Once again the condensed matter world has been surprised by the discovery of
yet another class of high temperature superconductors. The discovery of
iron-pnictide (FeAs) and chalcogenide (FeSe) based superconductors with a Tc
of up to 55 K is again evidence of how complex the many body problem really is,
or in another view how resourceful nature is. The first reactions would of
course be that these new materials must in some way be related to the
copper-oxide based superconductors for which a large number of theories exist
although a general consensus regarding the correct theory has not yet been
reached. Here we point out that the basic physical paradigm of the new iron
based superconductors is entirely different from the cuprates. Their
fundamental properties, structural and electronic, are dominated by the
exceptionally large pnictide polarizabilities
