No, it's more that everybody is so connected here that it's hard to 'think different' or consider that there are people who don't live like this.
I can imagine that it would become very easy living in this sort of bubble, going to these kinds of somewhat homogeneous conferences, etc to lose touch of how most people in the rest of the world think. Or what kinds of problems are really important to most people on the planet.
I can see some of what you're saying. I think it meshes completely with, say @Ew4n's comments at an iPhone app developers presentation where he asked "are any of you think about developing for the Ovi store?" and got a response of crickets coupled with blank stares.
The Bay Area is definitely its own little bubble that's pretty different from the rest of the country and half the businesses seem to be started by Stanford graduates, perpetuating the inbred-edness (new word!) of the area.
Still, there's a lot of innovation, and rather than it being "hard to 'think different'", I think it is more of an arrogance that anything that comes from here is the "right" and "best" way to do something.
That kind of incubation/inbread thinking can be said of many regions that are famous for one thing or another. It takes a heck of an effort to come out of that totally independent, and at the same time, that kind of energy creates its own independent innovations. Keep plugging away, or move to somewhere where those comon ideas are best put to the test.
12 comments so far
Around here as in Jaiku? Or around here in the Zone of Undiscovered Awesomeness?
5 months, 1 week ago by bogart
I'm intrigued as to which 'where' he's referring to :)
5 months, 1 week ago by alexleonard
I meant San Francisco/California/Silicon Valley
5 months, 1 week ago by adewale
Because of the behemoth in Cupertino?
5 months, 1 week ago by bogart
Or maybe the readily available marijuana in Golden Gate Park?
5 months, 1 week ago by bogart
No, it's more that everybody is so connected here that it's hard to 'think different' or consider that there are people who don't live like this.
I can imagine that it would become very easy living in this sort of bubble, going to these kinds of somewhat homogeneous conferences, etc to lose touch of how most people in the rest of the world think. Or what kinds of problems are really important to most people on the planet.
OTOH @bogart's explanation would also make sense.
5 months, 1 week ago by adewale
Hehe, well, this is where I live, so...
I can see some of what you're saying. I think it meshes completely with, say @Ew4n's comments at an iPhone app developers presentation where he asked "are any of you think about developing for the Ovi store?" and got a response of crickets coupled with blank stares.
The Bay Area is definitely its own little bubble that's pretty different from the rest of the country and half the businesses seem to be started by Stanford graduates, perpetuating the inbred-edness (new word!) of the area.
Still, there's a lot of innovation, and rather than it being "hard to 'think different'", I think it is more of an arrogance that anything that comes from here is the "right" and "best" way to do something.
5 months, 1 week ago by bogart
That kind of incubation/inbread thinking can be said of many regions that are famous for one thing or another. It takes a heck of an effort to come out of that totally independent, and at the same time, that kind of energy creates its own independent innovations. Keep plugging away, or move to somewhere where those comon ideas are best put to the test.
5 months, 1 week ago by arjw
@arjw: I'm only visiting.
5 months, 1 week ago by adewale
@adewale: how long're you here? This would be really cool to go to: http://is.gd/Il2g (Friday night)
5 months, 1 week ago by bogart
Thanks for the link. It sounds interesting but I'll probably be working late today.
5 months, 1 week ago by adewale
I found a better way to express what I felt:
It's more that the tightness of the feedback loops (when everyone is so close to each other) prevents divergent evolution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_evolution
5 months, 1 week ago by adewale