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You don’t have to burn a book to bury it. In 2000, Paulina Borsook published Cyberselfish, framed as “a critical romp through the terribly libertarian culture of high tech.” The text was about tech’s impact on people and planet earth, not about computers and markets, but it was entombed by a world focused on potential and profit, not reality and risk. Today, the volume on critique has been amplified. Not because we don’t want tech, but because we want it to do good, not harm.
“Were I to write what I know," Ina Coolbirth once wrote, "the book would be too sensational to print; but were I to write what I think proper, it would be too dull to read.” In the noughties, Cyberselfish was evidently too sensational, but it has been reincarnated due to rising demand. A new generation of readers are now scrutinising how tech got big and how it can become better. To mark the moment, Paulina and I met to explore the subliminal cultural forces of Silicon Valley, and why it still takes courage to deviate from writing what we think is proper.
Image: 'A Sunday Afternoon' editorial by Oliver Hadlee Pearch for Middle Plane Magazine
