Gathering with friends last night reminded me once again what it is that makes San Francisco special. It’s the people who are drawn here to start things.
Like certain other large cities, there is a regular turnover in the local population —last time I checked it was 50 percent every five years — which would be disconcerting if not for the fact that there are always some amazing new people to meet around town.
I too came here 50 years ago to start things — magazines to be specific. San Francisco was a Mecca of sorts for magazines at that time. There were around 13 of them, including the one (SunDance) I worked on.
From one small group of rebels at SunDance on Fillmore Street, I eventually moved across town to another group of rebels, including Jann Wenner, Hunter Thompson, Annie Liebovitz, Ben Fong-Torres and Cameron Crowe, et.al., at Rolling Stone on Third Street.
That gang quickly became a lot more than “almost famous.”
Since then I’ve moved like a nomad among one small group of rebels to another, with stops at Salon, Wired Digital, Excite@Home, KQED, 7x7 and loads of other places. (Last night’s gathering was with the small team that produced a special issue of BIG magazine in 2003, an artistic tour de force celebrating San Francisco’s unique creative spirit.)
It occurs to me that one role I may have played over the decades is that of a honeybee, spreading the content DNA from one of these small groups to the next.
Besides all of the media groups, I met the founders and wrote about tons of tech startups, like Airbnb, Lyft, Uber, Getaround, Taskrabbit, Twitter and on and on. Creative people in a different realm from media but just as fascinating.
Now it is AI’s turn. San Francisco is once again at the center of a revolution that promises to transform our lives every bit as much as the Internet has done. It’s scary, yes, but exciting.
Change isn’t always good, but it can be.
(I said that.)
LINKS:
Tucker Carlson, with video provided by Speaker McCarthy, falsely depicts Jan. 6 riot as a peaceful gathering (NBC)
US Capitol Police chief rips into Tucker Carlson over ‘offensive’ use of January 6 footage (CNN)
Feds say Proud Boys associates fanned out to facilitate Jan. 6 breach (Politico)
Q: Who's unsurprised by shocking Fox News revelations? A: Ex-Fox journalists (NPR)
How Are Trump Supporters Still Doing This? (Atlantic)
Strikes spread as French unions intensify pension reform fight (Reuters)
Elon Musk publicly mocks Twitter worker with disability who is unsure whether he’s been laid off (CNN)
Fed Chair Powell says interest rates are ‘likely to be higher’ than previously anticipated (CNBC)
Crash Course: Artificial Intelligence Vs. Humanity (Bloomberg)
AI creates pictures of what people are seeing by analysing brain scans (New Scientist)
She created a relationship with a chatbot. 11 messages in, it got weird (CNN)
You Are Not a Parrot — And a chatbot is not a human. And a linguist named Emily M. Bender is very worried what will happen when we forget this. (New York)
China’s ChatGPT Black Market Is Thriving (Wired)
Protests Over Netanyahu’s Judiciary Overhaul Spread to Israel’s Military (NYT)
The creeping threat of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (Guardian)
Atmospheric river timeline: Here's what to expect as storm now moves in Thursday (ABC)
‘Everyone should be concerned’: Antarctic sea ice reaches lowest levels ever recorded (Guardian)
Nearly everyone is exposed to unhealthy levels of tiny air pollutants. 99% of the global population breathes in potentially dangerous amounts of these pollutants, known as PM 2.5, a new study found. (WP)
Video Shows Ukraine Drone Fly Directly Into Open Hatch of Russian Tank (Newsweek)
Ukraine is building up its forces for an offensive (Economist)
The United States should change its "distorted" attitude towards China or "conflict and confrontation" will follow, China's foreign minister said, while defending its stance on the war in Ukraine and its close ties with Russia. (Reuters)
Russia advances in Bakhmut by sending waves of mercenaries to certain death (WP)
As Customer Problems Hit a Record High, More People Seek ‘Revenge’ (WSJ
California will not do business with Walgreens, state Governor Gavin Newsom said in a tweet, days after the pharmacy chain said it would not dispense abortion pills in some Republican-dominated states. (Reuters)
What to do if Supreme Court strikes down Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan (CNBC)
Five women denied abortion care in Texas sue state over bans (Guardian)
Nothing about D.A. Brooke Jenkins’ move to dismiss charges in an SFPD shooting smells right (SFC)
Landlord Sends Reminder Water Will Be Shut Off For Maintenance Yesterday Morning (The Onion)
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