TL;DR
The author reviews 2025 with a focus on Silicon Valley’s culture, arguing that the region is simultaneously inventive and self-serious. After moving from Yale to Stanford, they describe a Bay Area dominated by AI, marked by youthful talent, strong community networks, and growing cultural narrowness.
What happened
In a year-end essay the author reflects on changes in the Bay Area after moving from Yale to Stanford. They argue that Silicon Valley and China’s Communist Party share a similar, humorless seriousness and use that comparison to underscore how concentrated power and conviction now shape tech discourse. The author describes a transformed San Francisco where AI has become central to the local scene and where startups, venture capital, and youth culture have intensified; examples include a notable drop in median founder age at Y Combinator. They praise the region’s relative meritocracy, openness to immigrants, and strong founder community, while criticizing its intellectual narrowness, cultish tendencies, and limited engagement with broader cultural institutions. The piece cites specific cultural signs — driverless cars on streets, changes in social life, and strains on city arts organizations — as evidence of both productive dynamism and social costs.
Why it matters
- Tech’s growing cultural and political weight shapes national conversations and institutional priorities.
- A youth-focused, meritocratic pipeline concentrates talent and risk-taking in the Bay Area, with implications for geographic inequality.
- Rapid adoption of AI and other technologies affects everyday life in the city and raises governance and social-integration questions.
- A narrow cultural outlook within tech can weaken civic investment and reduce engagement with broader artistic and public institutions.
Key facts
- Author moved from Yale to Stanford and returned to the Bay Area.
- The essay compares Silicon Valley’s public tone to the Communist Party’s seriousness and lack of humor.
- The author says AI now dictates much of San Francisco’s tech scene.
- Y Combinator’s most recent cohort median founder age is cited as 24, down from 30 three years earlier.
- The author identifies Silicon Valley as relatively meritocratic and open to immigrants compared with some East Coast industries.
- The piece praises tight-knit tech community and internal civic-like institutions that bring founders together.
- Criticisms include intellectual narrowness, cultish tendencies in parts of the tech world, and weak attention to national cultural institutions.
- The essay notes cultural closures and cutbacks, mentioning indie movie theaters and strain at the symphony following Esa-Pekka Salonen’s departure.
- The author mentions effective altruism as an example of an idea that has led some adherents to extreme outcomes, including legal trouble for a few members.
What to watch next
- Whether AI’s central role in San Francisco’s tech ecosystem persists and how that reshapes local industries (not confirmed in the source).
- The trajectory of younger founder cohorts and investor appetite for very early-career entrepreneurs — the YC median-age trend was reported in the essay.
- Recovery or further decline of local cultural institutions such as theaters, symphony, and opera (not confirmed in the source).
- How tech’s political influence and self-serious culture affect policymaking and civic investment outside the Bay Area (not confirmed in the source).
Quick glossary
- Silicon Valley: The technology hub in the San Francisco Bay Area known for startups, venture capital, and major tech companies.
- Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as language understanding and pattern recognition.
- Meritocracy: A system in which advancement is based on ability, talent, and achievement rather than on class, wealth, or social connections.
- Venture capital: Funding provided to early-stage, high-potential companies in exchange for equity, often driving startup growth and risk-taking.
- Effective altruism: A philosophical and social movement that seeks to apply evidence and reason to determine the most effective ways to improve the world.
Reader FAQ
Did the author move in 2025?
Yes — the author says they moved from Yale to Stanford.
Is AI described as central to the Bay Area?
Yes — the essay states that AI now dominates much of San Francisco’s tech landscape.
Are cultural institutions in San Francisco thriving?
The author reports strain: indie movie theaters have closed and the symphony is experiencing leadership and programming challenges.
Does the essay claim Silicon Valley and the Communist Party are identical?
The author draws a rhetorical comparison emphasizing shared seriousness and self-seriousness, not literal equivalence.
Will tech continue to shape national politics and culture?
not confirmed in the source
January 1, 2026 2025 letter (This piece is my year in review; I skipped a letter last year) One way that Silicon Valley and the Communist Party resemble each other…
Sources
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