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 💫

Cassidy Bereskin @cassidybereskin

It's been great to be part of Reboot as a fellowship mentor and meet and discuss thorny tech/democracy issues with awesome folks like @shreydjain13, @_AbdullahNauman, @QuantumArjun (+ our Twitter-less fellows). Shoutout to @jasminewsun for organizing a fantastic initiative!!

⚡ reboot ⚡ @reboot_hq

🥳 REBOOT FELLOWSHIP BRAG THREAD 🥳 we just wrapped up 8 weeks of reading/writing/zooming with 20 brilliant, passionate, and thoughtful student-technologists. here's an ongoing thread of the wild and wonderful things they're up to:

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)

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)

“Venturing Toward Progress” by Ivan Zhao (6/3/21)
“Why I’m Unionizing” by 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)
“Today is Reboot’s birthday!” (4/8/21)
“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” by bgu (2/17/21)
“What Happened to Human-Centered Health Tech?” by Shohini Gupta (2/11/21)
“It’s Time To Build (A Movement)” by 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)

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 💫