Your essay http://paulgraham.com/cities.html http://paulgraham.com/cities.html really hit the differences between Boston, NYC and SF the best way I have seen.

Your essay http://paulgraham.com/cities.html http://paulgraham.com/cities.html really hit the differences between Boston, NYC and SF the best way I have seen. As someone that spends time in NYC for work, lives in Boston, has lived in DC and Santa Clara the largest and most important distinction are how people measure each other. While ideas are worthless on their own, they seem to be the currency that matters in conversations in SF. Money matters in NYC. Political affiliation and who you are affiliated with matter in DC. Boston has the most odd culture because people weigh each other on something that happened far in the past rather than in the future, the choice of school that they went to. The thing that really makes SF stand out is that people are ambitious toward being part of something bigger than themselves and growing it to benefit many others.