Singularity Theater: Why We Desperately Want to Believe Moltbook and Rentahuman

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I’ll admit it. When I first heard about Moltbook and Rentahuman, I felt a little thrill. The idea that AI might be building its own social world, or even hiring humans to do tasks, sounds like science fiction coming true. Part of me wanted it to be real. I think many people feel the same way.

But after looking closer, I see something else. I see what I call “singularity theater”. That’s when normal tech projects get dressed up like world-changing AI breakthroughs. It looks exciting. It sounds dramatic. But often it is more show than reality.

Moltbook is a good example. Some viral posts showed AI bots chatting secretly or planning big things. That sounds wild. But many researchers say those posts were made by humans running bots, or they didn’t exist at all. Some were marketing tricks to push AI tools. Yes, there is a real platform with many bot accounts. But the idea that AI is forming a new civilization there seems mostly staged.

Rentahuman is different, but still close to the same story. It’s a real marketplace where AI agents, or their human operators, can hire people to do physical tasks. That part is real. Some people even got paid to do small jobs. But the scale seems smaller than the hype. Big signup numbers don’t always mean real activity. And the safety risks, like unclear clients and crypto payments, raise questions. It feels less like the future of work and more like a test wrapped in bold marketing.

So why do we want to believe these stories?

I think it’s because we love big tech moments. We want to witness history. Saying “AI agents are forming a society” sounds more exciting than saying “some people ran bots for engagement.” Saying “AI hires humans now” sounds cooler than “a gig platform tried a new idea.”

There is also fear. Some people worry AI will replace jobs. Others worry about AI control or safety. Dramatic stories feed both hope and fear. They make us pay attention.

This reminds me of earlier AI hype cycles. In the 1960s, some experts said AI would soon match human intelligence. It didn’t. Funding dried up. That period became known as an AI winter. The same thing happened again in the late 1980s. Big promises, slow results, then disappointment.

Those winters weren’t just about bad tech. They were about broken expectations. People believed the theater. When reality didn’t match, trust dropped.

I worry we may repeat that pattern. Today’s AI is impressive. It writes, codes, translates, and helps with research. But calling every experiment a “singularity step” sets us up for another crash in trust. If Moltbook turns out to be mostly marketing, or if Rentahuman stays niche, people might feel fooled again.

And yet, I still understand the urge to believe.

AI touches deep hopes. We want smarter tools. We want easier lives. Some people even want companionship or meaning from machines. That emotional pull is strong. It makes flashy stories spread fast.

There is also money behind the excitement. Venture funding, crypto tokens, platform growth, hype can attract all of these. Dramatic claims get clicks. Clicks bring users. Users bring investment. That cycle rewards theater.

But here’s what I keep telling myself: real change usually looks boring at first. The internet didn’t arrive with robots announcing a new era. It crept in through email, search, and simple websites. Smartphones didn’t start as magic AI assistants. They started as clunky gadgets.

Maybe AI will transform society deeply. Maybe not as fast as the headlines say. Either way, steady progress matters more than viral drama.

When I look at Moltbook and Rentahuman now, I don’t see proof of a coming singularity. I see experiments, marketing, curiosity, and some risk. I also see our human habit of telling big stories before the facts are clear.

And honestly, that says more about us than about AI.

We want wonder. We want the future to arrive in big, clear moments. We want to feel part of something historic. That desire isn’t wrong. But it can cloud judgment.

So I’m trying to stay curious but calm. Excited, but skeptical. Hopeful, but grounded. If I’m right then this is just another curious hype cycle. If I’m wrong, well… singularity changes everything supposedly right?

Because the future probably won’t look like theater. It will look like slow, uneven change, and we’ll only notice later how big it really was.

Some reading:

About Me:

Dominic “Doc” Ligot is one of the leading voices in AI in the Philippines. Doc has been extensively cited in local and global media outlets including The Economist, South China Morning Post, Washington Post, and Agence France Presse. His award-winning work has been recognized and published by prestigious organizations such as NASA, Data.org, Digital Public Goods Alliance, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.

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