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Comment by Kalium | Hacker News Reader

> But I wonder if a city could ever follow the model of Atlanta and try to build a "new Silicon Valley" from scratch with aggressive policies that lure companies/employees from existing tech hubs?

You might be surprised by how many "Silicon X" places there are. Most of them are trying to lure companies. Only a few - like Atlanta - seem to understand that they need educational and financial infrastructure first.

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I think educational infrastructure is almost a trailing indicator... Silicon Valley is special 'cause it prizes the sort of education required to do this sort of work. Especially when I first came here in the '90s, it was amazing - going from the place I grew up, where reading in public felt like it was risking physical violence (well, that's not really fair, I was 17) - to silicon valley, where that sort of thing was the sort of thing to do.

Bear in mind that Silicon Valley sprung up, by sheer coincidence, in a place with two world-class universities close enough to loathe one another's sports teams.

Primary and secondary schools may well be training indicators.

Maybe... but can you get world-class universities without a culture that values education? I mean, I guess it's one of those chicken and egg things, as a world class university both requires and attracts people who value education.

But, I mean, could you greenfield start a world class university in a place where people see reading in public as something to be ridiculed? would that be easier than bootstrapping a major tech company in some low cost of living area?

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