
Silicon Valley is perhaps the most productive and innovative place in the world - adventured
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/07/silicon-valleys-fortunes
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lispm
It's just that much of the 'innovation' is in a selection of domains with an
emphasis on get-rich-quick pyramid schemes. Pressing problems like clean
energy, clean water, peace, livable cities, energy saving, waste reduction,
climate protection, ... are usually not among these domains of 'innovation'.
Machine learning for Internet marketing or mass surveillance though is.

~~~
krasin
There's evidence for the opposite:

* clean energy: [http://blog.samaltman.com/energy](http://blog.samaltman.com/energy) plus Tesla / Solar City

* clean water: [https://angel.co/water-purification](https://angel.co/water-purification)

* peace: (not sure what would fit here)

* livable cities: self-driving cars, Uber

* energy saving: Nest and similar smart home efforts

* waste reduction: very diverse topic; Project Ara is one of the efforts to reduce the consumer electronics waste

* climate protection: affordable sattelite imagery (Planet Labs, Skybox), and clean energy efforts (see above)

~~~
lispm
Self-driving cars are the solution to nothing. We need much less cars and much
more efficient transport in the cities.

if you look at the list, it just shows how much more REAL progress is needed.
Most on that list is fake progress.

~~~
danielrhodes
> Self-driving cars are the solution to nothing.

Humans should not be operating cars or any other heavy machinery for that
matter. Accidents caused by human error in cars are very prevalent, and self-
driving cars at a macro-level would eliminate big risk factors for death and
severe injury for a great number of people. Even if we don't get fully self-
driving cars and just partially self-driving cars, it goes a long way towards
reducing risk. So yes, REAL progress has and is being made.

~~~
ktom
I would also add, that over time hyper efficient public transit systems and
large fleets of self driving cars doing transportation as a service converge
into the same thing. They are virtually indistinguishable from each other.
Combine that with the progress we are making with electric cars and we've got
some REAL progress on multiple fronts that will make a serious difference to
the lives of everyday people.

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bettyx1138
I moved there from NYC and couldn't last a year. It's deathly boring to live
there.

~~~
omarforgotpwd
Agreed. Having grown up in LA the valley is really boring. I guess that's how
we get so much done.

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codeshaman
It might be the most innovative and most productive place but how does it
affect the rest of the world ? Let us not forget the other side of the coin.

(1) On one side - tech has magically enhanced the world and our lives.
Socially, it has freed us from opression and gave us all a voice, ...etc

(2) On the other side - tech has disconnected us from nature and has
negatively affected the environment, by making us much more efficient at
extracting and transforming nature (raw materials) into goods. Socially, even
though everyone has a voice, it's lost in the cacophony - everyone tries to
out-shout everyone else; we're constantly fighting for each other's attention,
we're walking around looking at screens while our children are pulling our
hands and screaming for our attention. And so on..

So is 'innovation' good or bad ? The answer is some union between (1) and (2).
Only the future will definetely answer this.

It so in our nature to look at the extremes and ignore the other side of the
coin that some are only going to see (1) and some are only going to see (2).
And for those who see only (2), Sillicon Valley, with all the good intentions,
might just be the most destructive place in the world.

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tibbetts
All that and so modest too.

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comrade1
Based solely on stock value. Which, I guess if you had to take a measurement
based on something it may as well be that. Assuming we're not in a bubble.

The last two crashes the stock value dropped 50%. Does that mean Silicon
Valley productivity drops 50%?

~~~
garry
This is the kind of armchair comment that misunderstands how Silicon Valley
works. You're right that stock value is disconnected from actual value (or
productivity), but it's not right to connote there is no value at all.

The first crash was lack of startup fundamentals. By all means it was a
Valley-induced bubble.

But the second was an external liquidity crisis uninfluenced by the
fundamentals of startups. In the aftermath of both crashes, billions in value
were created by small teams of software engineers in Silicon Valley, and
that's real earnings/cash flow.

