Paulina Borsook's 'Cyberselfish' returns to print as tech industry reassesses its libertarian roots
The 2000 critique of Silicon Valley's techno-libertarian ideology is being republished by Tin House after gaining renewed interest among readers questioning whether the tech industry has 'lost its way.'
What happened
Paulina Borsook's 'Cyberselfish,' originally published in 2000 and long out of print, is being reissued by Tin House with a new introduction by Gil Durán. The book, which examines techno-libertarian influence on Silicon Valley culture, has experienced renewed interest evidenced by rising prices for used copies, social media posts highlighting its relevance, inquiries from European academics, and New York Times reporting on its renewed appeal. Borsook characterizes techno-libertarianism as a 'basket of beliefs' that is 'violently anti-regulation' despite the tech sector having 'benefited more and suffered less from the government' than nearly any other industry. She attributes the persistence of this ideology across the dot-com crash and beyond to an absence of correction that allowed it to 'spread out more and more.'
Context
Borsook began observing what she terms techno-libertarianism in Silicon Valley during the early 1980s and '90s, initially puzzled by remarks that seemed inconsistent with the STEM culture she knew from Caltech-JPL, where government support was recognized as essential. Her book was originally conceived as reportage—'almost a travelogue'—examining a subculture she found philosophically incoherent rather than as polemical critique. The timing of its republication suggests current tech industry scrutiny may be creating an audience for critical analysis that was commercially unviable when first published; Borsook reported being unable to publish another book afterward, with 'no one interested in anything I might have to say.' The 25-year gap between publication and revival reflects changing perceptions of whether Silicon Valley's founding ideology has proven problematic.