Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
In her book *Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly
Libertarian Culture of High Tech*, pubished in the year 2000,
Paulina Borsook called out Silicon Valley's culture for its
selfishness and lack of compassion and its ironic opposition to
government regulation, considering that tech industry in the Valley
was was perhaps the single biggest recipient of the greatest
government subsidy of technology and expansion in history. In years
since, the technology produced by that industry has become pervasive
and many of the same people Paulina was writing about are
billionaires. They're behind a new tech bubble forming around
artificial intelligence, and they've gained significant economic and
political power. Some are connected with growing authoritarianism
within the U.S. Paulina's book, which wasn't a huge seller when it
was released, now seems prescient, and has been re-released in a new
edition with a foreword by Gil Duran, author of *The Nerd Reich:
Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy*.

We'll talk about the book and the state of tech culture in this
two-week discussion with Paulina.
  

    
Paulina Borsook is best known as a writer on technology and culture.
She has been the subject of profiles in Wired, The New York Times,
and Mother Jones within in the last year. Her book *Cyberselfish: A
Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High
Tech*, was originally published in the year 2000 and was also then a
subject for an Inkwell.vue discussion.  *Cyberselfish*  has been
re-issued  by popular demand in 2026, with North American, UK +
Commonwealth, and French editions. She has also been an artist in
residence at Stanford Arts Institute.
  

    
Welcome, Paulina! We've been looking forward to this discussion!

When you revisit *Cyberselfish* now, what strikes you as most
perceptive, and what would you revise? Has anything happened that
your original framework doesn't adequately explain?
  

    
I abbreviate Cyberselfish as That Damned Book AKA TDB, so that's how
I'll refer to it here.

Since TDB was written, there's been a lot of expansion of
understanding of neurodivergence --- and the thing I seem to get
taken to task most about in TDB is the mention of autism. I think
there is an important distinction to be made about 'being on the
spectrum' [more neurological] and 'lacking empathy as a character
trait at its extreme, verging towards sociopathy'. As some of my
friends joke, "are you on the spectrum or are you just rude?"

It's a tricky issue and I feel my mention of it in TDB  has skewed
some interpretations of TDB and sort of stepped away from what I was
majorly trying to say. Yet other sympathetic readers have said 'no,
you need to have had mention of it in TDB".  It's just become such a
big honking issue on its own.
  

    
I recall you ultimately chose not to make any changes, but did you
consider doing a "revised and updated" version to change that or
anything else?
  

    
no --- that would be a different book. and so hard to decide what
might or should be updated. it's a document of a time and place
which weirdly ppl have continued to find value in --- and when the
acquiring editor said 'dont change a thing' --- i said 'phew'.
  

    
and a further thot about this (because i have gotten this question a
lot): 'a sand county almanac' and 'illness as metaphor' had tons of
facts in them but ulimately were about a POV, more literary  than
journalistic. that is how i see tdb...
  

    
Mother Jones and others are saying you're a tech prophet, that your
book saw what was coming, referring to the wealth and power of "tech
bros." Do you feel today that the book was prophetic? 
  

    
yeah i/tdb get that a lot 'prophecy' response a lot. not to get all
pettifoggery, but what exactly is a prophecy?  there are no
predictions per se in tdb; and it certainly hasnt served as a call
to action.
  

    
I think it just means that you saw called something out that nobody
else was acknowledging, and it suggests that you knew it would be
extremely relevant in the future. Did you realize when you were
working on the book that the Silicon Valley "tech bros" would become
powerful in the future, and have real political clout? 
  

    
not really  --- but then, not surprised, if that makes sense?
  

    
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October 19. Thanks for being part of it!
  

    
> not surprised, if that makes sense?

Yes, I get it.

Did you ever consider writing a sequel, as you saw how that scene
was developing over the last 26 years?

Also, what strikes you as most perceptive in the book as you look
back at it--and what would you revise, if anything? Has anything
happened that your original framework doesn't explain adequately?
  

    
recall TDB destroyed my life and career --- so it didnt even occur
to try to sell a sequel. who would publish such a thing? no one
listened to me! 

also, i sorta felt i said what i wanted to say --- and that people
now in 2026 are finding value in it would seem to suggest 'ok, my
work here is done'.

given the questions i have been getting from folks, it seems my
ravers vs/ gilders dichotomy has held up very well. it seemed super
topical at the time.

and i dont see tdb as a framework maybe so much as a travelogue ---
but we still read 'black lamb and grey falcon'
  

    
The ravers vs gilders description sounds like left vs right, but
they all had in common a disdain for government. But they differed
in the reason for their disdain. Ravers believed we didn't need
"state interference," gilders (named after George Gilder) believed
we should have laissez-faire economics and minimal government
regulation. I think we see plenty of gilders in the wealthy
technodystopian class we have today, but where are the ravers? Do
they still exist?
  

    
ravers vs. gilders = cultural liberals vs. cultural conservatives.

so ravers today would be all the drug + sex experimenters all over
the AI and EA communities; burners for sure. think philosophical
descendants of barlow.

gilders = the conservative catholics + christians, even christian
nationalists, now highly visible in tech.
  

