SELECT COMMISSIONS >: National Geographic: Silicon Valley

The innovations coming out of Silicon Valley – the global epicenter of the technology industry – have shaped our daily lives not just in the United States, but around the world. From the way we communicate, the way we debate our differences, the way we hail a ride and in countless other applications, many global citizens do not go a day without coming into contact with the products created in Silicon Valley.  

There, a community of entrepreneurs is forging ahead. They work around the clock in co-working spaces and hacker houses. They stay up all night creating products while participating in hackathons. They pursue new uses for technology in fields as varied as virtual reality and cryptocurrency. On the surface it seems to be the land of opportunity and many of them remain overly optimistic about the world they are creating. But the world outside of the valley has started to turn on these companies, as privacy scandals and disruptive economic practices accumulate. 

Today, the new buzzwords in Silicon Valley are responsibility and empathy, as the individuals in the technology industry attempt to grapple with the human cost of its success.