Rating: 
Summary: A subject that can use a good analysis...
Review: ...unfortunately, this isn't it. Borsook shows an embarassing lack of understanding of Libertarianism and deliberate unexamined bias against what she believes to be the Libertarian ideal.
Rating: 
Summary: The Harm of "the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech"
Review: A number of years ago I earned my living as a blue collar auto worker. I once remember asking a human resources person why some people were picked for the the higher paying and generally easier work in the steel division while others toiled on the brutal assembly line. His response was blunt and to the point: the requests for workers came in throughout the day---the luck of the draw was the primary determining factor. Hard work and skill had virtually nothing to do with the selection process. I have since realized the importance of being in right place at the right time. A Half truth is dangerous simply because the ease of being seduced into overlooking its element of falsehood. One of the most pernicious is the aphorism declaring that "you earn everything you get in this world." This trite saying overlooks the cold reality that none of us earned our genetic makeup compromising our intelligence, athletic skill, nor did we select the wealth and position of our parents. Would we trade places, for instance, with a child born in the slums of Calcutta?Humility is not self hatred, but the objective and realistic appraisal that our accomplishments are not solely of our own making. Paulina Borsook's insights into the arrogance and sometimes nastiness of the technological elite is a work long overdue. Libertarianism as defined by the followers of Ayn Rand has done much harm. This vile woman was infamous for her ruthlessness and indifference to those around her. Rand preached Liberty and autonomy, but practiced a authoritarian leadership demanding total adherence to her ideas as infallible. I am a Democratic Capitalist who owes much to the insights of neo-conservative scholars such as Michael Novak and Richard John Neuhaus. In regards to the latter, I strongly urge the reading of Neuhaus' splendid work, "Doing Good and Doing Well, the Challenge to the Christian Capitalist." The Democratic Capitalist is not hostile to government per se, and this may be the primary reason why I never had the least hesitation for giving credit to the government funding greatly responsible for the very beginning of the computer age. All economies are mixed, and it is often merely the question of degree separating the so called socialist and the capitalist. It is intrinsically impossible for a totalist economy to survive even for a week. I highly recommend Borsook's book, but I sense that she is too pessimistic. There is definitely a tendency for the high-tech elite to surrender to the sin of pride, but I do not see the situation as hopeless. I suspect that the recent drop in many Wall Street technology stocks has been a wake up call. A more mature adult attitude may be evolving. If so, Paulina Borsook, should be congratulated for her valuable contribution to this long ignored and necessary discussion.
Rating:
Summary: Cyberstupid
Review: After reading this, I now have deep respect for the journalistic honesty of it-could-be tabloids such as the National Enquirer or Weekly World News. They, at least, if they claim that a man was seen kidnapped by Aliens dressed as Elvis at the McDonald's at 42nd street, will carefully verify that there is a McDonald's at that address. The author, a true child of the philosophy of fact free discourse and relative social knowledges, clearly believes that such objectivity is overwrought. As co-ordinator for the Libertarian International Organization, no Libertarian figure of any significance was contacted, much less interviewed in depth, for this book. It seems many of the Cyber-Libertarians she cites are actually registered Republicans Democrats, or oppose Libertarianism. This is a typical Establishment big-lie piece by a hack so confident in her readers she did not on net do any meaningful research. Perhaps she will soon give us an expose on the Methodist Church by interviewing the Taliban. This book is sure to be placed on State University reading lists everywhere for unsuspecting political science and cultural studies majors.
Rating:
Summary: More like Terribly Flawed but still a must read...
Review: Although I'm in sympathy with Ms. Borsook's general thesis two BIG flaws served to constantly distract and detract from a full five stars. Her endless thrashing throughout of the "libertarian" horse highlights her fundamental lack of understanding of this political philosophy. A broad brush is used where light touches are cried for. As for her days at Wired I find it interesting that she holds up Wired as the originator (as she did again today on KPFA-FM 94.1 Berkeley during an interview) of that style of magazine publishing when MONDO did it first and with way more chops in every area. Since I've worked in the Valley since 1982 I clearly remember discussing with friends at the time (early 90's) that Wired looked and felt like a corporate ripoff of MONDO. Which it was...