    
How did those two cultures work together back then? Are they still
working together? Do you know of any ravers who became gilders? 

Also wondering about "terribly libertarian." I think we've talked
about this before, but there are different flavors of libertarian.
What specific qualities of the folks you were writing about did you
see as libertarian? 
  

    
this 'ravers vs gilders' distinction afaik is that i am the only
person who has ever formally made  that dichotomy. it's not like
these distinctions refer to political parties/legislative seats,
etc.  am sure many of these ppl would find common cause with each
other, even if disagreeing about lifestyle.

when do social liberals become conservative? it can happen, but i
dont particularly track it.

'libertarian' was the only term i had at my disposal --- but it is a
big-tent word. you know it when you see it. with all the ppl who
have read tdb, no one seems to have gotten hung up on what exactly
did i mean by 'libertarian'.

one hates to rely on the american studies equiv of pachelbel canon
in d, but de tocqueville found some commonalities in 'americans'.
similarly i found some fairly subjective similarities in the silval
tech culture as libertarian.

it may not be your intention, but it feels like you are asking me to
sum up tdb. there are plenty of progessives/screaming liberals who
def. had kinship with the civil liberties in cyberspace folks, for
example. i was member #335, back when the electronic frontier
foundation was a membership org.
  

    
I'm asking you questions about the book, not going for a complete
summary in one response. But we can also talk about the impact of
the book on your life. You've said the book ended your writing
career. Can you say more about that? Why do you think it had that
effect?
  

    
It was great to catch a glimpse of Paulina in the new doc by Valerie
Veatch, GHOST IN THE MACHINE, depicted as something of a Cassandra. 

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9DAv0D7tnY>
  

    
hi <frako> --- yeah someone unknown to me sent me that clip when the
doc. 1st aired. there is a backstory there: i -think- that was
filmed at a reading i did at politics + prose in dc, the reading
where young men from cato institute wearing black raincoats picketed
me outside! i went outside to talk to them and invite them inside
--- but they scuttled off into the  night...


<jonl> you ask such Big Questions! as for the impact of tdb on my
life, was thrown $85k in debt and was never published again. what
ensued: advanced self-loathing/terrifying penury, etc etc. as to
why, the 4k-word profile of me currently running in wired (sorry,
paywalled) in part addresses the mystery of why that happened. short
answer: no one quite knows. which makes the reputational renaissance
of the last 1 1/2 years equally mysterious. i grubbed around in the
bottom of the ashcan of history for 20+ years; and now suddenly
i/tdb have been rehabilitated. very confusing  and i have ptsd from
all those years...
  

    
I am so glad you got a second chance.

I was watching some suitably left wing podcast the other day - can't
remember which one.  The guest had written a number of books and you
know the usual cliche - they sit in front of a bookshelf with their
own latest book prominently propped up just over their shoulder.  

Same deal, only this time it was *your* book!
  

    
i know gil duran, who has been my BIGGEST champion, had it
prominently featured on his bookshelf in one of his pods. that boy
gil! if it's not gil, i dont know who else it would be. am curious.

vromans, my hometown bookstore, wanted me to do an event but am such
a @#%^UII___**^ disabled person i just cant travel. so i was sent 48
(!) copies to sign; they were shipped to vromans; and i have always
mentioned if you -want- a signed copy you can get one from beloved
indie bookstore (100+ yrs old) vromans.

got word yesterday they have sold out of al the signed copies. color
me still amazed by all this...
  

    
Yes, that's who it was!
  

    
I'm thrilled by your recent success, Paulina
  

    
thank you all for the good wishes. i remain in a state of happy
confusion. finalized a gig at stanford today: ethical cs +
enginering undergrads/the main library/various other departments/
FRED TURNER: and they are bulk BUYING copies to give to student
attendees. so obv. not a cash-strapped landgrant school.

and i feel like doolittle and his mission over tokyo!