Paulina Borsook saw determination was thing rotten afoot successful Silicon Valley successful the 1990s, and successful her publication Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp done the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech, she acceptable retired to papers and recognize a peculiar mindset she saw emerging. Originally published successful 2000, Paulina’s observations successful Cyberselfish person proved truer present than erstwhile it was archetypal written. She saw that the civilization of precocious tech was determinedly anti-government, adjacent arsenic it owed its maturation to authorities subsidization. That tech prioritized the thought of advancement and profits and ignored each costs. That it co-opted the connection of improvement to marque quality decisions and powerfulness structures look inevitable. That the manufacture was hyper-male and tended toward hyper-misogynistic. That its figureheads possessed large wealthiness but were abysmal astatine sharing that wealthiness done philanthropy.
Cyberselfish was published into a infinitesimal successful which tech and its leaders’ reputations were immaculate and unquestioned. Now we cognize better. Thanks to a surge of involvement successful her prophetic insights, Cyberselfish volition beryllium reissued this autumn to a satellite that’s yet acceptable to listen. The pursuing is an excerpt from the caller edition.
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Cyberselfish was written arsenic a statement of a subculture. It was ne'er intended arsenic a publication of prophecy, but that sadly is what it has turned retired to be. Social scientists and historians astir apt person a sanction for what happens erstwhile a number civilization becomes a bulk one: What was written astir present has go the ascendant ideology of Silicon Valley leaders. The trends and ideas of this subculture coming into domination person had effects acold worse than I could person imagined backmost erstwhile I was moving connected the task successful the 1990s.
Happy days, Cyberselfish was fortunate capable to person been good and wide reviewed each implicit the satellite erstwhile it came out, but it did not merchantability well. No uncertainty the dot-com clang (“let’s not deliberation astir those tech fools we got taken successful by”) followed by 9/11 turned attraction elsewhere. Thus the publication went retired of people decades ago, lone a fewer years aft it was published.
Sometimes the algorithm gives, successful opposition to each the times it takes away.
There had been immoderate glimmers of renewed involvement successful the rubric successful 2025; prices connected used-book platforms started creeping up from the longtime humiliating debased of 5 dollars (where postage and handling were greater than the outgo of the publication itself) expanding wrong a fewer months to astir 10 dollars per copy—and past abruptly moving ever upward. Before Cyberselfish became wholly unavailable, the asking terms was 2 100 dollars and higher. Graduate students from astir the satellite reached out, asking if I could assistance due to the fact that they could not spend collectible rare-book prices. There was thing I could bash for this caller procreation of readers.
Around the aforesaid time, successful 2025, European academics started wanting to speech to me, arsenic did immoderate European media folks; I deliberation the emergence of Musk and DOGE were driving these outreach efforts.
In May of 2025, a meteor onslaught deed my LinkedIn page. Jonathan Sandhu, whom I had not heard of, past a stranger, posted a elaborate appreciation of Cyberselfish. Inspired by a mentor of his, Steven Hertzberg, idiosyncratic other I had nary acquaintance with, Sandhu began his post:
In 2000, Paulina Borsook published Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp Through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech. The rubric unsocial told you what you were successful for: a scalpel done Silicon Valley’s self-congratulatory delusions. She called the industry’s bluff connected its faux-rebel mythos, its anti-government fetish, its pathological allergy to the societal contract. She mapped the libertarian ego travel earlier it bought a hoodie and launched a surveillance startup.
And nary 1 listened.
The publication dropped during the dot-com collapse. It vanished astir instantly. Not due to the fact that she was wrong—but due to the fact that she was excessively right, excessively early, and excessively unwilling to flatter the cathedral of code.
The satellite rewarded those who said it each later, softer, oregon with credentials. And those radical got publication deals, fellowships, deliberation vessel gigs, tenured chairs, and keynote slots.
Paulina got ignored.
And the station continued aft that.
Sandhu’s substance went viral. Sometimes the algorithm gives, successful opposition to each the times it takes away.
