I can speak to the individual effect of this as well:
As an independent artist, I am well aware of the effect of "going where the action is." Being in the company of talent serves as a good source of inspiration, but more importantly (in my case,) I like to be the very best at what I do, and this need seems most driven in the face of direct contact with talented peers.
I wish that this wasn't the case because I'm not particularly excited about the prospect of living in Los Angeles. For those of you who've been to Vancouver, you'll recognize it as an incredible city-- in many ways(in my not so objective opinion,) one of the finest cities on the planet.
BTW, I'm not really bashing L.A. It's an extremely exciting place and I know a heck of a lot of very cool people who live there and manage to keep the plastic out of their lives. I'm a -little- bit afraid of who I might become once I move there-- I'm hoping to do some good fortification to my personality before I make the jump.
The problem is that it can be hard to be ambitious in a city like Vancouver. Firstly, it's Canadian... :) But also, it simply not big enough, hasn't reached cultural critical mass... doesn't evidence enough 'clustering' to create all the types of synergy that make for whopping bigness.
Also, I suspect that the "leakage of intellectual capital" is actually more of a benefit than a liability. Churn baby, churn.
--::jason.joel.thompson:: ::founder::
www.wildghost.com
----- Original Message ----- From: Max More To: extropians@extropy.org Cc: max@maxmore.com Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2000 11:08 AM Subject: Re: Homeless
At 03:17 AM 9/10/00, Emlyn wrote:
I've got to ask a really naive question.
Similarly, why is silicon valley the place to be? Why would I set up business there, with all the attendant cost, if I was running an essentially whitecollar (knowledge work) business? Is it so important to be geographically close to my complementors, and my competition?
Emlyn, I found a lead to an answer on a really useful site: www.manyworlds.com by putting "clustering" into the search box. Great site, huh? ;-) One of the two results was this:
11/01/98 Clusters and the New Economics of Competition Harvard Business Review by Michael Porter; This HBR article by Michael Porter addresses the economics of clustering. Even in the new economy we still see the power of clusters, with clusters such as Silicon Valley and Hollywood providing advantages to resident technology and entertainment businesses respectively. There are dozens of other examples as well. The fact that clustering exists serves to emphatically answers the question: is it better to locate where there are competitors for one's intellectual capital (particularly people), but also enhanced access to the best intellectual capital, or to attempt to remain more isolated? The answer in general is that it is somewhat paradoxically better to be located where there is greater danger of intellectual capital leakage, because the positive feedback from the competitive ecologies tend to outweigh the negatives.
Max
Max More, max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org www.maxmore.com President, Extropy Institute. www.extropy.org Senior Content Architect, ManyWorlds Consulting
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