Cambridge: "there's this city across the charles river but you'll probably be too busy with problem sets to see any of it *pointandlaugh*"

In my opinion, some people prefer to live in bigger cities due to the fact that there is a larger more competitive environment or workforce, while others prefer living in smaller/suburban* environments for other intrinsic reasons that we may not know of.

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"I think the scientific and the artistic spirit have something in common. The scientist wants not only to learn the facts, but to understand how they cohere, fit together and make a whole. He even uses criteria such as beauty and symmetry to help decide which theory he wants.

The scientist cannot capture the whole cosmos in thought. In his mind he makes a kind of microcosm, which we see as an analogue of the cosmos. In this way we try to get a feeling for the whole. The artist, I suppose, gets a feeling for the whole some other way.�

David Bohm in “Art, Dialogue and the Implicate Order�, published in On Creativity RC (Routledge Classics)

BrasÃ_lia - Where Modernism Went Wrong

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec Banking. It was almost completely due to the presence of the de Medici family. I think in most cases it's a question what the interests of the people who hold the most financial power are.

Makes sense. Creative work requires funding of some sort, and the fact that the workers must deserve this funding to some extent probably has something to do with the fact that most "geniuses" live in these places. That, and the Matthew Effect.

quote:

Originally posted by tachobg Interesting read. Do people really care what others think of their work though? For most types of work, you will probably find enough peers in a big city. Then why would you care about the prevailing, though subtle messages that try to guide your ambition in some direction? My guess is that it's the feeling that the city has its priorities in the wrong order, that "these people are not like me." There's the feeling of resentment you have when people don't respect what you do (ex - science/innovation/ideas), but rather some other arbitrary things that in you opinion, don't deserve much respect at all (wealth/fame/etc). And I'd guess that stubbornly denying that you should care about such things would at the very least, hinder your potential for doing great work, or at the worst, leave you discouraged, isolated and bitter. The interesting question is how such communities collectively come to assign value to various channels of ambition.

No creative enterprise, be it scientific or artistic, is detached from society. If you wish to make a living with your work, you need support from your peers, who in turn need the support from their peers and so on. "You can have all this in a big city", you might say, but big cities appeared quite recently in the history of mankind. I, for instance, live in a relatively big city (2 million inhabitants): 100 years ago only 4 cities were that big, and 200 hundred years ago, no city was that big. So the problem begins with the first question - can people really isolate themselves in the city they live in, and not care about the feedback that may come from other regions? They might be able to do that now (I find it hard to believe that, though, because for every specific activity, there's just a handful of people in your city that are deeply into that), but that has just recently become possible.

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quote:

Originally posted by tachobg Cambridge: "there's this city across the charles river but you'll probably be too busy with problem sets to see any of it *pointandlaugh*"

+1. been working in cambridge this summer and haven't gotten to go clubbing much at all, let alone see the city

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Originally posted by Lilith Adelaide: Serial killer capital of Australia We have churches

People here get sooo pissed off when people say about it being the serial killer capital. Dunno why, its much more interesting than "we got some churches", "we haven't changed in 50 years", "progress is bad", "Australia's retirement village" etc

I once tried to start a push to recruit a high-profile supervillan to live in Adelaide as a joke. Unfortunatley it didn't catch on but I remain hopeful. It did however briefly appear in a news article which was publish on the Advertiser's website, but a later version of the article had the reference removed
ah the fun you can have with the 'leave your opinion' boxes on news websites

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Last edited by Trance Nutter on Jul-25-2008 at 11:50

I think nefardec's book is next on my wish-list.

To Lira:

I really think that, as an explorer, every single place that you go to will leave a mark in your conscience, and you will take those experiences (good & bad) with you and put those experiences into practice when facing similiar situations.

I agree, every city has it's own attitude, environment, culture and the such. From personal experience, most of the western-mediterranean nations (Spain, France, Italy) are inclined to a more "conservative-western ideology", by this I am referring to their preference for christian beliefs and values. Interestingly enough, most of the values and traditions of the mediterranean region can be traced back to 'the craddle of civilization' (see: neolithic revolution). In my opinion, Spain has a more Visigothic and Latin way-of-life than Switzerland and France, eventhough they are in close proximity to one another. If we talk about Spain, there are so many different cultures, it's divided yet united in a very odd way. For example, in Catalonia not only are people proud of their heritage but they have claimed independence for years now and the same goes with Navarra (which is located on the northen side of spain, very close to France). Both regions have their own dialect and 'Barcelona' is very different from 'Pamplona', 'Pamplona' is very different from 'Madrid' (Castilla-Leon) and so on.

In the United States you can feel the different attitudes that each city carries. NYC has a more edgy, up-front and, to a certain extent, a more hard-hitting character because of it's history. Chicago has it's own personality and values, and so does Miami.

The only way to discover which city you belong to is by travelling...

Detroit: It's so cold in the D

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HOW THE FUCK DO WE 'POSED TO KEEP PEACE?

Toronto : O_o

In my opinion, the 'Midwest' (the heartland) still holds those 'american values' that have been fordone over the years partly because of globalization. I think the 'Midwest' should be a great experience if you want to sink in the real 'american' experience. Everyone I've met from the Midwest has left a big impression in my heart. If you think about it, there are very few places in the US were you will find that kind warmth and human quality. To be fair, California has 'a completely different mindset' than the MW, but California in some ways has always been considered as the forward thinking state (specially with a city historically important as San Francisco - for the gold rush...)

My last trip to Canada was about a year ago and it was limited to Victoria, B.C. Now, in my opinion. If I retire rich enough to afford living there, it would be my #1 option mainly because it has a very european feel to it and the people are so nice. i like the fact that it's small, cold and very eco-friendly.

The blend of 'native indigenous' and british customs left a really warm impression on me. I really enjoyed walking around the port and sight-seeing for the most part, but there's alot of culture, and the people were so nice. but most canadians are very nice people, from experience...