A critical reexamination of techno-optimism’s empty promises, and how the lessons of the past can help us regain control of our future.

For thirty years, techno-optimists have promised dramatic technological innovation as long as we—the public, journalists, regulators, and policymakers—keep out of the way. The results have been great for Silicon Valley but haven’t gone so well for everyone else. They promise to stop climate change while building resource-intensive data centers, evade governmental regulations at our expense, and watch wealth inequality soar as they enjoy a permissive tax code. Venture capitalists and the companies they fund have amassed wealth, status, and political power, but their bold pronouncements have amounted to little more than vaporware.

In Vaporware, Inc., political scientist and tech commentator David Karpf looks back at the history of the digital future to understand the ideological project of techno-optimism, and why it has gone so wrong for the rest of us. With sharp wit and keen insight, Karpf debunks the foundational myths of the techno-optimists and traces how tech billionaires amassed power by selling the idea of the future. Eye-opening and essential, Vaporware, Inc. is a critical reappraisal of how Silicon Valley works and how we can make it work better.

About the Author: 

David Karpf is an associate professor at George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. He is the author of Vaporware, Inc., The MoveOn Effect and Analytic Activism, and writes the newsletter The Future, Now and Then. He lives in Washington, D.C.