters: we need to learn who creates it, why, and how it shapes our futures.
Hype literacy and @hypestudies.bsky.social matters: we need to learn who creates it, why, and how it shapes our futures.
To resist hype and the ways in which it rewards the powerful and abets authoritarianism, we must recognize hype not just as an economic or a technological phenomenon, but as a political one, write Andreu Belsunces Gonçalves and Jascha Bareis.
Expanding Hype Literacy to Protect Democracy | TechPolicy.Press
Understanding and dismantling the current rise of techno-authoritarianism requires hype literacy, write Andreu Belsunces Gonçalves and Jascha Bareis.
buff.ly
August 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
The phantom of the AI bubble bust is back. Jascha Bareis and I wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social about how hype is a political force, benefitting some while harming others.
Hype literacy and @hypestudies.bsky.social matters: we need to learn who creates it, why, and how it shapes our futures.
Hype literacy and @hypestudies.bsky.social matters: we need to learn who creates it, why, and how it shapes our futures.
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
'Finance, paranoia and the radicalisation of value' tank.tv/magazine/iss...
June 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM
'Finance, paranoia and the radicalisation of value' tank.tv/magazine/iss...
Want to participate in our Hype Studies Conference?
Bear in mind that tomorrow is the last day to submit your proposal ⏰🔥🎉
Call for Abstracts and Projects: hypestudies.org/conference
Bear in mind that tomorrow is the last day to submit your proposal ⏰🔥🎉
Call for Abstracts and Projects: hypestudies.org/conference
May 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Want to participate in our Hype Studies Conference?
Bear in mind that tomorrow is the last day to submit your proposal ⏰🔥🎉
Call for Abstracts and Projects: hypestudies.org/conference
Bear in mind that tomorrow is the last day to submit your proposal ⏰🔥🎉
Call for Abstracts and Projects: hypestudies.org/conference
What are sociotechnical fictions?
In my new paper I explain how, unlike literary forms, such fictions operate within the contours of science and technology to bring the imaginary into reality -and how they do so through epistemic, aesthetic, affective and normative agencies.
🔗 shorturl.at/acsrK
In my new paper I explain how, unlike literary forms, such fictions operate within the contours of science and technology to bring the imaginary into reality -and how they do so through epistemic, aesthetic, affective and normative agencies.
🔗 shorturl.at/acsrK
Sociotechnical Fictions: The Performative Agencies of Fiction in Technological Development
This paper coins and develops the notion of sociotechnical fiction: a type of fiction distinct from literary or cinematic forms, which operates within the technosciences to materialise non-existent, i...
shorturl.at
May 7, 2025 at 11:13 AM
What are sociotechnical fictions?
In my new paper I explain how, unlike literary forms, such fictions operate within the contours of science and technology to bring the imaginary into reality -and how they do so through epistemic, aesthetic, affective and normative agencies.
🔗 shorturl.at/acsrK
In my new paper I explain how, unlike literary forms, such fictions operate within the contours of science and technology to bring the imaginary into reality -and how they do so through epistemic, aesthetic, affective and normative agencies.
🔗 shorturl.at/acsrK
🔥 Techno-authoritarianism has been brewing since at least the 1970s 🔥
In this new paper, @arturocastro.bsky.social and I trace how neoliberal theories—distrust in the state, private money, and the fetish of decentralisation—grounded the technical principles of contemporary cryptocurrencies.
In this new paper, @arturocastro.bsky.social and I trace how neoliberal theories—distrust in the state, private money, and the fetish of decentralisation—grounded the technical principles of contemporary cryptocurrencies.
Cryptofinancial imaginaries: how neoliberal theories are materialized in the technical principles of cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are sociotechnical objects encoding the visions and interpretative frameworks of the communities of practice that ideated and designed them. This paper explores and presents the no...
www.tandfonline.com
April 3, 2025 at 9:20 AM
🔥 Techno-authoritarianism has been brewing since at least the 1970s 🔥
In this new paper, @arturocastro.bsky.social and I trace how neoliberal theories—distrust in the state, private money, and the fetish of decentralisation—grounded the technical principles of contemporary cryptocurrencies.
