Intelligence Density and the Creative Class

Doofus writes "The Atlantic has an interesting review of some open-sourced work by Rob Pitingolo about the comparative educational attainment levels of various metropolitan areas. While people are now capable of being far more mobile than in generations past, many people remain within 100 miles or so of where they were born. For the technology-partition of the creative class, this is less likely to be the case, in my personal experience. Do we technical people put interesting work and the concentration of human educational capital ahead of other considerations when deciding on a move? Or is it more complicated? Is it more about the fact that the creative jobs are where the creative people are?"

Comments

it's more complicated

[mikeraz]

With employment being fungible for the vast majority where to live is driven by how one wants to live. I look for high density and diversity in restaurants. You want something else.

Re:it's more complicated

[oakgrove]

From the article:

Instead of measuring human capital or college degree holders as a function of population, he measures it as a function of land area -- that is, as college degree holders per square mile.

So, high density urban areas have a higher density of $EDUCATIONAL_ATTAINMENT. Well, blow me down. I'd bet that if you looked at the density per square mile of the people that don't have an eighth grade education, the chart would be virtually the same.

Seems to me that degrees per capita would be a much more useful metric.

Re:it's more complicated

[grcumb]

Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg did not complete their University degrees. They are all smarter and more worldly from than you and many of the rest of us who spent four years in the ivory tower.

Wow, it's interesting that you use three really unsavoury examples of pathological behaviour whose only uniting characteristic is that they achieved wealth via technology. They are none of them near the pinnacle of brilliance, insight, ethics or morality or even the advancement of knowledge.

Honestly, is this were the only alternative, I'd choose the Ivory Tower. It might reduce my impact on humanity but, given these shining examples of leadership, I'd consider that a good thing. What genuinely thoughtful and perceptive person would want that kind of legacy on their head?

qualifications lead to less choice

[petes_PoV]

The more specialised you are, the fewer job openings you have - that will use your speciality (yes, obviously you could get a lesser job, but isn't that a waste of your talents and so ultimately unsatisfactory?). That means you have to range further to find those rarer openings. So in that respect more educated people will have a tendency to be more mobile, though not always through choice. And not always viewing it as a good thing: having to move from country to country to chase the next step of career progression.

Geeks

[1000101]

Many people in the IT field are less social and have a smaller group of friends outside of work, so picking up and moving isn't as big of a change. Not everyone fits this, but I'm sure it impacts the results.

Re:Creative class? Please join the real world

[imidan]

I get what you're saying, but I assume that the OP was using 'creative class' according to the Florida definition. That most members of Florida's creative class are white men is true, but it's a descriptive condition, not a prescriptive one. I'm not saying that's not a problem, just that it's the case.