Big Cities or the Virtual Megalopolis?

Should young, creative people move to New York to chase their “big break” as they used to? Is New York still worth the trip when recession hits cultural activities especially hard? Wherever creative people physically reside today, they are increasingly moving online. In economics, the competitive advantage of large, first rate universities, over smaller and less well known ones has been dwindling.

While monetary rewards on the Internet are still scarce, it is true, the cost of living in the virtual world is cheap and, more important, the opportunities for attention are plentiful.

But there is a catch: the Internet is tougher than New York; fewer people make it here, and no one there seems to make it for long.

A great paper written by Bill Wasik, a senior editor at Harper’s, for the New York Times (“Bright Lights, Big Internet”, July 29, 2009) here .