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Cities and Ambition

paulgraham.com

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Re: Cities and Ambition

#71

Post by wheels »

asdflkj wrote: post #61
wheels wrote: post #20

I think Paul's right here, but there is one point that always irks me when he's talking about location: It comes off as assuming that the singular goal of your life is to start a successful startup and that having a successful startup makes you a great person. While we're throwing out city memes, here's what I'd peg my beloved Berlin: Break the rules.

What rules do they break in Berlin that are not broken elsewhere?

That's the wrong question. This is about culture, not tallying. Berlin is special because it's a chaotic city in a country of orderliness.

I started writing a list, but it doesn't do it any justice. Just like listing 10 big companies won't circumscribe the feel of Silicon Valley, a list of goofiness won't peg Berlin. But hang out in Kreuzberg for a weekend and you'll get it. :-)

Berlin is still living on the energy from the wall coming down almost 20 years ago. The west side was long a quirky occupied island hundreds of kilometers behind the iron curtain and the east was the first place where people rebelled and started down the path that reunited the city.

(Note: I've visited 28 countries and lived in 8 cities, so this isn't just cheering for the home team.)

Re: Cities and Ambition

#72

Post by notdarkyet »

hugh wrote: post #59
maxklein wrote: post #14

Duuude, 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…

Imagine some black bum you drive by, imagine how he sees cambridge. For him its not a place of ideas. There is no push towards reading. I'm not sure why you felt the need to bring the hypothetical bum's race into it, but I disagree. A bum on the street in Cambridge sits around resenting the fact that all the successful people around him are better educated than he is. A bum on the street in Hollywood, on the other ha…

Unless you are in or have been in a similar situation, I don't think either of you are qualified to make an assessment of what the views are of the "bums" in either city. Not everyone has the same goals or expectations in life (not claiming they aspire to be homeless) but making the assumption that individuals become bitter and resent those who either more successful (which is subjective) or better looking (also subjective) is quite a pretentious statement. This attitude perpetuates throughout our society and fuels many of the problems we face today. Maybe that "bum" is simply happy to have survived a childhood surrounded by drug addict parents or none at all, or maybe he is one of your praised intellectuals who went off the deep end with mental illness or was left behind by society. While you corrected the parent for making an ignorant statement for calling the "bum" black, you went on a few sentences later to make an equally ignorant statement by making the assumption he envies those surrounding him.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#73

Post by anirbas »

byrneseyeview wrote: post #37
pg wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I found it cool as well, and appreciate you linking to that. It's somewhat inspiring to see how someone begins to think about a topic; leads me to stop rejecting my early ideas so ruthlessly.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#74

Post by tyn »

"What happened to the Milanese Leonardo?" Just for the sake of argument, I can think of some counterexamples: Archimede living in Syracuse (not exactly the mathematics and engineering capital of the ancient world), Einstein in Bern, Bobby Fischer in NY (and not Moscow). I'm sure you can find many many more.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#75

Post by zach »

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…

A weird thing: the Borders in Pasadena is about the same size as any other yet it unfailingly has the books I want to read. Followed by Westwood, Santa Monica and Hollywood.

Interestingly, Moleskine (which is totally "stuff white people like") recently created a Los Angeles City Notebook including a map of "selected" parts of LA. Metropolitan LA is 4,850 square miles, so one wonders where they selected. Answer: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atwatervillage/2444508587/

Re: Cities and Ambition

#76

Post by ii »

Great article. I think that those messages apply not only to cities, they apply to whole countries in a certain periods of time. I live in Russia and I can hear the message very clearly: "you have to win". And it works: soccer, hockey, music -- we've won several competitions in a very short time frame. Hope you'll hear about us on the web startup front in a near future too :)

I never thought before about the importance of place where you live and work. After this article I see that St. Petersbourg is a far better place to start something new than Moscow. Startups are "second class citizens" here just like in New York. I thought about moving before, now I have made a decision. Thank you, Paul.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#77

Post by menloparkbum »

hugh wrote: post #59
maxklein wrote: post #14

Duuude, 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…

Imagine some black bum you drive by, imagine how he sees cambridge. For him its not a place of ideas. There is no push towards reading. I'm not sure why you felt the need to bring the hypothetical bum's race into it, but I disagree. A bum on the street in Cambridge sits around resenting the fact that all the successful people around him are better educated than he is. A bum on the street in Hollywood, on the other ha…

The bums in Cambridge are almost always white.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#78

Post by notdarkyet »

rms wrote: post #68
notdarkyet wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does because the parents entire message was that for the most part, every city is made up of the same ingredients and you cannot dub the city the intellectual capital of the world based on a small subset of experiences with a select group of people. If your entire experience with the city of Cambridge is surrounded with individuals involved in academia, then it would be easy to come to such a conclusion. Having a…

OK -- you are saying that things are much more complicated than being able to dub a city the intellectual capital of the world. It is nearly impossible because humanity is more complex than being reduced to the experiences of one person, but if someone was holding a gun to your head and saying you had to name the world's intellectual capital, what would you name it? There really doesn't seem to be a better one than C…

No I wouldn't name Cambridge because "When you walk through Palo Alto in the evening, you see nothing but the blue glow of TVs. In Cambridge you see shelves full of promising-looking books". If intellect was based off of the number of books in ones bookshelf, a few of my friends would be gods amongst men. If the main criteria everyone is using to evaluate whether a city is the intellectual capital is a) how prestigious the cities institutions are and b) how condensed those universities are to each other, then I agree, Cambridge is that location. Any other basis for a decision is entirely subjective and a futile conversation to continue.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#79

Post by mhartl »

pg wrote: post #40
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.

+1 for using 'trustafarian'.

Re: Cities and Ambition

#80

Post by iamelgringo »

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.

San Jose, Costa Rica: Spend more time with family

Minneapolis: You should be nice

Providence, RI: You will eat well.

LA: You should look better or be more famous, preferably both.

Chicago: You went to the wrong fraternity

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