IP: Valley of the Dollars

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff () iconia com>
>
>
> http://www.pathfinder.com/fortune/forty/wir.html
>
> Valley of the Dollars
> The young, wealthy Netheads of San Francisco and Silicon Valley protest that
> it's not about the money. Give us a break.
>
> By Eryn Brown
> FORTUNE
>
> In early July, before the heat wave enveloped my hometown of New York City, I
> set out for San Francisco to spend the summer exploring how big money has
> changed life for Internet people there and in Silicon Valley. I was 
> supposed to
> concentrate on people under 40, for the most part, who have worked 
> for Internet
> companies and have made a few million dollars in the past couple of years. Not
> hundreds of millions, just a few. "The middle class," my editors joked. I
> figured it would be fun, shooting the breeze with people my own age, people
> who--according to the hype--love their work, love their lives. They'd hit the
> jackpot. I'd find out what makes them tick. Sounded great.
>
> Then I got there and got kind of depressed.
>
> It wasn't that the people I met didn't embody all the qualities I thought they
> would. They did. They were ambitious, affable, and polite. I liked most of
> them.
>
> But something gnawed at me. Internet wealth has given hundreds of lucky,
> hard-working people the chance to forget about their bills and live it up a
> little. But it has also created a community where grossly skewed expectations,
> measured in terms of dollars, define personal success. Inner peace isn't free
> in this town. People with money, ooze self-esteem. People without it have a
> panicked look in their eyes. Intangible benefits--having a fun job, creating
> exciting technology--don't stand on their own anymore, no matter how often
> people say, "It's not about the money." (And they say that a lot.) It's all
> about the money.
>
> <snip>
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Geoff_Goodfellow () iconia com, Prague CZ * tel/mobil +420 (0)603 706 558
> "Success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html