power in late 20th century USA accrued to places embodying mass fantasy- NYC of Here is New York, Warhol,Woody Allen, "Friends" Harvard of Love Story or the Paper Chase. But now fantasy has vacated-NYC is people staring at phones or filming strangers, Harvard is a YouTube channel

The great Gentrification happened in part because Americans got worse at generating social capital and so flocked to where social capital still adhered by virtue of crowds,vast money,a storied name- fantasy. But such places are magnets not just for grifters and sharks but madness

The costs of living somewhere without social capital are all too clear- not just for your own livelihood but as like the uncertain forms that accumulate in the water at the shady end of the swimming pool, there are illnesses of body and spirit that cohere where dreams are scarce.

The dreams you were taught- "the real life Hogwarts" you were told you'd one day be invited to join- are not just false (when were they not) but empty, disbelieved in by all, home now to Zoom monkeys jostling for a 2d simulation of status and atavistic cargo cults of civil rights

You could in theory pick a neighborhood or valley somewhere in this continent, find four friends and jobs to pay you from afar, and start anew. There is no certain obstacle to generating community afresh, except nobody knows how to do it, and that we're all staring at our phones.