Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I think this comment is slightly exaggerated. I didn’t see that many ads for AI companies and while I did see some driverless vehicles, they were in the minority and I only saw them on my second full day exploring the city.

There are a large number of homeless people openly doing drugs, and there is some poop, but I find these descriptions to be generally inaccurate.

Don’t get me wrong, the situation is bad, but based on descriptions like this I was expecting far far worse.




That comment is just based on my experience going to SF a few weeks ago.

- Every billboard on the way to the hotel from the airport was for AI (which not the case a few months ago)

- Uber driver interrogated me all the way to the hotel on the value prop of my current project at work

- Went to grab a burger and had to dodge 2 people screaming at me, walked passed a man crying because I believe a friend had just gotten hit by a car.

- almost stepped in human fecies

- On my last night, took a cruise back to my hotel (thanks to a friend). Honestly it was quite fun.

Nothing in my comment was exaggerated, just edited a bit to make it more coherent. The reality was actually more dystopian.

And I do mean that last line seriously, I had a blast!:

> SF today is so aggressively dystopian that it's sort of hard not to enjoy the experience.


Nearly every billboard I've in SF, when I used to live near there 1-7 years ago, was tech. So not AI, but maybe "one app to rule them all" (I forget whose slogan that was).




Consider applying for YC's Fall 2025 batch! Applications are open till Aug 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: