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Cities and Ambition

paulgraham.com

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Re: Cities and Ambition

#111

Post by izaidi »

danw wrote: post #107
ojbyrne wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to different places in the world but the same ideas popped into my head: Barcelona: Party naked but watch your backpack. Toronto: Buy land north of here. Amsterdam: There's no work done here at all. London: Next time, bring more money.

I must admit the descriptions you give for Amsterdam, London, Barcelona sound off to me. I think you have to live or spend a lot of time somewhere before you can understand it's 'message', if it has one

What would you say those cities' messages are? (I'm especially interested in Amsterdam because I'm thinking about moving there.)

Re: Cities and Ambition

#112

Post by jimbokun »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #21
mhartl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

'Did she get two and a half times as effective at "external affairs" over that year?'

I imagine she did. I'm not exactly sure what "external affairs" entails, but it sounds like the kind of position that would benefit greatly from being politically well connected.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#113

Post by jimbokun »

edw519 wrote: post #65
coglethorpe wrote: post #39

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.

"your best best is probably to try living in several places when you're young" I have, and here's what they've said to me: Pittsburgh: You should be nice. New Jersey: You should be in New York. Los Angeles: You should go outside. Phoenix: You should go inside. Detroit: You should be glad you have a good job. Tampa: You should buy a new pair of flip flops for dinner Saturday night.

"Pittsburgh: You should be nice."

Being a native Western Pennsylvania, and living more of my adult life in Pittsburgh than anywhere else, I'll take that as a compliment :).

I moved to NYC with my wife right after we were married, and loved every minute of it. But decided to return here to raise our kids after they were born.

An interesting thing about Pittsburgh is the number of large non-profits of every kind, especially considering the reduced population. The major industrial titans that made their fortunes here in decades past (Carnegie, Mellon, Heinz, etc.) have left behind many cultural institutions like libraries, museums, universities, parks, hospitals, etc. that are still well funded and high quality.

You'll find some of that in NYC (even from some of the same benefactors) but Pittsburgh I think has a higher cultural dollars/resident ratio. This is a wonderful thing in terms of raising children. My kids think hanging out at the zoo, library, conservatory, kids' museum, etc. is a perfectly common thing to do. I think in NYC (and other cities?) you could find many of the same things, but it would not be possible to enjoy them in a leisurely manner, or afford family yearly membership passes.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#114

Post by jimbokun »

Anyone offer thoughts on Asian cities?

I lived in Japan for a year, and mostly agree with shiro's summary. I guess I would only add that Japan's identity is far more tied up in Tokyo (and vice versa) than any one U.S. city is indicative of the U.S. as a whole. Generally, when people cite Japanese culture, it is Tokyo culture they are referring to (and given the emphasis the Japanese themselves put on Tokyo, not inaccurately).

What about cities in China and India (must be some natives or expats lurking here, no)? Africa? South America? Middle East?

(Some cities from these regions have been mentioned, but very few compared to U.S. and Europe.)

Re: Cities and Ambition

#115

Post by jimbokun »

idmkid wrote: post #17

One thing that seems missing is the notion of cities within cities. Los Angeles and Silicon Valley (which I'm familiar with) cannot be treated as monoliths. Instead you have districts in which one subculture dominates others. In Orange County you may have areas that are dominated by unemployed housewives with lots of money. But you may have areas around a University that have a completely different flavor. Comparing…

Did it really have to be said that he was considering cities in the aggregate, and specifically the things that distinguish them as opposed to the things they have in common?

I'm picking on you, but several people have made similar points. I think we all know that any given city has different communities within it with different values, levels of affluence or lack thereof, etc. Did it really need to be made explicit?

Re: Cities and Ambition

#116

Post by dfranke »

mhartl wrote: post #13

I've realized now why I always liked living in Los Angeles so much (apart from my family being nearby): 'Los Angeles' was really 'Pasadena', and 'Pasadena' was 'Caltech'. Living in Pasadena near Caltech was like living in Cambridge, only the weather was good and most of the books on people's bookshelves required calculus to understand them fully. (I've also lived in Cambridge, and while I loved all the high-IQ neighb…

I know what you mean about Cambridge. Hanging around Diesel Cafe (okay, Somerville) I saw a lot people hacking on web apps, but also a lot of copies of Derrida and Bhabha carefully positioned on the table so that people would notice them. cringe.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#117

Post by aswanson »

I could get sick of any homogeneous personality type, if that's all a city had to offer. I've been bored by money-chasing materialists, superficials, monodimensional "intellectuals",etc. Try it. Try to hang around 1 personality type all day every day and see if it doesn't drive you nuts, no matter your personal proclivities. Best to get a variety, it is indeed the spice...

Re: Cities and Ambition

#118

Post by aston »

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #84
coglethorpe wrote: post #39

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.

Okay, me too. Columbia SC: Uh, the culture is pretty much centered around it's mid-tier University of South Carolina, which is a party-hardy Frat/Sorority vibe. So, I guess it says "YEEE-HAAAAW! More beer, Bo!" Hartford, CT: Unless you can calculate the death of a 55 year old smoker with no major medical history within a margin of error, the city says "There's NY below and Boston above, take your pick, pay your toll,…

Wow, SC people hang out here? Sweet.

Columbia, SC doesn't really send any strong messages. Only the young people in the area have anything to do with USC, normally, so not even the frattiness comes across that strong.

College football tailgating, however, is a state-wide sport.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#119

Post by dreish »

(Regarding footnote 3) Someone I know who hates wearing suits made reservations at the French Laundry a couple of years ago and reported that when he pressed them to be specific about their dress code, they said, "Well, we think you'll be more comfortable wearing a jacket."

Re: Cities and Ambition

#120

Post by rw »

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #92
menloparkbum wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bums in Cambridge are almost always white.

There is a disproportionate number of white bums, but there are certainly a lot of black bums too. So I would not say they are almost always white.

What would be the proportionate number of white bums?
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