The tallest landmarks are power towers and phone poles. The real work is done in silence, sitting in cubicles, staring at screens. Everyone is attempting to make things that have not existed before. And though we could argue till dawn about the utility or significance of what they're creating, I believe that to create and risk failing is the essence of feeling alive - that in that moment of creation they shake off their anonymity and feel relevant to the sweep of the world. Don't think for a second that this stew can be recreated by throwing together some engineers, VCs, headhunters, and electronics stores, then drowning it all in money.
Silicon Valley is special.
Yes, the universities are excellent. Yes, California's labor laws let employees jump to new firms almost at will. Yes, the weather attracts big brains from cold climates, though most people who come here for the weather work so hard they rarely get to see the sunshine. The competition has bred electronics stores the size of eight football fields, and electronics stores open all night, and electronics stores where you can do your laundry while shopping. There are VCs who invest only in video chips, and VCs who funnel only foreign money, and VCs who write books, and VCs who are professors of sociology.