Hype and absurdity go together.
炒作和荒谬是相伴而生的。
As excitement about the next big thing builds, people fall over themselves to get on board.
随着人们对下一个大事件的热情与日俱增，人们会争先恐后地挤进讨论圈子。
A year and a half ago, the metaverse was the future.
一年半前，元宇宙就是未来。
Companies appointed chief metaverse officers, and futurologists burbled about web 3.0.
公司任命了首席元宇宙官，未来学家滔滔不绝地谈论着web 3.0。
The idea has not gone away.
这个想法并没有消失。
Colombia held its first court case in the metaverse last month (imagine a video game called Wii Justice and you get the picture).
上个月，哥伦比亚在元宇宙举行了第一场法庭诉讼(想象一下一款名为Wii Justice的视频游戏，你就会明白了)。
But the excitement has evaporated, at least for now.
但这种兴奋已经烟消云散了，至少目前是这样。
Microsoft disbanded its industrial metaverse team last month;
微软上个月解散了其工业元宇宙团队;
the career prospects of chief metaverse officers are more virtual than even they would like.
元宇宙首席执行官的职业前景比他们想象的还要虚拟。
Other technologies have suffered the same reversal.
其他技术也遭遇了同样的反转。
There was a point when it was deeply fashionable to rave about the blockchain, crypto and non-fungible tokens.
曾几何时，对区块链、加密和非同质化代币大肆吹捧是一件非常时尚的事情。
Now the attention of users, investors and managers is firmly fixed on artificial intelligence (ai).
现如今，用户、投资者和管理者的注意力都牢牢地锁定在人工智能(AI)上。
Since Chatgpt, an ai chatbot, was made available to the public at the end of November, it has generated another wave of hype.
自11月底人工智能聊天机器人ChatGPT向公众开放以来，它又掀起了一波炒作热潮。
Over 100m people have asked it to rewrite ikea furniture instructions in iambic pentameter or something equally vital;
超过1亿人要求ChatGPT用五步抑扬格或其他同等重要的格式重写宜家家具说明书;
venture-capital funds are pouring money into ai startups;
风险投资基金正在向人工智能初创企业投入大量资金;
established firms are rushing to explain how they will use the technology to do everything from customer service to coding.
成熟的公司正急于解释他们将如何使用这项技术来做从客服到编码的所有事情。
Hype need not end in disappointment.
炒作不必以失望告终。
Some technologies are less speculative than others; the metaverse is still largely notional, for example, whereas ai is an established field.
有些技术比其他技术更不具投机性;例如，元宇宙在很大程度上仍然是概念性的，而人工智能是一个已建立的领域。
Even when bubbles burst, they can leave world-changing companies behind.
即使泡沫破裂，它们也可能把改变世界的公司抛在脑后。
The hype cycle, popularised by Gartner, a consultancy, is real.
咨询公司高德纳(Gartner)推广的炒作周期是真实存在的。
In essence, it describes a period of uncontrolled enthusiasm for a new idea followed by a backlash.
从本质上讲，它描述了一段时间内对一个新想法不受控制的热情，随之而来的是强烈的反弹。
That makes hype bittersweet for entrepreneurs.
这使得炒作对企业家来说是苦乐参半。
Excitement can help unlock funding and attract users.
兴奋可以帮助获得资金并吸引用户。
Some think of hype as a public good, vital in enabling new technologies to get going.
一些人认为炒作是一种公共产品，对推动新技术的发展至关重要。
But it can also lead to problems.
但它也会带来问题。
The question is how to manage hype for the best.
问题是如何做到炒作的绝妙管理。
重点词汇
go together 一起去 ; 相配
fall over 跌倒
last month 上月(例: He came here last month. 他是上月来这里的)
video game 电子游戏
get the picture 弄明白情况，了解情形
would like 想要
