What should Silicon Valley be?

As part of the Hohbach Hall Exhibition Program’s inaugural exhibit, Garages & Gadgets: Selections from the Silicon Valley Archives, we asked patrons to reflect on the region’s past and present before joining an open conversation about what Silicon Valley’s future should look like. The responses ranged from defenses of the current status quo to declarations that Silicon Valley as we know it today should be dismantled. 

Our small prototype discussion board quickly filled up with opinions. Some patrons even responded to each other, using arrows to indicate who they were replying to, or using the popular shorthand of “+1” or “-1”, a practice commonly seen on social media and internet forums. 

All of the responses were transcribed at the end of the exhibition and will be preserved as part of Stanford Libraries' holdings. 

Some Patron Responses

A place where innovation does not come [at] the cost of people's livelihoods--i.e. the growth of Silicon Valley should not include the growth of gentrification [and the] police state (esp. for East Palo Alto!).

Less Big Tech [and] car oriented approaches–it's annoying how much of our Silicon Valley lives are dominated by Big Tech agendas[.] Power to the people, support small businesses, and arts/culture/humanities!

A responsible hub of technological innovation that keeps the health of humans at the top of [its] list.

Silicon Valley should focus on tech that advances the wellbeing of people rather than prioritizing profit and novel but inapplicable inventions.

It should be a place where we hold ourselves to high standards, and also a place where we are spreading love and compassion. It should be an ethically focused & [moral] community which [falls] into the intellectual depth of creating. It should be inclusive, where we shine as a community to shine a light on the rest of the world. It’s a place where it’s the high-tech capital of the world’s greatest inventors, thinkers, designers, entrepreneurs, that create the future of everything! 

I hope to be part of the generation [in Silicon Valley that] enables the creative inventors within ourselves to flourish, and exist & create freely without any resistance. To cultivate a love of learning, a passion for kindness & humanity. At the very least, it is a mirror, an explicit one, of our own artificial evolution as humans.