Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech - Softcover

Borsook, Paulina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1586480383 ISBN 13: 9781586480387

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2001

Synopsis

"Paulina Borsook has been stirring up a ruckus in Silicon Valley since her days as a regular contributor to Wired magazine."

About this title

Review:

Are nerds playing into the hands of the corporate elite? Commentator Paulina Borsook examines the politically and philosophically libertarian world of high-tech culture in Cyberselfish and finds it wanting a soul.

Formerly a writer for Wired, Borsook made a career out of alienating the technology priests and worshippers just enough to keep them reading. Now she is free to go whole hog and say exactly what she thinks--and the techies in San Jose won't be happy. Her leftist-liberal slant helps her see the "me me me" attitudes behind the anti-government, pro-freedom rhetoric spouted reflexively by so many programmers and suits in Silicon Valley and its virtual suburbs.

Unfortunately, that same slant keeps her from respecting that many techies hold these beliefs following years of struggle and thought--and prevents her from understanding that many libertarians are as much or even more sympathetic with liberals than with conservatives. Still, her insights far outweigh her biases, and Cyberselfish is a fascinating take on the Weltanschauung of mid-90s cutting-edge capitalists.

It seems unlikely that Borsook's dark visions of a heartlessly anarchic free market, populated by self-indulgent code millionaires presiding over the long- suffering masses, will materialize on schedule--but her predictions do make for thought-provoking reading while we wait to find out. --Rob Lightner

About the Author:

Paulina Borsook was a contributing writer at Wired during the magazine's glory years. Her fiction, essays, humor pieces, and journalism on technology and culture have appeared in print and on-line at publications including Newsweek, Mother Jones, San Francisco, Salon.com, suck.com, and feed.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1586480383
• ISBN 13: 9781586480387
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288