There are only 3 American stories. 1. Never moved away from Smalltown 2. Sustainably living in Charismatic Bigcity, having moved from Smalltown 3. Crashed out of Charismatic Bigcity to Different Smalltown that exists as a living critique of the former
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Venkatesh Rao
Varun gets it, A city is not a candidate until I understand what continuation it represents. It’s a narrative extension problem. The constraint satisfaction part is merely the legible bit so it’s easy to get caught up in that. https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1226565741081591808?s=21 …https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1226565741081591808 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
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The city you live in is a *powerful* predictor and embodiment of the story you’re enacting, especially in the context of the series that came before. If you don’t have a good narrative justification for why you’re moving there, you won’t last long (unless you get trapped there)
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One of the best arguments against the big economy and in favor of paycheck career is in fact “too much freedom.” With paycheck career, job hunting = lifestyle design. Your next job locks down your next chapter.
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Another thing single people don’t appreciate (going by responses) is that the couple version of the problem is an entirely different problem. Qualitatively different.
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Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Venkatesh Rao
Loop linking macro cities threadhttps://twitter.com/vgr/status/1226388443694948355?s=21 …
Venkatesh Rao added,
Venkatesh Rao @vgrSince WW2, the story of humanity has increasingly been the story of the top 100 or so charismatic big cities. The ones that can each lay claim to an important subplot of the human story. Not necessarily the biggest ones but the ones that you instantly associate with a big story.Show this thread1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread -
The only thing more fraught than giving people city advice is giving them dating advice probably. Career advice is less fraught, coming in at #3. Wonder why there aren’t “city match” sites the way there are dating, marriage, and job sites.
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Replying to @vgr
Would putting an OK Cupid style quiz before the metrics to weight them for you make those sites better or are we talking about a deeper narrative matchmaking around intangibles
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They’re fine for what they’re trying to do
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It’s not a constraint satisfaction problem. It is a narrative extension problem with a set of constraints.