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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: ... 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: Very disappointing Review: Let me admit up front- I'm a techie, and I'm a libertarian. That being said, I've always been interested in geek culture and _why_ there are more libertarians in the techie community than in the general populace. When I heard this book was coming out I really thought I'd enjoy it. I expected a book about libertarians in the technical community written by an outsider (Ms. Borsook isn't a libertarian). And I expected it to be an unbiased, thoughtful examination of this phenomenon. Boy, was I surprised. The book is one, long slam against libertarians. Ms. Borsook obviously has a bone to pick and pick it she does. She makes lots and lots and lots of unsupported statements about how libertarians are wrong about almost everything. She makes no attempt to hide her bias against the libertarian view. The book might have been better titled 'A Critical Look At Those Complete Morons Who Call Themselves Libertarians In The High Tech Community' because that's the attitude she takes. This book is the intellectual equivalent of a Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore book- if you want to read a book slamming libertarians and don't care for well constructed arguments or even a very good book structure this is your book.
Rating: Summary: Insinuations writ large Review: Let me begin by disclosing that I work in a technology-heavy industry and have libertarian political sympathies. And with that confession out of the way, I can say that I found 'Cyberselfish' an amusing book at times, if for no other reason than Ms. Borsook's ability to get under my skin. She's an excellent needler. But her book, writing style aside, is pretty awful. I can almost forgive her many insinuations and half-truths since her title does promise "a critical romp"--and my Webster's denotes romp as "boisterous play" and "as easy, winning pace." But it's not enough. A breezy, play-loose-with-the-facts style is ok for suitable subject matter (I suppose ex-Wired writers don't bother with trifles like footnotes), but taking on an entire industry and political philosophy without suitable armor goes a bit far. To name a few areas where facts might have been helpful: Borsook treats libertarian political philosophy and debates about the proper role of government in a free market society with-to put it bluntly-more prejudice than rigor. Referring to works by Ayn Rand (or even Robert Heinlein) as celebrating a "cult of the individual" is tar on a pretty thick brush (though both late authors might be flattered); a close reading of either reveals a celebration of individual *creativity*, not some Darwinian, I-got-mine-screw-you ethos. In short, both saw an individualistic spirit applied to one's work and play (with which the author herself might identify!) as the engine driving a free society; how this idea fell out socially and politically is another matter. This confusion has long been a staple for the authors' enemies. But a sneer or two at cultural influence pales compared to the author's misreading of libertarian politics. Carefully reasoned arguments for limited government (basically protecting us from enemies without and within, and not bothering with, say, regulating children's television viewing) have been around for decades, often drawing on much older influences; indeed, libertarians often seem to be the only citizens asking what government is *for,* not just taking the current mess for granted. Libertarians can even be (amazingly!) self-critical-Rand devotee Peter Schwartz once wrote a scathing article entitled 'Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty,' ripping followers for being nothing more than anarchists and 'anti-everything.' But Ms. Borsook's ideas about government apparently aren't quite that inquisitive. Rather, she sees only goodness spawned by our government's largess (like the Internet!), taking to task those whiny cyber-elitists who don't realize that this reviled institution supplies all that electricity, infrastructure, and police protection that makes their businesses possible. Well, sure, but without attacking that point philosophically (and leaving aside the endless list of tasks the government has done, shall we say, less-than well), I'd remind the author that perhaps the entrepreneur's lack of gratitude works both ways. Was ARPANET set up, for example, to foster what for-profit businesses did with it later? No? Without some cause-and-effect why should those profiting from the current state of affairs show gratitude for what is-at best-a happy accident? Would the builders of government-built roads have expected gratitude from Henry Ford? ("Without us, where would he be?") There are too many other factual laughers to recount here, but a few will suffice. Bionomics, a fairly dicey and easy subject to attack, also doesn't fly apparently because "you can't put a market value on basic research, fine art, and clean water"; again, wonderful things provided-apparently, exclusively--by the bogeyman government. Try asking Microsoft about research, Sotheby's about art, and perhaps Arrowhead about water; last time I checked, market value was approaching several billion. Since I started this review with a confession, I'll finish with a retort. Apparently, according to the author, due to my libertarian sensibilities I'm a loveless, childless, stingy, anti-environmental, politically naïve whiner. I would hope that since I'm none of the above I would not only prove her "case" wrong, but provide a grounds for optimism. Sadly, I suspect not.
