hyperstition means A cultural belief (especially a work of fiction) that makes itself real; a cultural self-fulfilling prophecy where some cultural idea or hype truly brings about the thing it describes. It carries an Arena rating of 1622, earned across 67 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, hyperstition ranks #47 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #61 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #791 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #1,431 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
Why “hyperstition” is a great word
HYPERSTITION — [Noun] A self-fulfilling cultural fiction or belief that, through its own propagation and the actions it inspires, brings about the reality it describes. A blend of hyper- (from Greek, meaning "over, beyond, excessive") and superstition (from Latin superstitio, "excessive fear of the gods, irrational belief"), modelled on the latter; coined in the 1990s by the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit. Unlike superstition (a passive belief in ungrounded causality) or prophecy (a passive prediction awaiting fate), hyperstition is an active, narrative engine that constructs its own truth. It is the market rumor that triggers the crash it foretold, the political slogan that summons the mob it conjured, or the technological myth that shapes the very innovation it describes—a ghost that builds its own haunted house, then moves in.
Etymology
Modelled on superstition (“belief, not based on reason, that one's behaviour can magically influence events”)
noun
- A cultural belief (especially a work of fiction) that makes itself real; a cultural self-fulfilling prophecy where some cultural idea or hype truly brings about the thing it describes.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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