Star Simpson

It's surprising to me that people think "every belief should be possible to say out loud" is killing freedom of expression and experimentation, and not, say, a lack of housing that undermines the viability of artist communities.

Prevalent artist communities and reasonably available housing were at least correlated with a flourishing of interesting new ideas in tech.

Startups' recent growth did NOT occur during a period where "I can express any belief I'd like, no matter how odious" was true. (Has it ever been? Is there any period of creativity and economic growth that can be pinned to that condition?)

I think the phenomenon @sama was talking about, was really more about SF culture turning very ugly. You have the displaced artists pitted against tech people, and the anger that often expresses itself via PC culture. Wasn't the case when techies + artists were friends.

Compared to then, which I remain pretty convinced was quietly driven by cheaply available space, experimental culture, and the frivolous or toy-like nature of tech at the time, there aren't really artists in the Bay Area anymore — not enough for a group to be "pitted" vs tech.