Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy • Hacker News Board

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#31

Post by ulfw » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

andreilys wrote: post #7

chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

San Diego and Los Angeles offer much better weather.

Especially on the coast. 100% agree.

I've had months and months of continuous rain in the Bay, something I never witnessed when living down South. It's cheaper too. Much much much MUCH more diverse. And food's better as is the landscape.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#32

Post by xiphias2 » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

herbst wrote: post #10

ijidak wrote: post #4

There is a supremacy, but the idea that it is threatened is hyperbolic, designed to get readers. This is a small shift in the grand scheme. It might help create new centers. But the gravity is going to be around the universities and infrastructure that is unique to the area. Shifts like that rarely happen overnight. Especially not because of something as temporary as a pandemic.

There are great universities outside of sf and even the us. ETH zurich for example. In zurich you also have google, oracle and co. We also have high speed internet for cheap. And are able to fo worldwide business, even in a pandemic. And thats just switzerland. Not sure if there is any reason for sf once most startups moved sonewhere else.

One of the things that would maybe help Switzerland is to make English an official language (there are already 4 langauges, supporting English wouldn't be that hard). For me dealing with Swiss laws to make a company would make things much harder than for people who speak German well.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#33

Post by ylhert » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

Tech in SFBA reminds me of the Resource curse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse). SFBA did nothing special to attract the wealth of technology companies, they effectively got lucky with Shockley/Fairchild/Traitorous 8 and the boom in technology that followed. It seems the local gov't have squandered an opportunity to truly capitalize on the gift they were given, and perhaps even done their best to jeopardize these resources.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#34

Post by solumos » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

cam0 wrote: post #18

solumos wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Better"'s subjective - some people prefer extreme seasons (Midwest), 4 distinct seasons (East coast), 50s year-round (Northwest/SF), or sunny/70s most of the year (Miami? LA? Texas? Not a lot of experience personally).

Miami/LA/Texas more like 90's most of the year

Sheesh, I would melt - I'm a "4 reasonable seasons" person myself.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#35

Post by ghaff » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

pontus wrote: post #11

chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

Perhaps you're talking about the east or south bay, but SF proper has awful weather. Moved there from NYC expecting the climate you describe only to find rugged and overcast weather year around. Moved to Los Angeles after a year and can say with 100% conviction that the weather here is categorically better.

I don't mind the SF weather for the most part. (I've never lived there but have spent a lot of time.) But it can definitely have "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" thing go on.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#36

Post by eznzt » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

rs999gti wrote: post #16

chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

> before the arrival of whites. Jesus, bro, why'd you throw this in?

Imagine if someone openly blamed something on blacks. Just imagine.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#37

Post by tharne » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

This is what happens when a city neglects basic quality of life issues, and allows petty crime to thrive. It happened to New York in the 1970's and took roughly three decades to recover from. Good luck, San Francisco.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#38

Post by AndrewUnmuted » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

qppo wrote: post #9

coldtea wrote: post #2

> threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy There was no inherent "supremacy", just one created by a bunch of companies being together. Did SV municipalities do anything else to deserve it? There are better places, with more rental space, more resources, better weather, and so on, plus WFH is here to stay...

Not municipalities but the state's labor laws are highly conducive to the tech culture and don't exist most places in the country. There's not much money for the startup crop that feeds big tech outside the Bay Area. It's all on Sand Hill Road. I can only speak for myself but I'll never live in a red state again. Not even Texas, it's not worth it. Even where I grew up (the purple midwest) is too socially conservative…

With the social changes going on throughout 2020 and beyond, you may want to prepare for SF to go more conservative as the years go on.

Things have a way of flipping during times of significance. California's entertainment industry was formed by a bunch of young, driven people who wanted to escape paying IP royalties to the Edison company. Now, they're doing everything in their legal power to pursue their own IP infringement cases, taking on the form and function of their reason for leaving NY in the first place.

That NIMBY thing has been boiling over for decades now. There will be new stakeholders in that battle attaching themselves to conservative and far-right movements. Get ready!

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#39

Post by angelbar » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

"That's a good thing"® ™

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#40

Post by munaf » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:21 PM UTC

It's notable that a lot of people are moving, but I'd wait until at least early 2022 to make judgements about lasting impacts on SV. WFH might not stick widely, and some firms will pick a hybrid model (i.e. partial WFH) over going fully remote.

Not to mention that few places can match all the benefits of SV, i.e. unenforceable non-competes, fantastic weather and surroundings, an educated and diverse population, cultural activities, very high compensation, etc. I don't think it'll be as easy to displace SV as these articles regularly imply, despite the downsides of living here.