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Cities and Ambition

paulgraham.com

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Re: Cities and Ambition

#21

Post by byrneseyeview »

mhartl wrote: post #16
yef wrote: post #12

Money and power are interchangeable, and that's what most ambitious people want. Of course, there are other benefits, like the joy of seeing something work, and the satisfaction of making a difference in the world. So most polite people will play up those benefits over the money/power angle. Fame, hipness, insider knowledge? All either means to an end or cultural by-products. LA is run on power and money - studio exe…

Money and power are interchangeable Nearly, but not quite. For example, Linus Torvalds isn't rich by New York or Silicon Valley standards, but he's quite powerful nevertheless. And Barack Obama isn't particularly rich either, but he's on the brink of being perhaps the most powerful man in the world.

He and his wife did get much richer as he got more powerful, though. (http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/09/hospital_offici...). ""She's terrific," added Michael Riordan, who was president of the hospital in March 2005, when Michelle Obama was promoted to vice president for external affairs and had her annual salary increased from $121,910 to $316,962." Hot damn! Did she get two and a half times as effective at "external affairs" over that year?

Re: Cities and Ambition

#22

Post by byrneseyeview »

subwindow wrote: post #9

I wrote this four months ago in an email to a friend of mine: "San Francisco is definitely a great area, and you should at least visit some day. There's a vibe there that's completely different from anywhere else I've ever been. It is hard to explain. You just go there and you feel it. Things seem possible out there that would be laughed at here. That's the best way I can put it. Every city that I've been to has a ce…

"New York is rude and busy."

New York is just busy -- if you are as busy as everyone else, wasting time with "Please" and "Thank you" would strike you as rude.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#23

Post by ideas101 »

Cities also tell you about the lifestyle (and speed) - new york is all about speed, people dont have time. while i noticed that atlanta is laid back. also each city might have multiple message depending which pocket you are - for example if you are on a broadway in new york then you will definitely have different feeling, if you are in hollywood then along with fame you will feel hypocrisy (may be) and creativity. big cities always have multiple message with different kind of ambitions.

I have also noticed that one kind of person will normally go for the city that suit his/her personality (due to experience and the way they have been brought up), for example a person brought-up in new-york will most possibly won't like atlanta and vice-versa. the reason being NY guy is used to speed, he just cant take anything slower, if the train is scheduled at 7.13am then he has to be on platform on time, while a guy in atlanta will get anxiety if he goes to NY and have to rush his life with everyone else.

City with laid back attitude also tells you that people over there dont care for money but that doesn't mean people dont make enough money (in fact they enjoy money at the fullest), on the other side people from the city of speedy lifestyle always feel like they dont have enough money even though they make good money, this is partly due to the cost of living and the culture where everyone wants to make more money.

Also people from laid back city are not in-secured the way people are from busy places like NY, London, Bombay, Tokyo etc. People from laid back city dont worry about what will happen tomorrow, but people from city like NY and Bombay are constantly worrying about tomorrow, it drives them crazy if they are not planning their life/career in advance.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#24

Post by rokhayakebe »

I think the biggest shift in deciding where to live is happening "online" rather than "offline". I am an online nomad.

I never lived and never will live in MySpace. I do not like the MySpacians message (Hey lets try to see who has more friends and hookups).

I sometimes spend time at Facebook. I lived there for a little while until I realized I am not so much into keeping in touch and I had no friends in the few hours I spent in college. When they open their borders, that's when I found that I do not like the Facebookies message (You should throw more pies and send more kisses)

I vacationed at Twitter, but it is not really my cup of tea. I still dont get their message (Life is a popularity contest).

So Where do I live? Well, I live mostly in HN. Although I sometimes get into arguments with the habitants, I have yet to find another city that beats the intelligence, vibe, energy and support I witness here. I take a daily ride to Techcrunch City and NYT, but I make sure I come back home to HN and mingle with the people who live here.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#25

Post by subwindow »

Prrometheus wrote: post #15
subwindow wrote: post #9

I wrote this four months ago in an email to a friend of mine: "San Francisco is definitely a great area, and you should at least visit some day. There's a vibe there that's completely different from anywhere else I've ever been. It is hard to explain. You just go there and you feel it. Things seem possible out there that would be laughed at here. That's the best way I can put it. Every city that I've been to has a ce…

Have you been to Austin? I am very interested in going there and would like your take on it.

