Editorial: A glimpse into Silicon Valley

As Obama emphasized in his State of the Union address last Tuesday, Silicon Valley is growing and creating jobs at its fastest pace ever since 1999.

What have we gained and lost on our path to becoming a technological ‘superpower’?Shay Lari-Hosain

Silicon Valley, once known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight, lost its lush greenness and natural beauty with the growth of lucrative technological enterprises such as HP, Apple, Facebook and Google. With that, the Valley also lost arable land once dedicated to generations of family agriculture businesses and farms.

Now, according to Forbes, the top five careers in Silicon Valley are all related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) sectors.

Though STEM job expansion is vigorous, it overwhelmingly favors males. Politicians such as Democrat Ro Khanna are focusing on initiatives to put more female engineers in the technological industries, but the fact remains that the number of Computer Science degrees received by women today is less than a third of what it was in 1980.

The STEM gender gap is widening rather than narrowing.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Valley’s massive emphasis on technology-related items can lead to isolation. Gamer dens, such as Euphnet Cybercafe, are inhabited by avid players who would rather immerse themselves in the virtual worlds onscreen rather than interact with people inches from their headsets.

So what can we do to regain the pieces of Silicon Valley that are buried beneath computer screens?

First, appreciate what we have, along with an appreciation for what used to be. Rather than suppress our artistic proclivities, unleash them — as Cherri Lakey did when she started the Anno Domini Gallery in San Jose to revive independent art within her community.

Rather than develop the remaining natural land, consider other options, as the Francia brothers did when they turned down multimillion dollar offers to preserve the Corn Palace in Sunnyvale.

Educationally, the tech sector needs to do better in encouraging young women to pursue careers in these fields, and to prepare them to be ready to take advantage of opportunities ahead, even when the outcome may be uncertain.

Facebook
As Ruchi Sanghvi, the first female engineer employed at Facebook, says, “When you’re offered a seat on a rocketship, don’t ask which one, just take it.”

The home that we see sometimes seems like a rocketship. The escalating pace of our Silicon Valley high school lives brings opportunities like high-level science research with the pressures of performing. But in the end, we’re human, and the Valley is too.

Silicon may be artificially synthesized, but it’s found in the earth as well. Hopefully, the faces of the Valley that you see here move your conception of our home from the screens to a three-dimensional world.

This piece was originally published in the pages of Wingspan on January 28, 2015.