Hype in the Communication of Science and Society

The article considers hype in modern science, reveals its sources and its impact on knowledge production. Undermining trust, hype can have a negative impact on the social perception of science, on the choice of research priorities, which leads to uneven funding, on the assessment of risks and benefits of new technologies by non-specialists. At the same time, hype initiates the society inclusion in the discussion of the alternative visions of innovation development, helps to mobilize the scientific community and the necessary resources to solve promising issues of technoscience. Particular attention is paid to biomedical science, with which there are many expectations both in the field of disease treatment and improvement of the quality of life and its duration. The author's approach to this problem, based on the recognition of hype as an integral part of modern science, focuses on the ways to prevent its negative effects. Such efforts can be directed both at scientists, especially young ones, mass media and PR-departments of the academic institutions, and at work with the society. The latter implies taking into account the already accumulated experience of the non-specialists involved in scientific discussions within the framework of various initiatives to popularize science, to overcome the «knowledge deficit» of non-specialists and the «science and society» dialogue.