Economic Lessons From ‘Mad Men’

I think that's the idea. Certain cities and regions become poles for similar, but competing industries. Finance in Manhattan, technology in Silicon Valley, insurance in Connecticut, etc. Other cities try to emulate these places but usually have partial or no success. Even if they put fiber in every building and give it away for free they still lack the human network that could take advantage of it.

Also, these types of networks take decades to build up. Most people don't have that much time to wait. It took money from the Manhattan project (70 years) to get SV to where it is today.

WARNING, SPOILER BELOW.

His description omits one very Silicon Valley-like aspect to the series - this season closed with the principals jumping ship to form their own tiny firm, much like a startup. I found it very inspiring, you don't see a lot of small businesses or their origins depicted on TV.

The only other example I can think of from this year was when Michael Scott left his job on The Office. I was rooting for them to succeed and even relating to a lot of their hurdles, but then they got acquired by their old company and it was nothing more than a minor plot point for the season.