INTPs living in Los Angeles

[Ink]

My theory is this is the best/most advanced city in the world. Would you agree?

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Anything to back that theory up? Or are we talking about aesthetics and personal preference?

 

[redbaron]

LA is a hole.

 

[Architect]

I did concerts and events in LA for years when I was younger, for the most part I dislike it there. Too big, sprawling, smoggy with little to redeem. Not that it's a completely horrible place, but no I personally didn't feel like it was for me.

San Francisco is better and I've lived there, but it always wore on me after a month or two and I had to escape, at least for a day. Too many people, too much activity, not enough space for me. I've lived in other cities (Berlin etc) with similar results.

My INFJ however thrives on city life, though she's never lived in one. INFJ's are one of the most extroverted of the introverts, while INTP's are probably the most introverted of the introverts. By this, my theory is that no city is conducive to INTP life. As I've said before, living on the edge between country and city, or country and suburban is probably best (that's what I'm doing now and yes, it's the best I've ever had).

 

[Ink]

Anything to back that theory up? Or are we talking about aesthetics and personal preference?

Well, it might be that rich people are overrepresented there and it would suck ther if you dont make the big bucks. But I've never been there which I feel I have to really experience it.

Thanks for the reply architect and please expand on that if you want redbaron!

 

[Absurdity]

My theory is this is the best/most advanced city in the world. Would you agree?

As someone who grew up in the area (and hopefully will be returning very soon) this strikes me as bizarre. I can think of a lot of reasons why it's not a great city.

• They talk more and more about rationing water due to the drought.
• There are vast swaths of the city that are very dangerous and that you should really never go to.
• The public transit is for all intents and purposes non-existent.
• There isn't really a downtown.
• The traffic is horrendous.
• Most people find the sprawl to be pretty ugly.
• The smog is a health concern although it has been reigned in significantly in recent decades.

There are some things to brag about, but there are other US cities that still manage to do it better. We've got USC, UCLA, Caltech, and JPL, but you can't quite say its scientific/intellectual presence better overall than the SF bay area or Cambridge, MA. There's some art and culture but New York does it better. Today the studios film most of their stuff elsewhere where it's cheaper or on location. And so on.

Even calling LA is a city is strange because it's hard to delimit where it begins and ends, and which of its constituent units are their own cities.

I do think there are advantages to the sprawl though, such as containing urban violence pretty effectively, and reducing the overstimulation Archie mentioned that more "walkable" cities can cause. I find a warming nostalgia in gazing down on its ugliness every time the plane I'm in starts it descent toward LAX (disgusting airport by the way).

Edit: I guess I did forget to mention the weather. Probably the best the US has to offer, although it gets hot during the summer. No real winter to speak of (I think it was mid-70s this past Christmas).

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Well, it might be that rich people are overrepresented there and it would suck ther if you dont make the big bucks. But I've never been there which I feel I have to really experience it.

I guess if you are rich you can make any place into a comfortable (best) home.
If you will be happy there depends on something other than money though.

For me metropolitan areas lack charm and appeal of the countryside.
Too many faces and not enough peace+space. I've lived in every configuration possible in my country and the advantage of the big cities was only with the access to goods and services it offered, maybe better access to people if you care about this.

Having tightly condensed urban utility and vast unspoiled surroundings to explore seems ideal.

 

[dark+matters]

As someone who grew up in the area (and hopefully will be returning very soon) this strikes me as bizarre. I can think of a lot of reasons why it's not a great city.

• They talk more and more about rationing water due to the drought.
• There are vast swaths of the city that are very dangerous and that you should really never go to.
• The public transit is for all intents and purposes non-existent.
• There isn't really a downtown.
• The traffic is horrendous.
• Most people find the sprawl to be pretty ugly.
• The smog is a health concern although it has been reigned in significantly in recent decades.

There are some things to brag about, but there are other US cities that still manage to do it better. We've got USC, UCLA, Caltech, and JPL, but you can't quite say its scientific/intellectual presence better overall than the SF bay area or Cambridge, MA. There's some art and culture but New York does it better. Today the studios film most of their stuff elsewhere where it's cheaper or on location. And so on.

