Silicon Valley is not a fad, but not quite a place either. As the author describes it, the drab office complexes are not quite what makes Silicon Valley what it is. In my opinion, a person living half a world away, Silicon Valley is a collective state of mind in a place with the right resources and context. It has talent, capital, and the infrastructure, both physical and intangible. It has free markets, great universities, rule of law, safety, democracy, and most importantly an acceptance of a certain kind of risk taking. This combination is surprisingly hard to recreate. As an Indian living half a planet away, I look upon the place with a mixture of admiration, awe and envy.
It has free markets, great universities, rule of law,
safety, democracy, and most importantly an acceptance
of a certain kind of risk taking. This combination is
surprisingly hard to recreate.
These all exist to a large extent in a lot of major (and not so major!) western cities. Not that unique.
The unique thing here is the same thing that is unique in Shenzhen in China - how much of everything is packed close together reducing externalities and improving communication.
If the is business in the category, you're liable to find it in the SV, even more likely to find it in the Chinese city.
>If the[re] is business in the category, you're liable to find it in the SV
This in an interesting take. My understanding is that SV caters to a very particular business: software. Sure that business is growing (eating the world), but Silicon Valley doesn't strike me as "all business friendly", especially when everyone is trying to grow at all costs, while the rest of the country (and world) operates on small, sustainable businesses.
