Initially I wondered if pg was insinuating that startup hubs could replace universities as the new haven of independent thinking:
> "People who would have become professors 50 years ago have other options now. Now they can become quants or start startups."
> "If existing institutions are compromised, they'll create new ones."
However, after reading through the essay a second time, I'm more pessimistic about the positive conclusion of the essay. If startups succeed by "make stuff people want", and given there are "far more conventional-minded people than independent-minded ones", then perhaps independent-minded CEOs making tools for conventional-minded people is not a rare accident, but rather an inevitability.
> "People who would have become professors 50 years ago have other options now. Now they can become quants or start startups."
> "If existing institutions are compromised, they'll create new ones."
However, after reading through the essay a second time, I'm more pessimistic about the positive conclusion of the essay. If startups succeed by "make stuff people want", and given there are "far more conventional-minded people than independent-minded ones", then perhaps independent-minded CEOs making tools for conventional-minded people is not a rare accident, but rather an inevitability.