Nope. I keep meaning to attend an SXSW, but can never find the time/money.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#26

Post by yef »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #18
yef wrote: post #12

Money and power are interchangeable, and that's what most ambitious people want. Of course, there are other benefits, like the joy of seeing something work, and the satisfaction of making a difference in the world. So most polite people will play up those benefits over the money/power angle. Fame, hipness, insider knowledge? All either means to an end or cultural by-products. LA is run on power and money - studio exe…

The market value of ideas is low, but the ideas are still expensive to make. Their existence is a good indicator.

Their existence is a precondition for effecting positive change, but there still must be an "industrial base" to implement them. It turns out that ideas are cheaper than talent, but since the Bay Area has a greater concentration of talent, they dominate in the implementation of ideas.

If the Boston area wants to get ahead in startups, it's going to need to attract more talent than SF. Sadly, I've seen plenty of MIT grads head to Google and Facebook...and some of those kids are going to be starting the next wave of companies...

Re: Cities and Ambition

#27

Post by manvsmachine »

"A friend who moved to Silicon Valley in the late 90s said the worst thing about living there was the low quality of the eavesdropping."

I can totally relate to that, as an acquaintance of mine from Boston and I echoed very similar sentiments about where I live (Atlanta). There are some great universities and brilliant people here, but you really have to actively seek them out. I'm still amazed how drastically the average quality of my interactions with people dropped when I first moved off campus. It seems to be almost a win or lose situation in regards to motivation: seeing other people involved in their projects, even if they are not in the same field, helps me to stay focused, but if I find myself surrounded by vapid conversation all day long, it actually has a negative effect.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#28

Post by byrneseyeview »

yef wrote: post #26
byrneseyeview wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market value of ideas is low, but the ideas are still expensive to make. Their existence is a good indicator.

Their existence is a precondition for effecting positive change, but there still must be an "industrial base" to implement them. It turns out that ideas are cheaper than talent, but since the Bay Area has a greater concentration of talent, they dominate in the implementation of ideas. If the Boston area wants to get ahead in startups, it's going to need to attract more talent than SF. Sadly, I've seen plenty of MIT g…

I agree that the ideas themselves are not worth much. What I meant was this: being able to run 26 miles on foot is not especially useful, but the kind of people determined enough to do that are also the kind of people determined enough to succeed in other ventures.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#29

Post by Alex3917 »

"Oxford and Cambridge (England) feel like Ithaca or Hanover: the message is there, but not as strong."

There seems to be a lot of ambition in Ithaca, but the focus is on the collective rather than the individual. The messages that Ithaca sends are "make the community a better place, help the less fortunate, buy local food from the farmers market and co-ops, support local artists and musicians, attend community festivals and events, bond with your neighbors, and support the local schools and public transportation. Also, distrust authority."

This is reflected by the fact that the two most popular bumper stickers are Coexist (spelled out of religious symbols) and "Ithaca, NY: Ten square miles surrounded by reality."[1] And despite the fact that if you drive ten miles in any direction (except along the lake) you'll run into people living in trailer parks, the town itself is actually a surprisingly nice place to live.

The town support individuality, but only to the extent that your individuality helps bring out the individuality in others. The message seems to be that you can start a startup and we'll support your efforts to become successful, but not so successful that you drown out the voice of the rest of us.

[1] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Coexist-bumpersticke...

Re: Cities and Ambition

#30

Post by yef »

mhartl wrote: post #16
yef wrote: post #12

Money and power are interchangeable, and that's what most ambitious people want. Of course, there are other benefits, like the joy of seeing something work, and the satisfaction of making a difference in the world. So most polite people will play up those benefits over the money/power angle. Fame, hipness, insider knowledge? All either means to an end or cultural by-products. LA is run on power and money - studio exe…

Money and power are interchangeable Nearly, but not quite. For example, Linus Torvalds isn't rich by New York or Silicon Valley standards, but he's quite powerful nevertheless. And Barack Obama isn't particularly rich either, but he's on the brink of being perhaps the most powerful man in the world.

Obama is not the most powerful man in the world. If he is elected, he may be, but he won't be able to turn that power into money, thank god.

Ex-presidents make a boatload of money, though. Books, speaking engagements, etc. That's a direct result of their power.

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