Skip to content
By using Twitter’s services you agree to our Cookies Use. We and our partners operate globally and use cookies, including for analytics, personalisation, and ads.
  • Home Home Home, current page.
  • About

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Language: English
    • Bahasa Indonesia
    • Bahasa Melayu
    • Català
    • Čeština
    • Dansk
    • Deutsch
    • English UK
    • Español
    • Filipino
    • Français
    • Hrvatski
    • Italiano
    • Magyar
    • Nederlands
    • Norsk
    • Polski
    • Português
    • Română
    • Slovenčina
    • Suomi
    • Svenska
    • Tiếng Việt
    • Türkçe
    • Ελληνικά
    • Български език
    • Русский
    • Српски
    • Українська мова
    • עִבְרִית
    • العربية
    • فارسی
    • मराठी
    • हिन्दी
    • বাংলা
    • ગુજરાતી
    • தமிழ்
    • ಕನ್ನಡ
    • ภาษาไทย
    • 한국어
    • 日本語
    • 简体中文
    • 繁體中文
  • Have an account? Log in
    Have an account?
    · Forgot password?

    New to Twitter?
    Sign up
vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

Tweets

Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

Tweets

  • © 2020 Twitter
  • About
  • Help Center
  • Terms
  • Privacy policy
  • Imprint
  • Cookies
  • Ads info
Dismiss
Previous
Next

Go to a person's profile

Saved searches

  • Remove
  • In this conversation
    Verified accountProtected Tweets @
Suggested users
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @
  • Verified accountProtected Tweets @

Promote this Tweet

Block

  • Tweet with a location

    You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

    Your lists

    Create a new list


    Under 100 characters, optional

    Privacy

    Copy link to Tweet

    Embed this Tweet

    Embed this Video

    Add this Tweet to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Add this video to your website by copying the code below. Learn more

    Hmm, there was a problem reaching the server.

    By embedding Twitter content in your website or app, you are agreeing to the Twitter Developer Agreement and Developer Policy.

    Preview

    Why you're seeing this ad

    Log in to Twitter

    · Forgot password?
    Don't have an account? Sign up »

    Sign up for Twitter

    Not on Twitter? Sign up, tune into the things you care about, and get updates as they happen.

    Sign up
    Have an account? Log in »

    Two-way (sending and receiving) short codes:

    Country Code For customers of
    United States 40404 (any)
    Canada 21212 (any)
    United Kingdom 86444 Vodafone, Orange, 3, O2
    Brazil 40404 Nextel, TIM
    Haiti 40404 Digicel, Voila
    Ireland 51210 Vodafone, O2
    India 53000 Bharti Airtel, Videocon, Reliance
    Indonesia 89887 AXIS, 3, Telkomsel, Indosat, XL Axiata
    Italy 4880804 Wind
    3424486444 Vodafone
    » See SMS short codes for other countries

    Confirmation

     

    Welcome home!

    This timeline is where you’ll spend most of your time, getting instant updates about what matters to you.

    Tweets not working for you?

    Hover over the profile pic and click the Following button to unfollow any account.

    Say a lot with a little

    When you see a Tweet you love, tap the heart — it lets the person who wrote it know you shared the love.

    Spread the word

    The fastest way to share someone else’s Tweet with your followers is with a Retweet. Tap the icon to send it instantly.

    Join the conversation

    Add your thoughts about any Tweet with a Reply. Find a topic you’re passionate about, and jump right in.

    Learn the latest

    Get instant insight into what people are talking about now.

    Get more of what you love

    Follow more accounts to get instant updates about topics you care about.

    Find what's happening

    See the latest conversations about any topic instantly.

    Never miss a Moment

    Catch up instantly on the best stories happening as they unfold.

    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      2019 resolution: "let's make things boring". "The opposite of every great truth is also a great truth" -- Niels Bohr (?) "You learn most in direction of maximal interestingness" is a great truth. "You learn most in direction of maximal boringness" is also a great truth.

      1 reply 14 retweets 45 likes
      Show this thread
    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      (not saying I'm adopting it, though I may...) From Axios today: "The bottom line: Norms and precedents are boring. The lack of them is interesting, but almost always at a severe cost."

      1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
      Show this thread
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Feels a bit Chesterton Fencish, but it needn't be. Making things boring is (for instance) the basic challenge of scaling an innovative technology.

      2:30 PM - 14 Dec 2018
      • 7 Likes
      • stupid twitt account ian m hines Drew Nelson Bandeauxx. Arrogation Toast TOD-zilla
      1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          I think Seth Godin said something like "a technology becomes socially interesting when it becomes technologically boring."

          2 replies 7 retweets 17 likes
          Show this thread
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          On the more philosophical end, there's that line from A. N. Whitehead. "civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them"

          1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
          Show this thread
        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          We focus a lot on the abuse/discarding of norms with the line "this is not normal." You make things interesting by flouting norms. You make things boring by installing norms.

          1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
          Show this thread
        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Hypothesis: cults/alt realities rise to prominence by being interesting, but establish themselves for the long term by deliberately becoming boring. If you stop at flouting/breaking old norms, you'll vanish like a flash flood leaving no trace behind. Old norms will just come back

          2 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
          Show this thread
        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          The other half of the equation, "normalizing" new things, is the scary part, but we often confuse it with simply being numb/jaded/exhausted/burnt out by repetition of a transgression. That's not "normalization."

          1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
          Show this thread
        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          The joke "the beatings will continue until morale improves" gets at why mere repetition of a transgression to exhaust the capacity of outrage is not a way to install a new norm. A norm is self-enforcing without much energy/coercion/"beating".

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
          Show this thread
        8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Trump era has numbed us to a lot of things, but it hasn't actually normalized any new behaviors that weren't already normalized. So far, "this is not normal" hasn't been a necessary chant. That's the good news.

          1 reply 1 retweet 2 likes
          Show this thread
        9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          There's been a few wannabe new-normalizers in the crowd (Miller?) but they've had low impact at the norms level outside of regulatory hacks/de-institutionalization efforts. Fortunately, it still isn't "normal" to be cruel to children. Pussy-grabbing hasn't replaced hand-shaking.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
          Show this thread
        10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          I have ideas on how to actually install norms and make behaviors normal, boring, and most importantly, not-shameful. You can't do it to all behaviors, a pre-normalization reasonableness test applies. But for good candidate norms, there's a playbook of sorts.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
          Show this thread
        11. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          8 Rules for Norms 1. Make it unskilled 2. Make it self-reinforcing 3. Automate it 4. Take heroism/villainy out of it 5. Make it visible+imitable 6. Make it microkarmic (1 recycled can: 1 whuffie) 7. Unbrand it (secret handshake -> ordinary) 8. Uncode it (virtue signal value =0)

          2 replies 5 retweets 20 likes
          Show this thread
        12. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          If you successfully do these 8 things, it will become part of background social infrastructure that is self-regulating, auto-socializing etc. It will also drain all the culture-war energy out of the behavior and any counter-behaviors. Suck the air out, starve the flames

          1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
          Show this thread
        13. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 14 Dec 2018
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          @threadreaderapp unroll

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
          Show this thread
        14. End of conversation

      Loading seems to be taking a while.

      Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.

        Promoted Tweet

        false

        • © 2020 Twitter
        • About
        • Help Center
        • Terms
        • Privacy policy
        • Imprint
        • Cookies
        • Ads info