I just finished writing an article about "Web2.0EXPO", held last week in San Francisco, for Internet Magazine Japan.

One thing that struck me at the EXPO was the high level of collective optimism in the venue, and even more than that, the degree of surprise and envy that my friends from Japan expressed to such optimism in Silicon Valley. It was interesting - I met quite a few friends, and all of them said the same thing. They envy us.

I wrote in the article, among other things, that such shameless optimism is exactly the tradition of San Francisco Bay Area, since 1849. In addition, in Web2.0 world, another local tradition of utopian community, reminiscence of hippy era, is largely blended into it.

It is easy to talk about Web2.0 with all sorts of sarcasm, but as one of my Japanese friend put it, "optimistic people always win. They are psychologically healthy bunch, and that creates the power." If you can choose, take the optimist side, particularly in this Silicon Valley Web2.0 world.

It is much more fun, at least.