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.

If this resonates, follow us on Twitter and join our mailing list.

Join The Community

our people

Reboot is a 100% volunteer-run nonprofit led by me, Jasmine. I’m currently on leave from Stanford and work on supporting writers at Substack, but I’ve dabbled across tech policy, startups, and the public interest tech ecosystem. You can reach me at jasminesun at stanford dot edu.

We are also propelled by our wonderful community members:

maximillian o. @mobasiolu

being a @reboot_hq fellow was the highlight of my semester bc i was able to join a cohort of tech-adjacent folks that care about the future/impact of our field. therefore, stan jasmine and stan reboot!!!! 🎂🎉

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 💫

jackie luo @jackiehluo

if you're not subscribed to @reboot_hq yet, you're missing out on some of the most thoughtful writing and analysis on tech out there

RebootEssays and events about how we can reclaim techno-optimism for a better collective future.reboothq.substack.com

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)

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)

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Ethan @astrachan

if there's one thing that i've taken away from @reboot_hq and twitter in general is that there are a crazy number of my peers who are far more coherent and intelligent than i am. nothing has pushed me to learn, to synthesize a worldview more than being around these people.

Anh Pham 🦻 @anhphamprog

this is also an appreciation tweet for @reboot_hq - my absolute favourite newsletter!!! 🙏

xiaowei @xrw

happy birthday @reboot_hq !! been so sweet to see the org grow and blossom, with @jasminewsun's critical eye and hard work.

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 💫