| Are there any other cities that have survived as desirable places to live after they've lost everyone outside of the monoculture? To someone like me who has interests both in- and outside of software, there's no question that San Francisco is the top place in the world for software today, but that doesn't mean I'd want to live there -- any more than I'd want to live in an highly productive industrial district. > Beyond the opportunities you’ll receive personally, tech is currently reshaping the whole world — and San Francisco is at the center of it. I feel lucky every day, getting to witness what’s happening here. It’s often compared to the renaissance in Florence during the 15th century. Except Florence was all about art, and earlier in this blog post you observed that San Francisco "chased away" all the artists. Those sound like completely different environments. Life is not just about living at an economic inflection point. Oil reshaped the world, too, but that doesn't mean I'd want to have lived at a refinery in the 1950's. > Some people get super annoyed when you say this. I'm not surprised. If the only thing you take from the history of Florence is that it was economically successful, I think you're missing the point. Quick, name anything at all memorable from 15th century Florence that is not about art. Even Florence couldn't survive without art. There were just as many merchants living there after the Counter-Reformation began, but it couldn't save them from the fall. |