Assignment

• Read:
  • “Take Back the Future!” (Reboot’s story and manifesto)
• Introduce:
  • Join the Discord (link in email) and introduce yourself with your cabin name
  • Create a personal starter pack in the Camp Reboot directory deck

Background

• Solutionism and Its Discontents
  • Reviews of Evgeny Morozov’s book, To Save Everything, Click Here.
    • “Big Data Is Watching You”
    • “To Save Everything, Click Here by Evgeny Morozov – review**”**
  • To Save Everything, Click Here:
    • Chapter 1 (pg. 14 - 28, digital ed.) goes over definitions of solutionism and internet-centrism. Here are the boiled down definitions:
      • Solutionism: The methodology: recasting complex social problems into neatly defined models with technical solutions, or as processes that can be continuously be optimized. Inefficiencies in systems = problems that need solutions.
      • Internet-Centrism: The intellectual backing: everything that “the Internet” stands for is necessarily good, and its inverse is scorned. By definition, “the Internet” is omni-benevolent, revolutionary, unalterable, and must be protected in its current form.
• Re-imagine vs. Reclaim

  • The previous Reboot tagline: “Reboot is a publication and community reclaiming techno-optimism for a better collective future.”

  • The current Reboot tagline: “Reboot is a publication and community reimagining techno-optimism for a better collective future.” ****

  • David Harvey, on the lack of new thinking and policies in the midst of multiple crises of capitalism:

    If the past is any guide, it would be churlish to expect at this point any clear indications of what a revivified capitalism — if such is possible — might look like. But there should by now be competing diagnoses of what is wrong and a proliferation of proposals for putting things right. What is astonishing is the paucity of new thinking or policies.

• Reboot as an Idea Machine
  • ideology (reimagining techno-optimism) → community (Reboot) → ideas → agenda (?) → outcomes (Camp Reboot, Kernel, critical essays, etc)
  • https://nadia.xyz/idea-machines
  • Reboot’s notes: https://www.notion.so/Office-Hours-Idea-Machine-cf6c6b0780ce44139ae3f73ae617be36

Agenda/Logistics

• Meeting times: Mondays, 5:30 - 6:15 PM PST
• TBD on July 4 meeting? Will send out an email later.
• Introductions

Questions

Some discussion questions about “Take Back the Future!”:

• Why did you join Reboot? What resonated with you about the community?
• What got your attention while reading the manifesto?
• What is your current or desired occupation? How has that been shaped by technology?

Attendees

• Rex
• Gabriel
• Varun