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Pieter Levels (@levelsio) argues many European cafés no longer allow laptops…

Brief

Pieter Levels argues the Europe–US café divide matters for innovation: modern European cafés often ban laptops while American cafés welcome remote workers, creating informal "third spaces" to build companies. He points to Nvidia (called a $3 trillion company) starting in a Denny's and traces the tradition back to 17th–18th century English coffeehouses (c.1687), "penny universities" tied to Isaac Newton and the Enlightenment.

Why it matters

Pieter Levels (@levelsio) argues many European cafés no longer allow laptops, while American cafés usually do and function as public "third spaces" where people work on startups and projects.

Key details

  • He cites Nvidia — described as a "$3 trillion company" — as an example of a company that started in a Denny's diner, using it to argue cafés enable the next billion- or trillion-dollar firms.
  • Levelsio links the practice to history, claiming the Age of Enlightenment (c. 1687) grew from English coffeehouses—"penny universities" frequented by figures like Isaac Newton—rather than from private offices or coworking spaces.
Source evidence

The difference between European and American cafes is so stark:

In Europe many don't allow laptops anymore

In America they usually do and people are working on something cool!

Why is this important?

Nvidia, a $3 trillion dollar company, was started in a Denny's, an American diner

People need a third space to work on their laptops to build the next billion or trillion dollar company

The benefits of working in a publicly accessible coffee place were already known to Europeans like Isaac Newton 400 years ago

Somehow we forgot:

The Age of the Enlightenment happened in 1687 because of people meeting in publicly accessible coffeehouses, not private offices/coworkings:

Historians often associate English coffeehouses, during the 17th and 18th centuries, with the intellectual and cultural history of the Age of Enlightenment: they were an alternate sphere, supplementary to the university. Political groups frequently used coffeehouses as meeting places.

The first coffeehouses established in Oxford were known as penny universities, as they offered an alternative form of learning to structural academic learning, while still being frequented by the English virtuosi who actively pursued advances in human knowledge. The coffeehouses would charge a penny admission, which would include access to newspapers and conversation.[13] Reporters called "runners" went around to the coffeehouses announcing the latest news.

This environment attracted an eclectic group of people who met and mingled with each other. In a society that placed such a high importance on class and economic status, the coffeehouses were unique because the patrons were people from all levels of society.[15] Anyone who had a penny could come inside. Students from the universities also frequented the coffeehouses, sometimes even spending more time at the shops than at school

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englis…

From: levels.io/working-from-cafes

@levelsio (@levelsio)

Modern Europe bans working from cafes, but Old Europe invented it!

levels.io/working-from-cafes

Link

Modern Europe bans working from cafes, but Old Europe invented it — @levelsio (Pieter Levels)

The difference between European and American cafes is so stark In Europe many don't allow laptops anymore In America they usually do and people are working on …
levels.io

— https://nitter.net/levelsio/status/2084287782667550780#m