Newcomer Pod How Tech's San Francisco Values Gave Way to the Right
May 29, 2026
Jonathan Weber, editor at large and author of City on the Edge, offers a compact historical and political view of San Francisco and tech. He traces the 30-year arc from web idealism to today’s rightward tilt. Short takes cover the dot‑com boom and bust, Twitter and housing pressures, venture incentives, and how AI may deepen tech’s distance from everyday people.
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Tech Optimism Turned National Cynicism
- Public sentiment toward tech shifted from techno-optimism in the 1990s to cynicism by the AI era.
- Jonathan Weber ties that to broken promises, dismissive executives, and AI accelerating distrust (example: Eric Schmidt being booed).
City Life Drew The Web's Creative Class
- San Francisco became a tech hub because creative web-era workers wanted city life, not because city government courted them.
- Wired, designers, and artists moved into cheap SOMA warehouses, seeding a distinct web culture tied to San Francisco's creative scene.
Industry Standard Went From Skepticism To Symbol
- Jonathan Weber left the LA Times to edit The Industry Standard to 'cut through the hype' of the dot-com era.
- The magazine branded itself skeptic (99.9% hype free), then ironically became a symbol of dot-com excess with lavish sponsor-funded parties.
