A hyperstition is a belief that becomes true if people believe it's true.

Science fiction tends to be hyperstitious.

What starts out as fiction, tends to manifest in the world.

Part of the reason is that if the future in a given work of fiction isn't obviously bad, but a number of people working on a project are familiar with it, it provides a convenient schelling point.

"We're making an AI like the star trek computer"

"We're making an AI like in Her"

This happens for protopias… but also for (subtly) dystopian visions.

Something that has subtle commentary might be lost on an audience.

Understanding subtlety takes time; most people are too busy to get more than a superficial understanding of things.

Black Mirror is a useful, nearly comprehensive compendium of different dystopias (with a few more subtle ones thrown in).

People in the tech industry tend to be more optimistic about tech.

Partially because we build it so we feel more control over it.

But that means that tech sometimes is inspired by visions that were subtly dystopian.

"Did you actually read the book?"