Rating:
Summary: Saying it like it is
Review: As someone also examining the world of philanthropy in America today, I find I am in agreement with most of Paulina's opinions. Her laser observation, brilliant mind, and ability to articulate are what make this book a great read. If it is true as Kevin Kelly (former editor of Wired) says, "Values and meaning are scarce today...technology will make our decisions for us...No other force is as powerful in shaping our destiny," then we are faced with a dilemma of paramount proportions. Cyberselfish, as the name portends identifies a serious problem in America today. If it is true that the "Digital Age" does not care to, or has not been taught the essential skills of cooperation, interrelationship, tolerance, and looking after others; and if it is true that this is the culture that will shape our future - the lack of these skills will leave whole sections of our society uncared for, and un-noticed, and will all but kill fine arts. This book is a must read for those who value an integrated and compassionate society. It is an essential read for those of our society who are not engaged in the Digital Age, or who are artists of another media - for it is your creativity that will be affected by this High-Tech culture through reduced funding and media exclusion. Cyberselfish is an important book to study for those in High Tech - to see how they are perceived, how they themselves stack up when engaged in a critical examination of their culture, and to consider and act upon ways that they can become better corporate citizens. And finally, it is a book for parents - whose children are the Digital Age - for it is in their children's conscience that the future of our society lays.
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: Cyberselfish subtitles itself "A Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech." Unfortunately, when the author said "a critical look," she seem's to have meant 'a disapproving view' rather than 'an insightful and reasoned examination.' The entire work reads like a pure net rant, unfortunately for the most part without the wit of actual quality scholarship or clever repartee. I wish it had at least been labeled as fiction, so my expectations would have been lower. Some of her more egregious failings: o Regularly ... up the time order of events. The author routinely attributes as causes events that happened well after the events they were supposed to have caused.
o Bad research; for example, she quotes an excerpt from the Saxenian book mentioned above, but she misrepresents both the thesis of that work and the excerpt she quotes!
o Mistaking carpetbaggers for thought leaders - In numerous cases, she holds up recent hangers-on to the technology boom as being core cultural icons, respected and revered by all. Never mind that the culture and industry she documents is decades old, and the hangers-on she quotes only fell in love with us poor maladjusted nerds five years ago when the money really started hotting up.
o Repeatedly misrepresenting her targets disagreements with her as an example of them not having considered the issues she raises. The author seems to be frankly unable to comprehend that someone might consider the many social and governmental issues she holds near and dear but honestly come to different (or even conflicting!) conclusions. ... I picked up the work expecting to find a reasoned treatise on why the computing industry needs to be more socially responsible; instead, I got 270 pages of poorly reasoned vitriol that rarely presents a coherent argument; rather than pointing to real shortcomings of the technology industry, the author wallows in anecdote, apparently assuming that a sympathetic reader who agrees with her thesis won't actually notice that the evidence she presents doesn't actually support her conclusions. ...
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: Cyberselfish subtitles itself "A Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech." Unfortunately, when the author said "a critical look," she seem's to have meant 'a disapproving view' rather than 'an insightful and reasoned examination.' The entire work reads like a pure net rant, unfortunately for the most part without the wit of actual quality scholarship or clever repartee. I wish it had at least been labeled as fiction, so my expectations would have been lower. Some of her more egregious failings: o Regularly ... up the time order of events. The author routinely attributes as causes events that happened well after the events they were supposed to have caused.
o Bad research; for example, she quotes an excerpt from the Saxenian book mentioned above, but she misrepresents both the thesis of that work and the excerpt she quotes!
