When I code I don’t really “watch” movies or shows, but I like to listen to them in the background to make sure I remain aware of time passing by (I tend to zone out when I code and before I realize it I spend 2 hours on the same little bug as opposed to moving on for a while in order to be more productive). Today I was listening to the Netflix Original Series “Marco Polo” (it’s a great show and everyone should watch it), and it got me thinking about adventure.

The show, loosely based on Marco Polo’s biography, recounts the adventures of one of the greatest explorers of all time. During his youth, Marco Polo, son of a Venitian merchant, had the opportunity not only to travel to Asia at a time when most Europeans had barely heard of its existence, but also to live with the great Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan. In a clever use of foreshadowing, Marco Polo’s father tells him that he will get to experience one of the greatest adventures of all time. This got me thinking about adventure.

A few months ago I moved to Palo Alto, seeking that kind of adventure. At the time the adventure was just beginning: Alpha-Sci was getting of the ground, I had just graduated fresh from the Iron Yard and equipped with programming and designing skills, and at last I finally had to chance to leave South Carolina to ride the tech horse in Silicon Valley. Everything has changed since then because of immigration reform, but that’s for another day. The surprising thing about Palo Alto was pointed out to me by my friend Abdul the other night. We were watching David Fincher’s “The Social Network”, a movie we both love and have watched multiple times, and he said “man, where are all these exciting things here in Palo Alto???”. And he is right; after all, Palo Alto is just like Greenville. Yea there is Stanford nearby, Palantir, Facebook, and Google around the corner, and VC firms just like raindrops in a moonsoon, but at the end of the day nothing is really that different. Life in Palo Alto, the heart of Silicon Valley, is not all as exciting as I thought it was going to be. It’s awesome and really fun, but true adventures are nowhere to be found.

I have always sought adventure. Growing up so far I have always challenged myself, breaking out of my comfortzone: and it was all because of adventure. Coming to America was an adventure! Doing Youth in Government and Speech and Debate was an adventure! Starting a tech company was an adventure! Coming to Silicon Valley is too an adventure, and it’s just at its beginning; after all, none of my previous adventures mean nearly as much until many years had passed. What I truly have a thirst for however is an adventure like the one Marco Polo had: going to a beautiful foreign place, befriending individuals that make history, and not coming back until there was a story worthy of being narrated.

The American adventure is the “rags-to-riches”: the rise to power and fame story. The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, Huckleberry Fin, The Social Network, Citizen Kane, House of Cards, and even President Obama all hold stories about men (and sometimes women) that through persevearance and hardwork rose from humbler beginnings to places very few others will ever get to reach. They of course are victorious and successfull despite a hostile world and the statistical chances against them: through a mix of chance and preparation, everyone from Steve Jobs to Eminem can find themselves in places no would ever expect them to be. That’s what we love about the underdog story: the gigantic “FUCK YOU” to all the haters that told them they couldn’t make it, that they would never amount to much. The American adventure is an underdog story, because it is one of the few places left in this world where everyone, albeit to different extents and with some limitations, has the chance to forge their own destiny.

Thus my thirst for adventure could not bring me anywhere other than America, and my nature as a millennial could not bring me anywhere other than Silicon Valley. After all, there is no other place, not even in America, where a young person can not only become madly wealthy, but also have a ton of fun in the process. But in the 21st century we have begun unveiling many of the illusions behind “the American Dream”: gender biases in Silicon Valley, economic privilege in finance, and racism in academia are all examples of how the American Dream is not exactly what literature, movies and media as a whole have told us for decades. Immigrants, whether documented or not, face the additional challenges of not even having the right to climb the ladder of success most of the time. That’s the situation I am facing, but I am not here to complain, and that’s not the point of this post.

The real issue I am pondering over is whether an epic adventure is still possible in the 21st century. Globalization is urbanizing most great cities that once held distinct architecture and custums. Technology is making a lot of things easier so it’s harder to find the “process” of traveling more exciting (we don’t ride horses or sail ships anymore). There are so many hedgefund managers that dominating finance is no longer nearly as cool. Building a billion dollar company is not nearly as spectacular during this tech bubble. Making a great movie maybe? I don’t know, Hollywood appears to have become just a money making machine like it used to be. Hacking seems to be a possibility, because it’s a cool underworld that has yet to be explored fully.

What troubles me is that I have never felt the sense of wonder of Marco Polo. I hope I will someday, but it seems pointless to wait for that day to come. Adventurers don’t wait for adventures, they chase them.