Also Toronto born-and-raised and living in SF. I'm not sure what this spark you speak of is, but I feel a ton of energy, enthusiasm, fearlessness, and widesprea

Also Toronto born-and-raised and living in SF. I'm not sure what this spark you speak of is, but I feel a ton of energy, enthusiasm, fearlessness, and widespread talent in SF that barely exists in Toronto. I believe that much of it has to do with self-selection - SF is full of people that decided to be there and intentionally moved there - wanted to learn programming, or wanted to start a company, or didn't feel comfortable being homosexual in their small town, or wanted to live somewhere with warmer winters and hiking in December. It feels like most people in Toronto were born there or moved there as young kids when their parents immigrated. The self selection of people in SF has dramatic influences on its culture. Maybe you can call it homogeneous and sure there's a big tech industry in SF, but it's hardly the largest industry there.