4 ms·

As someone unfamiliar with the author, I had a deep amount of cynicism for the length of this piece... but damn, it's good, top to bottom.

nozzlegear 9mo ago
I agree. At first I briefly skimmed it and thought it was going to be a puff piece on China's AI efforts (unfair of me), but a couple paragraphs caught me and I read the whole thing. I'm glad I did.
andrepd 9mo ago
Hard disagree. How many paragraphs of fawning over the unique culture of the Bay Area must I endure before he arrives at the point? Such gems as > I like SF house parties, where people take off their shoes at the entrance and enter a space in which speech can be heard over music, which feels so much more civilized than descending into a loud bar in New York. It’s easy to fall into a nerdy conversation almost immediately with someone young and earnest.
- senordevnyc 9mo ago
  Just quoting a paragraph means nothing, what’s the actual problem you have here? I’ve lived in both SF and now NYC, and that characterization is painting with a broad brush, but isn’t ridiculous.
- strange_quark 9mo ago
  The next sentence is “The Bay Area has converged on Asian-American modes of socializing” As if there is a single Asian-American culture and no Asian-Americans like going out to bars… The whole piece is littered with weird over generalizations over huge and diverse groups of people.
  - exceptione 9mo ago
    It happens with more authors. Blogging and self-promotion on social media easily leads to fast and sensational "insights". It is fast food: feels good, easily digestible, way better than a thorough study involving the required ifs-and-buts and the hard work of trying to find blind spots in one's own perspective. The latter profile isn't suitable for short content bites and doesn't sell to a large audience. The former does, but comes with a cost only the uninformed aren't aware of. I can sympathize with that though. Non-fiction in general is a hard sell.
- UncleMeat 9mo ago
  Yep. This is Jeff Foxxworthy level social analysis.

nozzlegear 9mo ago

I agree. At first I briefly skimmed it and thought it was going to be a puff piece on China's AI efforts (unfair of me), but a couple paragraphs caught me and I read the whole thing. I'm glad I did.

andrepd 9mo ago

Hard disagree. How many paragraphs of fawning over the unique culture of the Bay Area must I endure before he arrives at the point? Such gems as > I like SF house parties, where people take off their shoes at the entrance and enter a space in which speech can be heard over music, which feels so much more civilized than descending into a loud bar in New York. It’s easy to fall into a nerdy conversation almost immediately with someone young and earnest.

senordevnyc 9mo ago
Just quoting a paragraph means nothing, what’s the actual problem you have here? I’ve lived in both SF and now NYC, and that characterization is painting with a broad brush, but isn’t ridiculous.
strange_quark 9mo ago
The next sentence is “The Bay Area has converged on Asian-American modes of socializing” As if there is a single Asian-American culture and no Asian-Americans like going out to bars… The whole piece is littered with weird over generalizations over huge and diverse groups of people.
- exceptione 9mo ago
  It happens with more authors. Blogging and self-promotion on social media easily leads to fast and sensational "insights". It is fast food: feels good, easily digestible, way better than a thorough study involving the required ifs-and-buts and the hard work of trying to find blind spots in one's own perspective. The latter profile isn't suitable for short content bites and doesn't sell to a large audience. The former does, but comes with a cost only the uninformed aren't aware of. I can sympathize with that though. Non-fiction in general is a hard sell.
UncleMeat 9mo ago
Yep. This is Jeff Foxxworthy level social analysis.