While looking through LinkedIn, I stumbled on a term I had not heard before: HaaS (Hype as a Service). In our continuous attempts to get above the noise level and to be noticed, few things are more effective than a hype. A hype is of course a temporary collective belief in something that soon proves to be incorrect, but it’s a very effective way to capture and hold attention in people. The most effective hypes are negative in nature such as AI is going to take all our jobs, climate change is going to kill us all, etc. The media exploits hypes to their fullest as their job is to make every problem your problem. Especially when there is nothing you can do about it as it puts you in a victim role and you can lament about the world going to hell in a handbasket and you don’t need to do anything. Having made a few loops around the sun by now, I have learned that nothing ever is as good or as bad as the hypes and our associated fears make it out to be. So, let’s avoid falling into the HaaS trap!