Silicon Valley Dream Silicon Valley and the American Dream

At first glance, Silicon Valley seems to be the American Dream come true. It is one of the most fabulously affluent regions in the United States, and offers opportunities to get rich fast in the computer industry. The Valley's beginnings were humble: it was known for its citrus fruit production during the 1950's, and named "Valley of the Heart's Delight" at this time. When the information revolution catapulted the Valley to fabled wealth during the 1960s and '70s, the region became known as Silicon Valley. The question is however if achieving the American Dream was truly a dream come true, or if the wealth generated in this way eroded spiritual and moral values to a dangerous extent.

In materialistic terms, Silicon Valley has provided a dream come true for many Americans. Indeed, together with Hollywood, Wall Street and Detroit, it qualifies as one of the few spots in the world associated with almost mythical wealth and success. It has used the information revolution to build up computer and semiconductor industries of huge proportions.

In terms of opportunity, Silicon Valley offers higher salaries than elsewhere, and attracts the country's most knowledgeable workforce to its top positions. Furthermore huge opportunities are offered semiconductor- and software-related jobs.

Silicon Valley and its inhabitants are located at precisely the right place and time to perpetuate its success. Its current strengths include a willingness to change and reinvent itself. Coupled with this is the technological innovation that stands at the heart of the industry. These attributes put the Valley in a key position for future success driven by innovation, diversity and reinvention. Many have thus arrived in Silicon Valley with little more than a dream, after which they were catapulted to success by the success of the industry. Children are taught in school how to become and stay rich. Lavish and regular parties are held by rich people...

Sociologically and morally one could say that the dream come true in a materialistic sense has led to spiritual and moral corruption. This for example can be seen in social values and human relations in Silicon Valley. Everything appears to take a second position to materialism. This begins, as seen above, in schools. Children are cultivated to become millionaires. They are taught to work as hard and fast as they can at school so that they might become rich and successful by the age of twenty-four. While this goal in itself is not bad, it is so far out of balance that Silicon Valley inhabitants seem to have forgotten the importance of cultivating healthy relationships among each other, or for that matter spiritual values.
Everything, including education, is based upon wealth. Social values are determined by the amount of money, the kind of house, or the kind of car that a person possesses, or the size of the parties that are given. Popularity, material goods and job status, rather than income limits, is the measure of character in Silicon Valley. These things are also used as value substitutes for raising children. Children and their consuming habits are limited only by popularity considerations. All criteria for success are therefore based upon materialism.

As a result of this, social values have also suffered, and are based on the same shallow, materialistic considerations as mentioned above. Some of these values have escalated to the point of absurdity, where the height of a man's fence, or the range of an outside light is for example based upon a social sense of aesthetic, even if these requirements are not practically viable. These are examples of the social elitism and general snobbishness to be found in the Valley.

There is also another dimension to this dark side, which connects directly with the materialistic values cultivated in Silicon Valley. The…