The technology we use every day is largely the brainchild of Silicon Valleyan area south of the San Francisco Bay that represents one of the myths that the state of California has to offer. Many of the big tech (Apple, Google, HP and many others) are born and grow in this area, from here they export their products and – together with them – also ideals. To understand what the “so-called” Silicon Valley is and how it works, I used the knowledge of Francesco Costajournalist and essayist, who in recent years has written several books dedicated to the world and culture of the United States of America.
Thanks to the help of his latest book “California, the end of a dream”Published by Mondadori, we tried to understand something more about the fascinating – and somewhat decadent – myth of Silicon Valley.
Let’s talk about Silicon Valley with Francesco Costa
Talking about California’s Silicon Valley is never easy because it is a very small area that has managed to influence the world in a way that is almost unbelievable. The Startup concept born in California, Arpanet (which today we know with internet) was born in California, the tech giants (the so-called Bigtechs) were born in California. But why could all this happen in a patch of land in California and maybe not in another state like Idaho? In short, there are so many questions and they do not only concern mere technology – the piece of technological iron – but it is a matter of very powerful cultural phenomenon that we often fail to fully understand.
If you are curious, to know all this and even a little more … I suggest you do not miss our interview with Francesco Costa.
Questions to Francesco Costa
In case you are only interested in some of the topics of the interview, the video has been divided into chapters which correspond to a question.
- 01:50 How much California and how much Silicon Valley is there in the tech gadgets we use every day?
- 03:05 Why is Silicon Valley born in the Bay Area, near San Francisco and nowhere else in the USA?
- 06:40 Why “so called” Silicon Valley? Isn’t that a well-defined era on a map?
- 10:10 Why do Californians sell “a dream” even in Tech products?
- 15:06 Oracle and other Big Techs are leaving Silicon Valley in favor of other states like Texas, why is all this happening? (here you can find the in-depth article)
- 17:56 Californians in Texas: the strong cultural clash. There is a funny video that makes a parody of it. Can you explain to us what meaning does it have?
- 20:10 The buses carrying bigtech employees – like Google – are vandalized in San Francisco by citizens: why this hostility?
- 22:30 Elon Musk brings Starlink to Ukraine and Iran: is it an export of cultural values or just mere technology for a good purpose?
- 27:35 Is “Fake it untill you make it” an expression that is used a lot in Silicon Valley? Can you explain to us what meanings it can take on in the “startuppari” and not only?
- 30:19 The space race today has become – also – a thing to technology. The actors involved are no longer the USA and Russia but the USA and China. Can you explain to us why we run for “technology”?
- 32:49 How much was the imagery created by Hollywood able to export the “tech dominance” of the USA?
- 37:15 What will happen to – or better could it do – Silicon Valley?