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Funny, i've been meaning to finish a blog post on this exact same topic. I actually think the freelance revolution will be a reversing of the industrial revolut

Funny, i've been meaning to finish a blog post on this exact same topic. I actually think the freelance revolution will be a reversing of the industrial revolution. The industrial and neolithic revolutions brought the masses together to form towns and then large cities, where as I believe with the increase of freelancing and e-jobs, along with better remote working environments, people will start to question the high cost of living within a large city.

tomjen3 15y ago
I am not so sure about that, since there is significant social advantages to living in a city. Though it will properly cut down on the amount of commuting people will have to do.
- lachlanj 15y ago
  Not that I am disagreeing but would you mind mentioning the social advantages that you are talking about?
  - tomjen3 15y ago
    Face to face conversations [http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/04/why_facetoface_.html http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/0...], bars, theaters, museums, entertainment parks, turist attractions, easy shopping posibilities, etc. There are many advantages to clustering together that electronics and increased communication simply cannot replace yet (and I doubt it ever will, even video calling feels "phony" somehow).
    - lachlanj 15y ago
      I'm sorry but I lived an extremely rural town for 10 years with <20k people and all of these thing were available. I'm not convinced these are exclusive to cities.
      - strait 15y ago
        Extremely rural is <500 people. No traffic lights, no Subway sandwiches. Just a country store, 7 churches, and 49 horses.
      - tomjen3 15y ago
        Where my grandparents live there is nothing, no school, no shops no bus stop, only a comunity center and a part time church. 20k is a town. 100 people is nothing.
  - muhfuhkuh 15y ago
    Mass transit precluding the need to own a motorized conveyance, proximity to life's staples (and the varieties available thereof), diversity in culture and ideas (even ethnicity, if that's your bag), architectural variety (nothing beats looking at a giant skyscraper for wondering at the sheer human achievement). It's all subjective, after all; but that's just off the top of my head.
  - ebiester 15y ago
    The ability to find a group of people like you. If you're straight, white, and born in the small town, this isn't a problem. As a gay man, I'd have a lot of trouble in many small towns. The ability to walk down the street at 3 in the morning and see a non-trivial number of people around. A friend was in a small town teaching for the summer, and he said "So then we went to the bar. I say the bar because there was only one." Where I live, there are 171 listed in the phone book.
mgkimsal 15y ago
There can be a 'high cost' to living out in the country too. The 'direct' cost - lower property taxes, for example - is offset by often having to drive further for basic stuff that you may be able to walk to or use public transport for in a larger city. There's also a social cost - fewer human interactions - which, for some people, is actually a positive, but it's not for everyone. Also, opportunity cost can be higher out in the country. You may simply miss out on experiencing things that you would in a city. But in a city, you might miss out on cleaner air, nicer sunsets, etc.

tomjen3 15y ago

I am not so sure about that, since there is significant social advantages to living in a city. Though it will properly cut down on the amount of commuting people will have to do.

lachlanj 15y ago
Not that I am disagreeing but would you mind mentioning the social advantages that you are talking about?
- tomjen3 15y ago
  Face to face conversations [http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/04/why_facetoface_.html http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/0...], bars, theaters, museums, entertainment parks, turist attractions, easy shopping posibilities, etc. There are many advantages to clustering together that electronics and increased communication simply cannot replace yet (and I doubt it ever will, even video calling feels "phony" somehow).
  - lachlanj 15y ago
    I'm sorry but I lived an extremely rural town for 10 years with <20k people and all of these thing were available. I'm not convinced these are exclusive to cities.
    - strait 15y ago
      Extremely rural is <500 people. No traffic lights, no Subway sandwiches. Just a country store, 7 churches, and 49 horses.
    - tomjen3 15y ago
      Where my grandparents live there is nothing, no school, no shops no bus stop, only a comunity center and a part time church. 20k is a town. 100 people is nothing.
- muhfuhkuh 15y ago
  Mass transit precluding the need to own a motorized conveyance, proximity to life's staples (and the varieties available thereof), diversity in culture and ideas (even ethnicity, if that's your bag), architectural variety (nothing beats looking at a giant skyscraper for wondering at the sheer human achievement). It's all subjective, after all; but that's just off the top of my head.
- ebiester 15y ago
  The ability to find a group of people like you. If you're straight, white, and born in the small town, this isn't a problem. As a gay man, I'd have a lot of trouble in many small towns. The ability to walk down the street at 3 in the morning and see a non-trivial number of people around. A friend was in a small town teaching for the summer, and he said "So then we went to the bar. I say the bar because there was only one." Where I live, there are 171 listed in the phone book.

mgkimsal 15y ago

There can be a 'high cost' to living out in the country too. The 'direct' cost - lower property taxes, for example - is offset by often having to drive further for basic stuff that you may be able to walk to or use public transport for in a larger city. There's also a social cost - fewer human interactions - which, for some people, is actually a positive, but it's not for everyone. Also, opportunity cost can be higher out in the country. You may simply miss out on experiencing things that you would in a city. But in a city, you might miss out on cleaner air, nicer sunsets, etc.