"In Boston they ask, How much does he know? In New York, How much is he worth? In Philadelphia, Who were his parents?" -- Mark Twain
It's funny how little has changed in more than a century...?
Cities and Ambition
271–280 of 313 posts
Re: Cities and Ambition
#272To the inverse question is also very interesting.- Specifically, what if a city does not send a message? To me that is the same as a company that can't get its marketing message and corporate culture right. The city, like the company, flounders and "fails". I used to live near Detroit. That city never recovered from the 1968 race riots. It could never re-discover its message of success.
If a city as a culture (not just a political entity) does not value something, then it provides no guidance to the immigrant ("new hire"). The resources to be successful are not visible nor readily available.
In SV, I would say the message is not "power" but action. Specifically, "Great idea. Have you built it yet?" This is why Cambridge as an "idea" center will not overtake SV. SV is about doing - and more importantly accepting failure as a step toward success.
Re: Cities and Ambition
#273> When you walk through Palo Alto in the evening, you see nothing but the blue glow of TVs.
Perhaps the blue glow of monitors instead?
> So far the complete list of messages I've picked up from cities is: wealth, style, hipness, physical attractiveness, fame, political power, economic power, intelligence, social class, and quality of life.
Interesting to see that "you should be more religious" is not on the list. That's closer to the message of Berkeley and SF: be more progressive, more virtuous, destroy those close minded right wingers.
> It's in fields like the arts or writing or technology that the larger environment matters. In these the best practitioners aren't conveniently collected in a few top university departments and research labs—partly because talent is harder to judge
Methinks that MIT and Stanford do a pretty good job of assembling the best technologists.
Re: Cities and Ambition
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
Places I've lived: Sydney: You should spend more money on real estate. Melbourne: You should spend more money on clothes. London: You should have been here 150 years ago. Davis, CA: You should leave Davis, CA.
Moscow: You should be rich, or Russian. Preferably both.
Why exactly is Moscow expensive? I've never figured this out. Is there a shortage of land, or is it really, really inaccessible from land, or what?
Re: Cities and Ambition
#2751) I have found it impossible to establish relationships with others (seemingly like myself) online. It plain does not work. I'm not sure why... it just won't go. It doesn't make any difference how much you have in common or what your accomplishments are. Try and drum up a discussion or introduce yourself cold to someone in SV or at MIT or anywhere else, on say, LinkedIn. You're a nut, an intruder. I doubt this will ever work.
2) There is an chasm separating intellectualism and ambition that is difficult to understand. When I read Bill and Dave, I was taken back by the ambition of early Stanford engineering faculty. But today? I know too many at universities with stunning intelligence, but still have that profit-is-evil and corporations-are-bad crap from the 70's. It's like some weird religion. Talk about ideas and that's fine, but AS SOON AS YOU MENTION ACTION, it gets ugly and they shut down. That's why most MIT grads still work for Harvard grads. It's too bad, but this is why Cambridge will likely never become some kind of SV.
3) The power and action in SV you describe, is cold and lifeless and without meaning. Maybe exciting like a thrill park, but meaningless. That's why startup successes leave the founders in a panic to hitch the next ride, fast. What you say about the message in SV is true, but if your ambition was to take action and do a startup because you wanted to do something with meaning, better go somewhere else because in SV meaning has no meaning. No one cares about meaning. Ideas are nothing more than pancakes - flip 'em until their brown on both sides. And so in this regard, the message in SV may very well be EXACTLY like that in New York, with the only difference being that value is attached to the means by which the wealth is gained - independently. Have you thought about that??? That in SV all they care about is money like in New York, but gaining the wealth by independent means is what matters. You could test this - offer to help someone free of charge. See how much they despise feeling indebted to someone else, however slight. It's just a theory.
Re: Cities and Ambition
#276This resonates very well with the 'mimetic desire' theory by Rene Girard.
Re: Cities and Ambition
#277San Francisco: Create something important, shoot for the moon! Once you're done, wear it on your sleeve like the politically correct asshole that you are. Oh yeah - learn a bit about wine, will you?
Portland, Oregon: Welcome to the Garden of Urban Eden. Don't tell anyone though. Just lay low and work on that novel.
Seattle: What? You thought I was hip and happening? Go inside and code something, ya bum. Buy a sea kayak for those "sun breaks" if you're feeling feisty.
Florence, Italy: Walk in the footsteps of creative genius. Just don't forget to keep on walking. Seriously, I'm just a dapper old man now, not worth more than a summer abroad.
Bologna, Italy: (just translate Portland, Oregon into Italian)
Milan: Forget about sunflowers. Get industrial, Italian style. You might want to ditch those sneakers though, capsici?
Rome: I am the the warm, blood-soaked bosom of Western history. You just might get lost and waste your entire life here. Worse things could happen, though.
Montreal: Savor the moment, live life to the fullest and create something beautiful, because Winter is coming. And it's nothing nice, yo.
Tokyo: Get to work and get moving, because we're WAY ahead of you. After work, it's totally OK to indulge your pervy self though.
Los Angeles: YOU could be so great. THIS TOWN could be so great. Where is everyone anyway? No worries, just do your own thing.
Miami: Forget about LA. I'm the real sexy deal. Unless you're looking for work, then get lost.
New York: I'm the biggest poser in the World. Deal with it.
Re: Cities and Ambition
#278Few people seem to be aware that cities, too have an aura of their own.This aura is the cumulative aura of its inhabitants.
Re: Cities and Ambition
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of people left West Berlin when the city was divided and a lot of people left East Berlin right after reunification. The massive housing surplus that resulted caused housing costs to sink and cheap housing made the city a mecca for alternative culture. Cost of living probably doesn't even hit a quarter of Paris or London. Here's an article from 6 years ago that's somewhat dated, but still gives you a feel for t…
Berlin is really something to consider if you start in Europe... ;)
we are running a music-related startup out of berlin (soundcloud.com) and it's really great in terms of costs & quality of life. If you're in Berlin, make sure you have business elsewhere, because the city in itself is quite poor. It's almost like outsourcing to east Europe, but you have a lot of credibility in the west still...
Re: Cities and Ambition
#280Duuude, Mister Graham, I've never even heard of this Cambridge, and I seriously doubt it is the intellectual capital of the world. And you know what - you are not qualified to judge. You've not been to Urumuqi, Jenin, Port Harcourt or Bahia, how can you make a judgement based on having been in two cities? And furthermore, I take offense at the suggestion that American universities produce the best students. In genera…
Dumb.
First, the fact that cities beneath everything else are all comprised of ordinary people means nothing. It has always been the top that detemines the direction everyone else goes. It doesn't change anything PG wrote. How many in Padua, or say, Florence, were anything else but ordinary when the Renaissance unfolded? It has always been the top that makes history and changes things for everyone else.
Your comment is a little like saying there is no difference between Honda and Ford, since they are both composed largely of steel and aluminum and plastic. And this is the reason there is an enormous distance between Germany and America. In Germany there is no top, just droids coming and going. In America there is very decidely a top. About everyone else, PG was not making any remark.
America has a serious Middle Education problem, but American Universities are indeed, second to none.
Also, don't talk ecosystem. It means so much to so many people these days, it has come to have no meaning.
You are also incorrect in stating that most any city has the circle someone would want to belong to, that someone just needs to look for it. This is far from the truth. There are many cities in which you could not find certain circles in which to exchange ideas, if your life depended on it.