Interesting distinction between east and west coast! Could it be because academic fields are less influenced by “looks and impressions”, while SV/technology fields are easily manipulated by people who appear to be experts?

As in: in academia if you say something, people are trained to analyze the veracity of that, and to judge you based on your methodological/academic rigor. Meanwhile, in SV people judge you on past projects and financial conditions, which are not tied to knowledge about reality at all. I don’t know if any of what I am saying is factually correct, I’m just guessing and wondering. Don’t take it as fact, just my biased, un-founded opinion created around what I see online.