It is Geography of Genius. I have seen a number of reviews. I do not rate it as must-read, but it will keep you entertained on an airplane ride.
He is looking at times and places that we view as loci of genius flourishing: ancient Athens, Scotland in the Hume era, Vienna in the Mozart era and in the Freud era, etc. Some commonalities:
1. The periods tend to be short, on the order of decades. High rates of creativity and growth are difficult to sustain.
2. The locations tend to be ones that are high in trade and population mobility.
3. The societies seem to be relatively open and tolerant.
4. Golden ages tend to be multidisciplinary. You get art, philosophy, and science together.
Above all, excellence seems to flourish in fields where it is valued in the culture. The Viennese loved their music. Silicon Valley venerates computer skills and start-ups. So the message is very McCloskeyan.
1-4 sound like an amalgam of positive attributes of various famous centers of excellence. I don’t see any coherent pattern.
Where’s the genius Silicon Valley (let’s say, SF) philosophy+art+science?
I take from this that it *is* a viable strategy to push for being one of the foremost world centers in field X if you’re nearly there, and the overall bid has to include sufficient opportunities for foreigners to come work. So maybe against a background of nativist protectionism, savvy nations (Trump’s Great America) must allow globalism-friendly exemptions for their metropolitan crown jewels. These exemptions should probably be topic-specific.
Since people enjoy in-person interaction, local variations in social status ladders (+ pay) should allow more people to feel useful + wanted. A single global competitive (internet) space breeds cross-disciplinary jealousy.
“Where’s the genius Silicon Valley (let’s say, SF) philosophy+art+science?”
Perhaps Pixar would represent Silicon Valley, although it’s in the East Bay?
Larry Ellison’s daughter and son have produced some decent movies in recent years, but they haven’t shifted the balance of movie making up toward the Bay Area, while Pixar has.
But, yes, Silicon Valley is somewhat underperforming in the arts relative to past Golden Ages like 17th Century Netherlands.
Off Topic. Could you please check your RSS feed settings. My reader has suddenly stopped alerting me to new post entries.
I am getting feeds through Feedly, so I assume things are working.