PRE-ORDER: Vaporware, Inc.: How Silicon Valley Sells the Future to Control the Present

I started writing this newsletter because I was stuck.

In 2018, I read the entire back catalog of WIRED magazine, and then wrote a piece for the magazine titled “Why the Future Never Arrives.” There was a lot more to say. The faded tech futurism of the 1990s sounds identical to the promises and manifestos of our modern-day tech barons. There are lessons we can take from these discarded futures’ past, if only we take the time to revisit them.

So I went through the back catalog a second time. And I started reading much more widely (because WIRED is a great source, but it is not a monolith). And eventually I found I had so much to say that I didn’t know where to begin.

Thus, “The Future, Now and Then.” The best way to figure out what you know is to try writing it. I created this newsletter as a space to work out the ideas that belonged in the book.

Five years later, the book is so very real, and I cannot wait for you to read it.

The book is titled Vaporware, Inc.: How Silicon Valley Sells the Future to Control the Present. I am really quite confident that it is the best thing I’ve ever written. Publication date is January 12th, 2027. You can pre-order it via this link.

Pre-ordering makes a big difference. The publishing industry treats pre-orders as the main signal of a book’s likely success, which in turn influences its overall reach. Please consider pre-ordering it today.

Here’s the official book description from the publisher. Some of my very favorite writers have also said kind things about the book, but I’ll save their endorsements for a future post.¹

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, Silicon Valley leaders 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 the rest of us. Venture capitalists and the companies they fund have amassed wealth, status, and political power, but their bold visions 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 myths 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.

One last time: You can preorder it on Bookshop.org, or on Amazon, or via Norton wherever else you like to preorder books.

Thanks for being a reader. This book wouldn’t exist — or at least it wouldn’t be nearly as good — without this newsletter. I’ll have much more to say as we get closer to the publication date.

Woohoo!