o Mistaking carpetbaggers for thought leaders - In numerous cases, she holds up recent hangers-on to the technology boom as being core cultural icons, respected and revered by all. Never mind that the culture and industry she documents is decades old, and the hangers-on she quotes only fell in love with us poor maladjusted nerds five years ago when the money really started hotting up.
o Repeatedly misrepresenting her targets disagreements with her as an example of them not having considered the issues she raises. The author seems to be frankly unable to comprehend that someone might consider the many social and governmental issues she holds near and dear but honestly come to different (or even conflicting!) conclusions. ... I picked up the work expecting to find a reasoned treatise on why the computing industry needs to be more socially responsible; instead, I got 270 pages of poorly reasoned vitriol that rarely presents a coherent argument; rather than pointing to real shortcomings of the technology industry, the author wallows in anecdote, apparently assuming that a sympathetic reader who agrees with her thesis won't actually notice that the evidence she presents doesn't actually support her conclusions. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.
Review: During the glorious cultural revolution of the '60's and '70's, the philosophers of Ms Borsook's generation told us to distrust the government, question authority, and do what felt good. Now the social engineers are hoisted with their own petard: We distrust the government, we question authority, and we're doing what feels good -- i.e. making pig-loads of money. Ms Borsook has no right to complain.
Rating:
Summary: A Book-sized Cliche
Review: I borrowed (thankfully, did not buy) this book expecting to read a fair discussion of the political beliefs of all areas of high-tech. Unfortunately, within the first few pages it became clear that Borsoook has decided to tar everyone with even a slight interest in high technology issues with a very large brush. The strange thing is that, from what she reveals of her own political beliefs, I believe in most of the same things as her. However, I was rather surprised to learn that ALL tech people are (in no particular order): - anti-government anarchists - loners - rich and grasping - sexually frustrated - uninterested in art or music beyond the purely mathemetical - incapable of understanding human issues. Oh, and of course: - libertarians. In particular, I was extremely disappointed to see only two _very_ short references to the open-source / hacker culture, whose teamwork and altruism have donated a great deal of outstanding work to the public without expecting financial reward for their efforts. If you have already concluded that we are robotic nerds who always write in bulleted lists (oops) then you might as well buy this book. If you don't know the meaning of words like 'dysphoric' and 'dilettante', then you might be well-advised to buy a large dictionary too. Just don't expect 'Cyberselfish' to give more than one side of the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Inescapably relevant
Review: I found out about this book when I was reading the posts on a discussion forum, where one person commented on the vociferousness of the libertarians, and someone else said in effect, "Yeah, Paulina Borsook has a book about that." So I decided to buy it. I still hadn't finished the book the other night when I went to a panel discussion put on by the High Tech Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, at which one of the cyber-wealthy speakers remarked, "Yeah, I've gotton to talk to quite a few Congressmen the past few months. (pause) They're dumb as rocks!" I guess my point is that the topics of politics, philanthropy, the Internet, and libertarianism are inescapably relevant to some people. I'm guessing that anyone reading this review fits that description and will like the book. One quote to illustrate both style and substance: "(Cyber-)libertarianism can also be reframed as the mind-set of adolescents, with their deep wish for total rampaging autonomy and desire for simple, call-to-arms passionate politics, where Good and Bad are clearly delineated--taking for granted that someone else does the laundry and stocks the refrigerator." I like the way Borsook scrutinizes some propositions (such as those of bionomics) which no longer get examined because they get spouted so often. At points, she tosses off some great writing, such as her take on FastCompany and other "business porn." But the book has an annoying number of typos--it's like the editing is from Microsoft and it's not even a late beta. Borsook does not offer a sweeping alternative to libertarianism. In fact, I suspect that if you locked her in a room with a bunch of conventional politicians, it wouldn't be two hours before she'd be on her cell phone, whispering, "Hello, Cato Institute? I need help. Can you get me outta here?" I have a sweeping alternative, which I call "Compassionate Libertarianism." Look for that essay on my web site. But, first, give me a few days to write it.
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