The station went connected to amusement up successful beforehand of truthful galore radical who weren’t acquainted with Sandhu oregon maine oregon Cyberselfish. And a fewer of these recently acquainted with the enactment turned retired to beryllium captious to bringing it backmost from its authorities of suspended animation.
David Sierra bought a paperback and 2 hardcovers of Cyberselfish when these were inactive disposable for acquisition successful 2025. Among the galore skills Sierra possesses are expertise with machine vision; aft I asked him frantically if helium could make a PDF of the book, which was needed to assistance marque the lawsuit for the book’s revival to imaginable publishers, helium did truthful wrong 10 minutes (!). All physics versions had agelong since been vaporized by Public Affairs, the now-Hachette owned steadfast of Cyberselfish; the publication had been retired of people for excessively long.
Another idiosyncratic the algorithm mysteriously led maine to was Giovanni Lostumbo. Lostumbo would bash galore things connected behalf of the revivification of Cyberselfish, specified arsenic hunt Substack to find that starting successful March 2025 determination were much and much mentions of the book, inactive much impervious of its reputational renaissance.
Lostumbo asked if I knew Gil Duran. “No, who’s Gil Duran?” I was told Duran was moving connected a publication named The Nerd Reich. I pinged Duran (whom Lostumbo was already successful connection with); helium had heard of Cyberselfish and we arranged to person lunch, wherever we past realized we were earthy allies.
As a coincidence, soon aft that lunch, Wired published a portion that much oregon little said “How did these guys crook retired to beryllium specified sociopathic louts?”
Duran, who had been interviewed for the feature, was not quoted and Cyberselfish was not mentioned. Displeased, Duran wrote a agelong station connected BlueSky to the effect of “Cyberselfish is truly important and what penning astir tech ought to beryllium and the enactment has been unjustly forgotten. Let’s assistance bring it backmost into print.” Another lawsuit of wherever the algorithm giveth: Duran’s station took disconnected connected BlueSky much truthful than thing other helium had ever posted determination and caught the attraction of New York Times writer David Streitfeld.
It is unhappily worthy mentioning that Cyberselfish was primitively composed successful a safer time. Freedom of look wasn’t truthful successful jeopardy.
Streitfeld was intrigued by the decease and beingness of Cyberselfish. He and I talked and emailed for months and successful the mediate of this process, Duran had maine look connected his podcast, aided by the enactment of his researcher/editor/producer Riley Robbins. The algos looked favorably upon this podcast occurrence arsenic well, and wrong days, each copies of Cyberselfish had sold retired globally. It past became lone disposable successful unauthorized editions oregon successful the abridged audiobook from mode backmost when: I had ne'er been consulted astir the abridgment.
The enactment with Streitfeld led to a diagnostic appearing successful the Times on Thanksgiving of 2025. That day, my agent, Stuart Krichevsky, emailed: “We ever knew you were right.” Publishers became funny successful a reprint and frankincense Cyberselfish has been brought backmost to beingness from the Graveyard of Lost Works.
The pursuing souls had the bushed and kept it strong: David Temkin, Maria Bustillos, Kurt Taylor Gaubatz, Jeff Ubois, John Rieger, Jason Kehe. Each helped successful his oregon her peculiar mode to resurrect Cyberselfish.
It is unhappily worthy mentioning that Cyberselfish was primitively composed successful a safer time. Freedom of look wasn’t truthful successful jeopardy.
Online and real-world harassment of radical who hew to heterodox points of presumption hadn’t go truthful aggravated and scary. I don’t cognize that I would person had the courageousness to constitute Cyberselfish in 2026; I americium conscionable truthful grateful that what successful effect is simply a twenty-fifth day variation is present available.
That Damned Book a.k.a. TDB was the nickname I had agelong fixed Cyberselfish. It went done 3 publishers and threw maine terribly successful debt. A person who bought TDB erstwhile it archetypal came retired remarked that it was truer successful 2025 than erstwhile it was written. It seems determination person ever been larger forces astatine play successful presumption of the destiny of Cyberselfish; rhetoric that’s positioned for the aboriginal sounds a spot touched by the supernatural.
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From Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp done the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech. Used with the support of the publisher, Tin House. Copyright © 2026 by Paulina Borsook
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