So let’s say humans came up with a technology that would enable us to communicate with each other from remote locations using wired computers. Then imagine that this new mode of communicating was untethered and could be managed from mobile devices anywhere in the world. If that happened, you’d assume there would be less incentive or need for us to be together for work. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Slack forum. We decided we still really want to be in the same place at the same time. And people are following each other — and the money — to increasingly crowded and expensive urban areas. In CityLab, Richard Florida explains the trend: “More than half of all startup neighborhoods are urban, with 57 percent of startup companies and 54 percent of venture-capital investments located in urban ZIP codes. The second is that startup neighborhoods have considerably greater shares of commuters who walk, bike, or take transit to work.” Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

+ The Guardian: When many lower-income Americans feel isolated and empty, they yearn for physical social networks. All across US, this happens organically at McDonald’s.