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Stick to your knitting? Anyone whose been in Dallas in August when it's been 110 degrees with humidity at 80 percent 3 days in a row knows why Texas cannot bec

Stick to your knitting? Anyone whose been in Dallas in August when it's been 110 degrees with humidity at 80 percent 3 days in a row knows why Texas cannot become ... anything but Texas. Silicon Valley was not an intentional construct. It was a happy, chance collection of attributes that were combined geographically and then allowed to evolve for, now, 100 years. The Valley's seeds were planted in the 1920s when the Stanford-graduated, radio-enthusiast, electrical engineer sons of John Osborne Varian[0] patented the vibrating magnetometer. You you might consider John Osborne Varian the 'father' of Silicon Valley. His sons, Russell and Sigurd Varian, were compatriots of Philo Farnsworth and later invented the Klystron and founded Varian Associates. Radio technology, a key player in WWII, guided military dollars to Silicon Valley. And then, Shockley established the semiconductor industry. Happenstance again due to Shockley being an alum of Bell Labs, and born in Palo Alto. The point is, it was chance that the Varians and the Shockleys were from a region that included Stanford University. And to some extent the weather may have played a part in their decisions to locate their companies there. The seeds were planted as a matter of chance and then allowed to grow, mature and evolve for now 100 years. Moreover, I'd contend that the rate of growth in influence (how would you measure it?) of Silicon Valley is greater than anywhere on the planet, meaning, there is no region that is closing the gap. Texas is a great state. It has awesome people, a large space industry including NASA, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, the real Texas Barbecue, a great University system, and a significant high-tech industry. But it cannot be, and should not strive to be Silicon Valley. It should strive to be the place that it has the most natural advantage give it's history, resources, and strengths. To put it succinctly, Texas should not strive to become Silicon Valley any more than Silicon Valley should strive to become Madison Avenue, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Paris, Milan, ... [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Osborne_Varian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Osborne_Varian

gpanders 6y ago
Well said. > Anyone whose been in Dallas in August when it's been 110 degrees with humidity at 80 percent 3 days in a row knows why Texas cannot become ... anything but Texas. I am a native Texan and spent most of my life in different cities throughout the state. However, this alone is the primary reason I may never move back. It’s too damn hot and only going to get hotter. I now live somewhere that has 4 seasons and where I can turn off the air conditioning for weeks or months at a time. It turns out pleasant weather is a pretty important factor for me and, I imagine, many other people as well.
- varrock 6y ago
  This is unrelated to the topic at hand, but your point about the Texas heat led me to another train of thought. It seems that when it comes to temperature extremes, heat is the first to get criticism. But I very rarely hear any complaints about the frigid temperatures in places like Minneapolis, Chicago, or Boston. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. Are humans better situated to deal with colder temperatures than hotter temperatures? Or is it just the simple fact that it is easier to layer up than it is to layer down?
  - gpanders 6y ago
    This is anecdotal but I have certainly heard my fair share of criticism of the cold as well. It likely depends on where you live, but while living in Texas I met many people who had moved there from Midwest/Northeast states who said their favorite thing about Texas was that it never snowed. They are the opposite of me in that what drew them to Texas was the heat!
    - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
      The heat may be bad, but you don't have to shovel it.
  - igetspam 6y ago
    My wife is very fair. Heat impacts her hard. She doesn't love cold but it seems to get to her less. I can handle either extreme but prefer high heat to low cold. I've also been told I radiate a surprising amount heat (by multiple people), so that could be part of it. My core temperature is normal but my surface temperature runs hot. When I'm cold though, I'm cold to the core and can't warm up.
  - njarboe 6y ago
    You can't layer down to less than nothing. Even if you are naked, most people will find being in 100 degrees of heat with 80% humidity extremely unpleasant. And it is the high humidity that is a major factor. 110 and 15% humidity is much more tolerable.
  - 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
vel0city 6y ago
You're listing a ton of achievements in tech which took place in the Valley while completely ignoring the role Texas has also played in technology. You mention Shockley's inventions driving the semiconductor industry there, but make no mention on Kilby making the first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments. You ignore the PC giants who called Texas home (Dell, Compaq, AST, Tandy) or at least had massive operations in Texas such as Apple. You ignore many telecommunications giants who call Texas home (AT&T, Ericsson, NTT Data, Softlayer, Fujitsu Network Communications, and historically many others) and ignore its positioning as a pretty good central hub for lots of transnational telecom. Lots of big software companies also call Texas home, such as Hotels.com, indeed, match.com, id software, travelocity, and way too many others to bother listing them all here. All the while also ignoring that many big tech companies (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, IBM, Accenture, Xerox, many others) that don't technically HQ in Texas have pretty large offices around here as well. Historically many tech firms have called Texas home. If Texas cannot become anything but Texas, well then I'd say Texas will continue to be a pretty good place for technology.
throw0101a 6y ago
> The Valley's seeds were planted in the 1920s when the Stanford-graduated, radio-enthusiast, electrical engineer sons of John Osborne Varian[0] patented the vibrating magnetometer. SV was built by Fred Terman using post-WW2 Cold War money: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Terman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Terman MIT, Caltech, and Harvard/Columbia were the pinnacle radio research in WW2 and got most of the money: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo&t=30m32s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo&t=30m32s Stanford was (considered) mostly a backwater at that time. It was only starting in ~1950 that Stanford took off. See Secret History of Silicon Valley: * https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/

