As San Francisco builds the future of technology, can it rebuild itself?
People feared a doom loop. Reality has been more surprising
San Francisco has long been a byword for municipal failure. Even as its techies minted money and transformed the world, its government was incapable of providing residents with basic shelter and security. Homelessness, drug overdoses and property crime were rife. Then covid-19 struck. The rise of remote work threatened to sound the city’s death knell, as the tech industry took to its heels. As things have turned out, however, San Francisco has become host to an artificial-intelligence boom. Having been granted this piece of good fortune, the city must seize the opportunity to reform. This might be the best chance it gets.
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This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Silicon rally”
Leaders February 17th 2024
- The growing peril of national conservatism
- Europe must hurry to defend itself against Russia—and Donald Trump
- Pakistan is out of friends and out of money
- A new answer to the biggest climate conundrum
- As San Francisco builds the future of technology, can it rebuild itself?
- Another bank subsidy America should kill off
- How not to do a megaproject
From the February 17th 2024 edition
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