Some of you may remember the Net Bubble, or Dot-Com Bubble. Others might remember the Crypto Bubble. Others still have no idea what I’m talking about, and perhaps a little background is needed to understand what is actually happening.
New technologies, like every stage in human history, have always brought speculators along with them: last-minute opportunists convinced they can get rich through a plan as simple as it is absurdly effective: be the first to throw money at a new technology, hoping to get it back many times over.
This has probably been happening since the invention of fire, but we have plenty of “recent” examples: internal combustion engines, automatic firearms, refrigerators, industrial robots, “green” homes, cryptocurrencies, NFTs. Every technology has had its speculators.
In everyday language, someone who gets this excited about new technologies is usually called a “geek”. But when geekdom takes on financial proportions capable of triggering financial collapses worth tens of trillions, it becomes pretty clear why a harmless label like geek no longer cuts it, and the derogatory term “tech bros” takes over.
Tech bros pose a serious threat to the entire financial system. Because, fundamentally, the average member of this category is someone with few, if any, moral obligations, a distinctly libertarian outlook, and no interest in ethical dilemmas or moral implications: only opportunities to seize.
On the one hand, enthusiasm from people who consider themselves “savvy” is healthy in an active economy, particularly in this phase of capitalism known as “Late-Stage Capitalism”, where initiative is largely rewarded at the expense of long-term stability. On the other, this is precisely how speculative bubbles form.
And today, in November 2026, the AI bubble has only just begun to burst. Starting in China, no less, where robotics and artificial intelligence chips are taking the first hit.
The consequences of all this aren’t impossible to understand. The first are already underway: the famous “price wars”. A steady, relentless drive to bring down the costs of running AI, bringing it to market, and adopting it in everyday life. Because now that the innovation phase is over, the “buy mine, it’s cheaper and gives you more” phase begins. And anyone who has studied a little marketing knows this: it isn’t the final stage, just the one in the middle.
Then come those offering practically identical things at the same price, but with the caveat that they are more “sustainable”, more “ethically responsible”, their GPS set to “Luxury Brand”.
For anyone who hasn’t studied marketing, the product cycle is always the same: first you try to buy your customers with quantity, then with quality, then with ethics, and finally with your brand’s social status. Like the cycles of fashion and technology, it’s a circle, an Ouroboros that systematically swallows up the “new thing”. In English, they call it “The Next Big Thing”.
In this almost post-apocalyptic scenario, where the fight against climate change becomes an ideological battle rather than a race for solutions, where the political climate gives way to a rampant rise in violent populism, the AI bubble is shaping up to be the “Next Big Thing” to blame.
Twenty-five years ago, it was the Dot-Com Bubble. Then came the housing-driven Financial Crisis of 2008 (FC to its friends). Then the war in Crimea. Then Covid. Now war and the AI bubble. Every five years, we get another little major disaster that seems avoidable, but we’re too busy getting excited and ignoring anyone who dares to offer criticism and keep a little perspective.
Expert opinion isn’t something to fear. Nor is it gospel. These are opinions, and they should be treated as such: they help build a picture, a conceptual map for understanding the future better—and sooner. Predicting the “unpredictable”, which reliably turns out to be fairly easy to understand before it causes trouble.
So the point is no longer “predicting when the bubble will burst and cause yet another global economic collapse”, because we already have countries preparing for a war over resources. The UK and Japan have already run tests for supply shortages. Here in Italy, we’re facing one of the most devastating cost-of-living crises since the switch from the lira to the euro. The usual failure of Italy’s right-wing government, which we’ve grown accustomed to and still can’t seem to escape despite “expert opinion”, is only part of the problem.
What we’re left with, what we need to think about, is the here and now: are we ready to stop being the ultras of “The Next Big Thing” and start looking for long-term stability? Or will we remain perpetual teenagers chasing our daily dopamine hit from whatever technology happens to be trending?
Growing up is hard. As a society, though, we have to. Even when there’s always a new toy to get excited about.
