Cities and Ambition

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses how different cities can send different messages to ambitious people, and how these messages can influence their ambitions and life choices. It explores the unique "messages" of various cities like New York, Boston/Cambridge, Silicon Valley, Berkeley, Paris, and London, and how they shape the aspirations and priorities of the people who live there.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Great cities and their messages

1. What are some of the key messages that different cities send to ambitious people?

• New York sends the message that you should make more money and be richer
• Boston/Cambridge sends the message that you should be smarter and read more books
• Silicon Valley sends the message that you should be more powerful and have a greater impact on the world
• Berkeley sends the message that you should live better and focus on quality of life

2. How powerful are these city "messages" in shaping people's ambitions and life choices?

• The author argues that the city environment has a significant influence, more than just a few percentage points, on what people end up achieving. Even someone with the same natural ability as Leonardo da Vinci couldn't overcome the force of their environment.
• The author suggests using this force to one's advantage by carefully choosing where to live based on the message the city sends.

3. What are the key differences between the messages of Cambridge and Berkeley, even though they are both college towns?

• Cambridge attracts people who are willing to make sacrifices to live where the smartest people are, even if it means living in an expensive, grubby place with bad weather.
• Berkeley, on the other hand, attracts people more interested in quality of life rather than intense ambition.

[02] The changing nature of cities and communities

1. How is the concept of a "city" changing, and how does that affect the messages they send?

• Cities used to be the only large collections of people, so their messages could be equated with the messages of the communities they contained.
• But now, communities can form virtually online, and physical location may matter less. However, the author believes the physical world is still "high bandwidth" and cities can send subtle messages.

2. How do the conversations and activities you observe in a city's neighborhoods reflect the city's message?

• In Cambridge, the author observes people reading promising-looking books in the evenings, reflecting the city's intellectual ambition.
• In Palo Alto, the author only sees the "blue glow of TVs", suggesting a lack of intellectual engagement.
• The quality of eavesdropping in a city can also reveal the nature of the community.

[03] The messages of other cities

1. What are the key messages that the author identifies for other cities like DC, LA, and Paris?

• DC sends the message that the most important thing is who you know and being part of the insider circle.
• LA sends the message that fame and being on the "A-list" of the most in-demand people is most admired.
• Paris sends the message that doing things with style is most important.

2. How does the author characterize the message of London compared to other cities?

• The author says the message of being more "aristocratic" can still be faintly heard in London, as well as in Paris, New York, and Boston, but this message is now very weak compared to 100 years ago.

[04] The importance of city environments for different types of work

1. Does someone who wants to do great work have to live in a great city?

• No, the author says great cities are not the only places that can inspire ambition. For some fields like math and physics, just having the right colleagues in a department is enough.
• But for more chaotic fields like the arts, writing, and technology, the larger city environment provides important encouragement and a way to find peers.

2. When in one's career is the city environment most important?

• The critical years seem to be the early and middle stages of one's career, when finding peers and encouragement is most important. The author suggests trying out living in different places when young to find the right fit.

[05] The author's overall perspective on city messages

1. How does the author feel about the range of messages that cities send?

• The author's initial reaction is that the list of messages (wealth, style, fame, etc.) makes them "slightly queasy", as it reveals the breadth of what ambitious people can be ambitious about.

2. How does the author view the changes in what cities value over time?

• The author notes some surprising changes, like the increasing importance of physical attractiveness and "hipness", and the shifting focus from social class to economic power and the ability to direct technology.

3. Overall, what is the author's advice for someone trying to figure out where to live?

• Unless you know exactly what you want to do and where the leading center for it is, the best approach is to try living in several places when you're young. You can't know for sure what message a city sends until you experience it firsthand.