Seattle and San Francisco: Big tech, political backlash and the AI boom

John Cook (0:02)

One of the big jobs of mayor, in my opinion, is to be the chief cheerleader of the region and the city and what you're about. And we have so much to cheerlead here in Seattle when you look around, even with all of our problems. And for whatever reason, the last few mayors have been unable to do this basic task of the job. And I feel it's a complete miss.

Jonathan Weber (0:21)

Lurie has been very successful with really a lot of very basic things.

So being the chief cheerleader has been huge. And he's just kind of the man about town. And he'll go to any ribbon cutting, any store opening, you know, whatever. He's just out there feeling good about San Francisco. And that makes a lot of difference. Even though he's a billionaire, he comes across as a kind of a regular San Francisco guy.

Margaret O'Mara (0:44)

Well, that's kind of a regular San Francisco guy these days.

David Hyde (0:46)

Yeah, well, that's a good point. That is a very good point.

Todd Bishop (0:55)

Welcome to GeekWire. I'm Todd Bishop. Those voices were GeekWire co-founder, John Cook, journalist and author, Jonathan Weber, and historian and author, Margaret O'Mara, speaking this week at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle in a live joint taping of the GeekWire podcast and the podcast, Blue City Blues, hosted by journalist David Hyde and political consultant, Sandeep Kaushik. The subject is how tech has remade Seattle and San Francisco over the past few decades and what the AI boom means for the future of both cities. They'll talk about the rise of Microsoft and Amazon, the backlash against big tech, the different approaches by the mayors of both cities, and whether Seattle can keep up in this new age of artificial intelligence.

Here is David to get things started.

David Hyde (1:46)

Hello and welcome to this special live joint taping of the GeekWire Podcast, which covers tech news, trends and insights from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, and Blue City Blues, a podcast featuring smart guests talking about the problems facing blue cities and how to fix them. I'm David Hyde with my Blue City Blues co-host, Sandeep Kaushik. Hello, Sandeep.

Sandeep Kaushik (2:06)

Hey, David, how are you?

David Hyde (2:07)

And a big hello to this amazing audience here at the National Nordic Museum.

So, Sandeep, super fun that we're joining forces with GeekWire for this event for the first time. I think this is the perfect topic for both of our podcasts. Seattle and San Francisco are the bluest of blue cities. They share many of the same problems, many of the same strengths, and they're also the top two tech hubs in the United States.

Sandeep Kaushik (2:36)

They are indeed. And you know, I will say, I have now lived here in Seattle for just shy of a quarter century. And so I really do feel like I've had a front row seat to see how the rise of big tech and the tech economy here in Seattle has transformed this city.

And not just its economy, but I'm a political consultant by day, but it's really impacted our politics and our culture as well. And the city I moved to in 2002, the kind of somewhat blandly, middle brow, civically committed, somewhat provincial, backwater kind of bird that I moved to.

David Hyde (3:20)

You don't sound as nostalgic as I am.

Sandeep Kaushik (3:22)

Yeah, no, well, you know, Seattle had its charms back then, right?

But it was a very, very different city from what it is now, which is we are now the best educated blue city in America. We are the third most affluent big city in America. We are top three in terms of literacy ratings. We were just picked the fourth best city in the world by a ranking that just came out this week.

And so we have become a global knowledge economy powerhouse. And to borrow a phrase, I always borrow from Seattle Times columnist, Danny Westy. We've been hit by a prosperity bomb, right? That was created largely by the rise of this tech economy. So with that, I'm really excited for the conversation we're going to have today with our all-star panel. Let me start by introducing them here. First, let me introduce my friend, John Cook, the co-founder and publisher of GeekWire, who, as far as I'm concerned, knows everything there is to know about the Seattle tech world. Welcome, John.

John Cook (4:25)

Thanks, Sandeep.

Jonathan Weber (4:26)

Glad to be here.

Sandeep Kaushik (4:30)

And next, let me introduce Margaret O'Mara, history professor at the University of Washington, also a former Blue City Blues guest, who writes extensively about history, tech and politics. I remember reading Margaret in the New York Times on these issues on a regular basis. And Margaret is also the author of The Definitive History of Silicon Valley, The Code, Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America, was published in 2019 Margaret, thank you for being here.