The roots of digital culture

The connections between digital culture and the counterculture that preceded it have always struck me as pretty obvious. Maybe it's because one of the first computer books I read was "The Whole Earth Software Catalog," which was distinctly countercultural in tone and approach.

So I'm surprised by how surprised Edward Rothstein of the New York Times seems to be in his review of Fred Turner's book "From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism." But never mind. Rothstein gets it right, even if his eyes are a little wider than they ought to be.

Here is an excerpt from Turner's book.