Reboot is a publication and community reclaiming techno-optimism for a better collective future.
We don’t publish platitudes on “tech for good,” and we won’t teach you to pass coding challenges or productivity-hack your day. Instead, we believe that:
Technology is part of a system. We analyze tech in the context of the institutions and ideologies it shapes and is shaped by.
Technologists should also be thinkers, writers, and advocates. Democracy thrives when we all have the courage to state the future we want to live in.
Optimism is an action, not a belief. We’re neither accelerationists nor Luddites: we are agents chipping away at a better world.
To that end, here’s what we’re building:
Newsletter: Every week, we share a book review or an essay by a Reboot community member, plus a few links that sparked joy and thought.
Events: Every month, we host live Q&As with authors of the best new books on technology and society. Audience participation is welcome!
Network: We run a student fellowship, edit and feature guest essays, and run other programs to connect and engage our community.
(JAN 6, 2022: We’re temporarily pausing paid subscriptions and Kernel shipments. Existing subscribers will not be billed until we’re back. Thanks for the patience!)
In addition to free essays and events every week, our paying subscribers will also receive a copy of print and digital edition of Kernel Magazine, invite-only digital events and seminars, and audio versions of some pieces. You can join for $40, or a donation price of your choosing — these are crucial to enabling our future work.
(If you can’t afford the subscription, you can get full digital access to Kernel and the newsletter by filling out this form, no questions asked.)
our people
Reboot is a nonprofit run by an ever-growing team of volunteer contributors. Our community includes students, engineers, writers, founders, community organizers, scientists, and educators.
We are also propelled by our wonderful community members:
Jasmine Sun @jasminewsun
my baby pandemic project @reboot_hq turned one! 🎂 the best part of the past year has been meeting so many people who care deeply + think rigorously about tech's role in the world. because of them, i feel vastly more optimistic about the future of technology than when i began 💫
If you’re a young-ish person looking for a community thinking critically about tech, humanity, and power, Reboot runs a private Discord — more on that here.
in the archives
our featured books (event date, review)
System Error by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami, Jeremy Weinstein (10/11/21, review)
A City Is Not A Computer by Shannon Mattern (8/17/21, review)
The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo (7/22/21, review)
From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred Turner (6/17/21, review)
The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian (6/3/21, review)
Living In Data by Jer Thorp (5/27/21, review)
Glitch Feminism by Legacy Russell (5/13/21, review)
Lurking by Joanne McNeil (4/27/21, review)
Working in Public by Nadia Eghbal (4/8/21, review)
Subprime Attention Crisis by Tim Hwang (3/13/21, review)
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (3/4/21, review)
Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow (2/9/21, review)
Artful Design by Ge Wang (1/26/21, review)
Black Software by Charlton McIlwain (1/12/21, review)
This Could Be Our Future by Yancey Strickler (12/8/20, review)
What Tech Calls Thinking by Adrian Daub (12/1/20, review)
No Filter by Sarah Frier (11/12/20, review)
Voices from the Valley by Moira Weigel and Ben Tarnoff (10/29/20, review)
The Smart Enough City by Ben Green (7/17/20)
Blockchain Chicken Farm by Xiaowei Wang (7/9/20)
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu (5/14/20)
Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener (5/13/20)
Always Day One by Alex Kantrowitz (5/7/20)
Futureproof by Kevin Roose (4/29/20)
Future Histories by Lizzie O’Shea (4/23/20)
Abolish Silicon Valley by Wendy Liu (4/15/20)
How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell (4/9/20)
our original essays + interviews (pub. date)
“Pursuing the Endless Frontier” with Ben Wolfson (9/10/21)
“Value Beyond Instrumentalization” by Jasmine Wang (8/26/21)
“Life in the Metaverse” by Anthony Tan (8/20/21)
“Putting Workers In The Drivers Seat” with Jason Prado (8/6/21)
”No More Starving Artists” by Alan Luo (7/29/21)
“Design Justice and Beyond” (7/8/21)
“Taking and Making Space in San Francisco” by Michelle Gan (7/1/21)
“Safekeeping the Internet” with Jessica Zhou (6/23/21)
“Venturing Toward Progress” by Ivan Zhao (6/3/21)
“Why I’m Unionizing” with Angie Kim (5/13/21)
“The Creator’s Dilemma” by Lucas Gelfond (4/30/21)
“Make Space for Maintenance” by Bianca Aguilar (4/15/21)
“Tech For Good But Make It Better” by Matthew Sun (3/19/21)
“How To Map Your Values To Your Work” (3/5/21)
“Worldbuilding on the Digital Frontier” with bgu (2/17/21)
“What Happened to Human-Centered Health Tech?” by Shohini Gupta (2/11/21)
“It’s Time To Build (A Movement)” with Theresa Gao (1/28/21)
“Race in Silicon Valley” by Victoria Gorum (1/14/21)
“CS vs. the Tech Industry” by Jessica Dai (12/22/20)
“Post-Capitalist Entrepreneurship: Iterative Imagination” by Jihad Esmail (12/11/20)
“Toxic to Tonic: Toward Algorithmic Agency” by Humphrey Obuobi (11/19/20)
“Branding Ourselves to Death” by Nikhil Sethi (11/13/20)
“Is Prop 22 a Dead End for Ridesharing?” by Allison Tielking (10/30/20)
⚡ reboot ⚡ @reboot_hq
Kernel Magazine will open with the essay "take back the future!": @jasminewsun's manifesto outlining the personal, philosophical, and historical impetus behind Reboot’s existence. Read it here 💫 https://t.co/WyO5j0FaKH
⚡ reboot ⚡ @reboot_hq
Today, we're launching Kernel, our inaugural print magazine. From personal essays to historical analyses to speculative fiction, it includes 14 pieces by young technologists dreaming of a better collective future ⚡️ You can preorder Kernel at the link below. https://t.co/BNLYCoZpGD