Rating: Summary: Funny and true to heart. Review: Let me start off by saying I worked in the Valley. And I left the Valley just before the bust. I remember many a co-workers' rants against the evils of government, etc., so it got to be a cliche. In some instances their rants rang true. But one cannot deny that if it was not for government spending, many of the things we take for granted, including the net may not exist. After the bust in the valley, I recall several e-mails from so called libertarians complaining that the government was not doing enough to turn the economy around. So, yes, I agree with Ms Borsook that there is a large degree of selfishness in the Valley and I enjoyed and was amused by her book. I was also amused my the negative feed back. How do you say - it hurts to read the truth.
Rating: Summary: Probably amusing if you already agree... Review: Now, I'll admit to leaning libertarian myself, but I really really did try to give this book a chance. But at the end of the day, the book is an attack without an argument, and with very little analysis. The book is premised on the idea that practically everyone in the tech industry is a "libertarian"... which, in the author's caricature, means some sort of selfishness-celebrating Ayn Randroid. As far as I can tell, she's not very familiar with libertarian ideas (against which there are various good arguments to be made... but she apparently didn't care to learn enough about the ideas to make them) and mostly resorts to amateur psychologizing, and insinuating that libertarians are just nasty people. What facts do make it into the book aren't even very carefully checked (she says something about the Cato Institute having been around since the 60s...) So I guess if you already dislike libertarians and want something to chuckle along to, this is OK. If you want a serious critical examination of (and attack on) libertarian ideas, though, try Will Kymlicka's "Contemporary Political Philosophy" which has a chapter on them. This little tome is about as reasonable as a Rush Limbaugh screed. Or maybe those Jack Chick religious pamphlets which show liberals scheming about how to destroy Christianity through satanic rock music.
Rating: Summary: Probably amusing if you already agree... Review: Now, I'll admit to leaning libertarian myself, but I really really did try to give this book a chance. But at the end of the day, the book is an attack without an argument, and with very little analysis. The book is premised on the idea that practically everyone in the tech industry is a "libertarian"... which, in the author's caricature, means some sort of selfishness-celebrating Ayn Randroid. As far as I can tell, she's not very familiar with libertarian ideas (against which there are various good arguments to be made... but she apparently didn't care to learn enough about the ideas to make them) and mostly resorts to amateur psychologizing, and insinuating that libertarians are just nasty people. What facts do make it into the book aren't even very carefully checked (she says something about the Cato Institute having been around since the 60s...) So I guess if you already dislike libertarians and want something to chuckle along to, this is OK. If you want a serious critical examination of (and attack on) libertarian ideas, though, try Will Kymlicka's "Contemporary Political Philosophy" which has a chapter on them. This little tome is about as reasonable as a Rush Limbaugh screed. Or maybe those Jack Chick religious pamphlets which show liberals scheming about how to destroy Christianity through satanic rock music.
Rating: Summary: Scary and good Review: The author makes some good points. In particular about how shallow and self-serving a lot of the libertarianism of the "New Economy." But it's not like you can't find these observations in a more tempered and nuanced fashion. The book reads partly like her own gripes with the industry that she fell into. Here's an anecdote she recounts that struck me as strange: She tells the story of a Latino kid who goes to CSU-Los Angeles and gets a degree in Computer Science but can't find a job and has to go work with his dad as a gardener. Something is missing here. The author claims this is bona fide proof that the high-tech world is an insulated world, and clearly implies there are racial and class barriers. The fact is I personally know dozens of people from "sub-par" Universities and those with NO COLLEGE DEGREE that work in the computer industry, that don't have "connections" of any kind. They just have to have skills (or intelligence enough to manage and a high learning curve). If the racial barriers are so great, what explains the large % of Asians in the tech industry? I don't deny subtle racism and barriers, but these are symptomatic of humans, not the IT industry in particular and certainly not a result of "cyberselfishness." Sounds like the author has a big axe to grind and will find isolated examples to prove it.
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