What’s eating Silicon Valley

[KamaAina]

http://qz.com/586941/whats-eating-silicon-valley/

Like most people, I look up to and admire the heroes of Silicon Valley (the real ones, not the ones from the TV show). They’ve given rise to services (e.g., Google, Facebook, Uber, LinkedIn, Airbnb) that we use every day and make the world a better place. They’ve created value, wealth, and opportunity at unprecedented historic levels.

I’ve also had the chance to meet some of the leading CEOs and entrepreneurs of the Valley and they are, by and large, good-natured, brilliant, and thoughtful people. They’re earnest and committed to building positive things. Some of them are donors to my organization, for which I’m immensely grateful. It’s clear that Silicon Valley is today more than ever the center of innovation and technological progress.

That said, there are a few things about it that are starting to make me nervous.

I’ve had several friends tell me that they’re leaving the Valley because they want to rejoin the real world. A successful entrepreneur told me he fantasizes about leaving because he wants to raise his kids the way he was raised in Rochester, and that his money would effectively triple as soon as he left. Another successful entrepreneur who moved to San Francisco said he felt like “just another cow in the pen,” and that he enjoyed spending time in other parts of the country because it made him feel more like he was making a difference.

[Mr.Bill]

1. I left there 25 years ago and never looked back.

Although I wasn't involved in the tech industry, It was impossible even in social settings to avoid the cultish atmosphere. I have on several occasions had to enter Apple headquarters to do business. (I was in the printing industry and my company was a vendor) The place made my skin crawl. That was in the 80s. I can only imagine what it's like now.

The only way I can describe it is, you know how some New Yorkers have an attitude that they are the only people and place that matters? Multiply that by about ten.