In this new paper, @arturocastro.bsky.social and I trace how neoliberal theories—distrust in the state, private money, and the fetish of decentralisation—grounded the technical principles of contemporary cryptocurrencies.
If you happen to be in Rome next week, I'll be showing how speculative research, STS, and theory fiction can come together to inquire about techno-financial imagination and its toxic relation to the sacred and ineffable
March 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM
If you happen to be in Rome next week, I'll be showing how speculative research, STS, and theory fiction can come together to inquire about techno-financial imagination and its toxic relation to the sacred and ineffable
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
Folks, this is going to be big: “Hype Studies is an emergent, transdisciplinary research arena aimed at inquiring hype as a powerful and pervasive phenomenon that influences economic trends, political agendas, media narratives, and technological developments.” hypestudies.org
Home | Hype Studies
hypestudies.org
March 18, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Folks, this is going to be big: “Hype Studies is an emergent, transdisciplinary research arena aimed at inquiring hype as a powerful and pervasive phenomenon that influences economic trends, political agendas, media narratives, and technological developments.” hypestudies.org
Reposted by Andreu Belsunces
What are *hype studies* about?
We are a group exploring the frenzies, gurus, attention cycles and waves of excitement and disappointment we're experiencing when interacting with contemporary science and technology. To learn more, follow hypestudies.org
P.S. Credit to Pierre Depaz for web design! ☀️
We are a group exploring the frenzies, gurus, attention cycles and waves of excitement and disappointment we're experiencing when interacting with contemporary science and technology. To learn more, follow hypestudies.org
P.S. Credit to Pierre Depaz for web design! ☀️
March 19, 2025 at 9:13 AM
What are *hype studies* about?
We are a group exploring the frenzies, gurus, attention cycles and waves of excitement and disappointment we're experiencing when interacting with contemporary science and technology. To learn more, follow hypestudies.org
P.S. Credit to Pierre Depaz for web design! ☀️
We are a group exploring the frenzies, gurus, attention cycles and waves of excitement and disappointment we're experiencing when interacting with contemporary science and technology. To learn more, follow hypestudies.org
P.S. Credit to Pierre Depaz for web design! ☀️
How to design with ancestrality towards metaphysical sovereignty? How does deciding what is real and what is not set us free from the miserable tales of success, competition, and techno-financial frameworks? How to re-enchant experience to sync with planetary temporalities? My latests article 🪷
Designing With Ancestrality | CCCB LAB
The practice of spirituality is key to facing the profound eco-social transition in which we are currently immersed.
lab.cccb.org
February 18, 2025 at 12:57 PM
How to design with ancestrality towards metaphysical sovereignty? How does deciding what is real and what is not set us free from the miserable tales of success, competition, and techno-financial frameworks? How to re-enchant experience to sync with planetary temporalities? My latests article 🪷
AGI is the result of Venture Capital imagination, which turns into a normative vision of the future, pursued by researchers who see in this fictional promise a north star guiding their practice. This is an example of how the VC speculative mindset poisons technoscientific reason.
February 13, 2025 at 12:40 PM
AGI is the result of Venture Capital imagination, which turns into a normative vision of the future, pursued by researchers who see in this fictional promise a north star guiding their practice. This is an example of how the VC speculative mindset poisons technoscientific reason.
So it seems that free-market zealots need the state to impose monopolistic financial products because they can’t outcompete their rivals (e.g., Sam Altman’s Worldcoin) under the sacred rules of competition.
DOGE-Backed Halt at CFPB Comes Amid Musk’s Plans for ‘X’ Digital Wallet
Government-efficiency team’s initial ‘read-only’ access expanded quickly to encompass closely guarded data, internal emails say.
www.bloomberg.com
February 12, 2025 at 10:12 AM
So it seems that free-market zealots need the state to impose monopolistic financial products because they can’t outcompete their rivals (e.g., Sam Altman’s Worldcoin) under the sacred rules of competition.