> Most Europeans are allergic to anything that even smells like a commercial promise of a better tomorrow. "Hype" is universally used as a term to ridicule anyone who dares to be excited about something new, something different. Only a fool would believe that real progress is possible!

I think this article has the right tack: Anti-hype hate is almost as infuriating as the hype. And some amount of hype needs to exist for new things to breathe. Right wingers in the US used to say: let Europe decay gracefully, with its cynical, jaundiced view of everything American, the US has more in common with East Asia, and in some important cultural respects, like this examination of "hype", that is dead right.

I wonder if the callousness is a consequence of generational experiences. Hundreds of years ago, Europe was once like the US. It had hype manias (tulips). But perhaps they had enough of them where they stopped believing. The US is much younger and we're now in just our 3-4 meta hype cycle. Though in the last 10 years they seemingly have accelerated in tech (SaaS, SoLoMo, Crypto, AI). I wonder if over time that hype will wane. I do agree with DHH here that VC is the gas that keeps the engine going.