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Comment by mikeyouse | Hacker News Reader

I think you're thinking too narrowly -- some of the most popular neighborhoods in many cities are the very specific cultural ones (e.g. K-Town in LA, the Mission in SF, Chinatown in NYC, etc) where people from all backgrounds meet and mingle. You might go there with a few coworkers that are the same age/race/sex as you, but a big part of the reason that you don't stay on your block is for the diversity of experience. Rec sports are another good avenue where your 5-a-aside soccer team might be very homogenous but the league obviously isn't.

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I believe this is a topic where many people have predefined narratives they repeat. The comments above are about the benefits and costs of diversity (different but informed opinions), yet the non-narrative fitting opinion is downvoted. In my experience diversity provides access to new ideas and a variety of experiences through the people you meet. However there are also costs to diversity which shouldn’t be ignored. Communication is more challenging in diverse groups. Also values, beliefs, and norms vary more in a diverse group. That’s beneficial for those looking to expand their understanding of others and the world. However it also means less cohesiveness within the group which reduces feelings of belonging. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. There are similar trade offs in building technology. Having access to a wide variety of frameworks and technologies helps you learn more ideas and discover better ways to do things. However groups also create standards which allow for interoperability. Pros and cons.

Agree. But also if Chinatown wasn’t founded by one group it wouldn’t be Chinatown. When we are appreciating a culture, that culture is a set of values, norms, and beliefs that are consistent, not diverse.

What national culture is not diverse

Nations which are heavily monocultural. Japan or South Korea are good examples, I think.

Japanese culture is diverse. Maybe you’re just unfamiliar

I'm quite familiar. Would you care to elaborate?

But it isn't founded by one group, most Chinatowns are a hodge podge of Asian cultures, conveniently labeled Chinese because they are the majority.

I didn’t have any background knowledge on this so started looking on Wikipedia. It looks like Chicago has one of the largest Chinatowns so I started there. You can read about its origin in the history section https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Chicago. From what I’ve read, it appears it was people primarily from China. Do you have any information about Chinatowns being formed by other Asian cultures?

It didn't feel like "meet and mingle" in the mission... more like a strange outlandish transition from people living in tents on the street and three blocks away Valencia street filled with nice shops and restaurants. Walking to work was like "oh this is nice" interspersed with needles and feces in the sidewalk.

Yeah, the experience is obviously different if you're at 16th and Mission compared to 24th and Folsom -- but there's a reason the neighborhood has been one of the more desirable in SF despite the very visible problems.

Yeah I lived in the mission. People loved to talk about how they loved the diversity. And always to the group of exclusively techies they were socializing with at the time.

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