I've Watched This Movie Before: Why Every Tech Bubble Follows the Same Script

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 09:30:00 -0400

My garbage can got repossessed in 2001.

I know that sounds absurd, but it perfectly captures the surreal devastation of the dot-com crash. One day I was a young engineer at a hot startup, stock options growing more valuable by the week, new house, first baby on the way. The next day the company vanished, my options were worthless, and we were losing everything—including our municipal garbage service.

For months afterward, I drove hours from home for consulting gigs, watching the wreckage of Silicon Valley’s first great bubble. Half the internet companies disappeared within two years. 48% of them, gone. Along with hundreds of thousands of jobs and families like mine.

Ai-Hype on Notes from the Rabbit Hole

I've Watched This Movie Before: Why Every Tech Bubble Follows the Same Script