Prophetosis Tee

Prophetosis (n.): a media/online and/or social-media-amplified condition where everyone is incentivised to speak like an original source—certain, absolute, “in the know”—and where credibility is performed more than proven. The algorithm doesn’t reward careful: It rewards fast; It rewards attention; It rewards clicks. Prophetosis originates from a concept defined by Terrence McKenna in the 80s and early 1990s as: 'hyper-novelty'. Applying this term in this particular context of prophetosis is to be determined on: the newest claim, the hottest take, the stylish persuasion, the sharpest certainty—whether it’s accurate or not. Whole populations quietly shift from: citizens → audiences; and; thinkers → followers. Not because people are foolish, but because the environment they entered is designed to make certainty contagious. The result looks like information disorder: - misinformation (wrong, but believed) - disinformation (wrong, and pushed deliberately) - malinformation (true, but weaponised) And therefore prophetosis is the symptom cluster: - Overconfidence dressed up as authority - Hot takes replacing evidence - Identity signalling replacing curiosity - “Trust me” replacing “Here’s how I know”