gpanders 6y ago

Well said. > Anyone whose been in Dallas in August when it's been 110 degrees with humidity at 80 percent 3 days in a row knows why Texas cannot become ... anything but Texas. I am a native Texan and spent most of my life in different cities throughout the state. However, this alone is the primary reason I may never move back. It’s too damn hot and only going to get hotter. I now live somewhere that has 4 seasons and where I can turn off the air conditioning for weeks or months at a time. It turns out pleasant weather is a pretty important factor for me and, I imagine, many other people as well.

varrock 6y ago
This is unrelated to the topic at hand, but your point about the Texas heat led me to another train of thought. It seems that when it comes to temperature extremes, heat is the first to get criticism. But I very rarely hear any complaints about the frigid temperatures in places like Minneapolis, Chicago, or Boston. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. Are humans better situated to deal with colder temperatures than hotter temperatures? Or is it just the simple fact that it is easier to layer up than it is to layer down?
- gpanders 6y ago
  This is anecdotal but I have certainly heard my fair share of criticism of the cold as well. It likely depends on where you live, but while living in Texas I met many people who had moved there from Midwest/Northeast states who said their favorite thing about Texas was that it never snowed. They are the opposite of me in that what drew them to Texas was the heat!
  - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
    The heat may be bad, but you don't have to shovel it.
- igetspam 6y ago
  My wife is very fair. Heat impacts her hard. She doesn't love cold but it seems to get to her less. I can handle either extreme but prefer high heat to low cold. I've also been told I radiate a surprising amount heat (by multiple people), so that could be part of it. My core temperature is normal but my surface temperature runs hot. When I'm cold though, I'm cold to the core and can't warm up.
- njarboe 6y ago
  You can't layer down to less than nothing. Even if you are naked, most people will find being in 100 degrees of heat with 80% humidity extremely unpleasant. And it is the high humidity that is a major factor. 110 and 15% humidity is much more tolerable.
- 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

vel0city 6y ago

You're listing a ton of achievements in tech which took place in the Valley while completely ignoring the role Texas has also played in technology. You mention Shockley's inventions driving the semiconductor industry there, but make no mention on Kilby making the first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments. You ignore the PC giants who called Texas home (Dell, Compaq, AST, Tandy) or at least had massive operations in Texas such as Apple. You ignore many telecommunications giants who call Texas home (AT&T, Ericsson, NTT Data, Softlayer, Fujitsu Network Communications, and historically many others) and ignore its positioning as a pretty good central hub for lots of transnational telecom. Lots of big software companies also call Texas home, such as Hotels.com, indeed, match.com, id software, travelocity, and way too many others to bother listing them all here. All the while also ignoring that many big tech companies (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, IBM, Accenture, Xerox, many others) that don't technically HQ in Texas have pretty large offices around here as well. Historically many tech firms have called Texas home. If Texas cannot become anything but Texas, well then I'd say Texas will continue to be a pretty good place for technology.

throw0101a 6y ago

> The Valley's seeds were planted in the 1920s when the Stanford-graduated, radio-enthusiast, electrical engineer sons of John Osborne Varian[0] patented the vibrating magnetometer. SV was built by Fred Terman using post-WW2 Cold War money: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Terman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Terman MIT, Caltech, and Harvard/Columbia were the pinnacle radio research in WW2 and got most of the money: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo&t=30m32s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo&t=30m32s Stanford was (considered) mostly a backwater at that time. It was only starting in ~1950 that Stanford took off. See Secret History of Silicon Valley: * https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/