Even calling LA is a city is strange because it's hard to delimit where it begins and ends, and which of its constituent units are their own cities.

I do think there are advantages to the sprawl though, such as containing urban violence pretty effectively, and reducing the overstimulation Archie mentioned that more "walkable" cities can cause. I find a warming nostalgia in gazing down on its ugliness every time the plane I'm in starts it descent toward LAX (disgusting airport by the way).

Edit: I guess I did forget to mention the weather. Probably the best the US has to offer, although it gets hot during the summer. No real winter to speak of (I think it was mid-70s this past Christmas).

Yes- all yes. LOL And UCLA is not all that awesome either. I went to an interview for that school and the pre-interview presenter basically suggested in only a half-joking way that we kill ourselves if we "fuck up" after being accepted. That's not appropriate at all! LOL It's funny, but it's not. I've heard people who attend that college in other departments suggest they were told the exact same thing, too.

I was also kind of under the impression that the interviewers were instructed to systematically challenge our opinions. My interviewer was a nice lady, but she literally made faces at some of my answers to questions. It seemed artificial due to its frequency and casualness. Regardless of what I think about the rightness or wrongness of these shallow tendencies (I don't think I have an opinion yet), the problem with a college with a brand name and famous alumni is that it automatically attracts applications from the hardest-working students who earned the best grades (or who already had real-world success before entering the college). The college itself no longer necessarily has to do anything for those students. The students get something out of it because they have that college brand name on their resumes, but the college itself can also get away with low to average instruction.

I'm not saying that the quality of instruction is necessarily crappy. It's probably fine. But if the students do well there, I suspect that they could have done just as well in most other colleges that provided a basically safe, sort-of-reasonable-but-never-totally-reasonable method for navigating its course structures.

USC is also definitely not that awesome, but I'd rather not get into that. Colleges are almost categorically an out-of-date, highly corrupt way to educate people and LA in general has some really inefficient social systems. I think that has mostly to do with the cultural emphasis on soft skills, which, while also generally quite pleasant, creates some blockages due to different personalities. But maybe an institution, once it gets large enough, can't avoid the corruption that breeds in people who have gotten too comfortable and secure in a work position.

I've enjoyed my time in the LA area, but I'm thinking that once my undergrad is done, I will apply to grad school elsewhere to try someplace new and see how it compares.

 

[TylerTennessee]

I live in Downtown. This city produces creative extroverts, in my opinion. I do not like most people here I meet. They are unbending and very critical of my very nature. I don't want to be told I think too much. You think too little. I don't want to go to pride; I'm, in fact, not homophobic, I do not want to go to the event. I don't want to buy a 7 dollar cup of coffee and complain about 4 dollar gas prices. I don't need you to tell me I need to meet people. Hollywood is disgusting. This city has made me feel so alone when I in fact came here to find my own people. This area exists to please people who find reward in material rather than experience. This entire fucking shithole promotes physical wealth. What about Hollywood encourages you to gain knowledge? The only experience this city will offer is that of crystal meth. I am from Tennessee and I find this place the most racist place to exist. This city is very particular about who it fosters and loves. i was so misguided in my reasoning for moving here.

 

[Sixup]

Seriously fuck LA.

Also fuck NYC.

Probably also fuck Chicago.

And probably any other big city. They suck. Dirty air, dirty streets, dirty people. I don't get the appeal, other than trying to make big money fast--which is dumb.

LA is probably the worst of them all though. Mostly a big sprawling suburb and some of the worlds worst traffic even though they've got gigantic 18 lane highways or whatever (exaggerating). It's a place of glorified consumption and waste. Plus a bunch of people all rushing around trying to 'make it' ...? Kill me.

Big cities are like the internet but in real life. So many people you're basically anonymous, which gives everyone a license to act like d-bags. And they do.

 

[ygnextend]

I am actually trying to move there. Being from northern ca it's not a leap. Everytime I do visit la I learn a new way to shut people out (in la the nassle talking is everywhere) and I think any INTP can learn that as well.

La la land is tough but I think with the inherent compartmentalizations INTPS do can help them in surviving la and taking everything to heart. At least that's I plan to do when I get settled there