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Cities and Ambition

paulgraham.com

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Re: Cities and Ambition

#31

Post by ardit33 »

PG fails to mention that Cambridge (and Sommerville, the emerging hipster/cheaper alternative) is like an island in the middle of a puritan city.

Boston, in large, give the message of "old money rules". Where you were born, where is your summer house (Martha Vineyard, Cape Cod, or Maine?), seems to the most important thing. And coorporates rule, so you have to play by their game: meaning you have to be one of them, in the boys club, have some gray hair, be decent at golf (or pretend to like it), in order to be considered good at busniness.

Boston/Cambridge is great if you are in academia, or doing research, but doing anything practical, or startup it is not that place to be.

Young ambitious people move somewhere else, the rest is stuck in academia, or living the 9-5 life clinging to the coorporate life, maybe they will manage up in the ladder (or rat race).

Adding, I also have met very smart people in Cambridge, but talk is cheap, and there is a lot of it in there. Everybody has an opinion about everything, but when it comes to action, there isn't much.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#32

Post by pg »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #7

"New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer. What I like about Boston (or rather Cambridge) is that the message there is: you should be smarter. You really should get around to reading all those books you've been meaning to." From two years ago here: http:/…

Yes, bits of this came from that experiment in blogging I tried with Infogami. I thought of mentioning that in one of those prefatory remarks, but mentioning it would have taken more words than the bits in question.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#33

Post by hugh »

Alex3917 wrote: post #29

"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 festiv…

I don't think that sounds like "ambition" at all.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#34

Post by initself »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #7

"New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer. What I like about Boston (or rather Cambridge) is that the message there is: you should be smarter. You really should get around to reading all those books you've been meaning to." From two years ago here: http:/…

It's ok to riff on themes. Bach did it all the time.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#35

Post by pg »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #22
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.

Not everyone is just busy. The place turns some people into monsters.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#36

Post by initself »

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.

Austin tells you 'you should be weird'.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#37

Post by byrneseyeview »

pg wrote: post #32
byrneseyeview wrote: post #7

"New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer. What I like about Boston (or rather Cambridge) is that the message there is: you should be smarter. You really should get around to reading all those books you've been meaning to." From two years ago here: http:/…

Yes, bits of this came from that experiment in blogging I tried with Infogami. I thought of mentioning that in one of those prefatory remarks, but mentioning it would have taken more words than the bits in question.

I don't object! It was just interesting to see the gap between an early draft and a finished copy.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#38

Post by revorad »

"Hipness is another thing you wouldn't have seen on the list 100 years ago. Or wouldn't you?"

Being picky about the grammar here, but shouldn't it be 'Or would you?' ?

Re: Cities and Ambition

#39

Post by coglethorpe »

I've noticed messages as well:

Gary, IN: Lock the doors. Do not stop.

Macon, GA: You know, Atlanta is just up the road, right?

Elko, NV: The only winners are the house and the mine owners.

Milwaukee, WI: Fourth place is just fine, given enough beer.

Clearly, I need to hang out in better cities.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#40

Post by pg »

ardit33 wrote: post #31

PG fails to mention that Cambridge (and Sommerville, the emerging hipster/cheaper alternative) is like an island in the middle of a puritan city. Boston, in large, give the message of "old money rules". Where you were born, where is your summer house (Martha Vineyard, Cape Cod, or Maine?), seems to the most important thing. And coorporates rule, so you have to play by their game: meaning you have to be one of them, i…

I wish the spirit of Boston were anything so romantic as "old money rules." Actually there are hardly any of those people left. The Thurston Howells have all died, and their trustafarian kids have long since moved to Berkeley or Boulder. Except for Cambridge, Boston doesn't send any message at all that I can pick up.
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