A 1973 Japanese bank run teaches the right response to this week's AI compute FUD
demian_ai · x · 2026-10-27
demianai retells the December 1973 Toyokawa Shinkin bank run in Japan as an analogy for this week's AI compute FUD.
- A schoolgirl's joke about her new bank job morphed through retellings — each dropping a hedge, adding no facts — from "might be in danger" to "will never open tomorrow" within a day
- Over 1 billion yen was withdrawn; the bank had done nothing wrong. The Bank of Japan stacked cash a meter high so people could see it
- Loss aversion explains why scary versions win: queuing costs an afternoon, staying could cost your savings
His advice: skip the gossip and check the vault — is the power connected, are customers signed, is the money there? A run doesn't make a bank unsound, it only tests whether it was.
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