0xen 🎩
@0xen
Austin was great when it was the only liberal and cultural oasis in TX, back when that meant something. When it was a Texas-sized college town. SXSW created a reality distortion field for tourists looking for the Good Life and since then they’ve been trying to graft a tech hub on top of a place that was never suited.
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RealityCrafter
@realitycrafter.eth
I'm of the opinion that tech hubs form around areas that produce top tier software engineers. UC Berkeley and UT Austin both are consistently in the top 10 CS programs in the nation. It's easier for companies to form and gather talent in areas that the talent is already.
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0xen 🎩
@0xen
Sometimes, but sometimes not. Pittsburgh , Champagne Urbana come to mind
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RealityCrafter
@realitycrafter.eth
As places with top computer science programs that don't become known as tech hubs?
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0xen 🎩
@0xen
yeah - U of I and Carnegie Melon
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RealityCrafter
@realitycrafter.eth
For sure. I'm sure both those cities would like to become tech hubs as well. But my point is less that every place with a good tech program will become a tech hub, but rather that it increases the likelihood and makes it more natural for those spots to trend in that direction.
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RealityCrafter
@realitycrafter.eth
Austin's tech hub-ness isn't bolted on. It's part of the direction that the city has grown in. Sure they advertised it and probably pushed it as a narrative, but it's not like there wasn't a strong science and technology educated population base to begin with.
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0xen 🎩
@0xen
It does. My most collectivist take is that there should be a societal acknowledgment and protection of America's cultural hubs. There aren't that many. Hyper growth and bohemia are fundamentally at odds. SF culture was obliterated and it's lamentable. Same with ATX, everyone wants the good life though, can't blame em.
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