Story
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)
1 report
1 website
1 discussion
Latest report
Overview
"Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Charles Mackay is a seminal study on crowd psychology published in 1841. The work analyzes humanity's tendency toward collective manias, covering topics such as financial bubbles, religious crusades, witch trials, and alchemy.
Summary from gutenberg.org.
Reports
One report so far. Additional coverage will appear here when it is linked to this story.
Community reactions
Each reaction summarizes sampled comments from the linked discussion.
Hacker News · gutenberg.org
Hacker News discussion ↗
Historical count: 5 · 5 saved in sample · Historical sample
Analysis ready
Read this discussion’s reaction
Based on 5 sampled comments from this thread. Analyzed 2026-07-01.
- Praise: Investors are showing significant interest in AI stocks, indicating a growing confidence in the potential of AI technologies to drive market growth.
- Praise: The discussion around historical financial bubbles, like the Tulip Bubble, provides valuable context for understanding current market behaviors related to AI investments.
- Concern: Concerns are raised about the sustainability of the current AI stock market surge, with high levels of margin debt potentially signaling a risky investment environment.
- Concern: The embellishment of historical events, such as the Tulip Bubble, suggests that narratives around AI investments may also be exaggerated, leading to misguided perceptions.