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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

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    Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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    A good goal for writers in the digital age is to be as incompressible as possible. This is related to, but not the same as, seeking density. 100 words that can only be compressed down to 90 by most reader is better than 50,000 which can be reduced to 1 tweet by most readers

    1:33 PM - 26 May 2019
    • 6 Retweets
    • 88 Likes
    • Ronen▼.com Oliver Emberton KantianParty Y Nix Robbie•Blundell Logan Cross Olaf Seb Jachec
    8 replies 6 retweets 88 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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        The more incompressible you are, the more your reach will be indirect, via the few people who put in the work to read it One reason it’s possible for even no-reach beginners to feel genuine pity for Tom Friedman is that The World is Flat is pretty well summarized by its title

        3 replies 0 retweets 14 likes
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      3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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        At the other extreme, James Carse Finite and Infinite Games is almost incompressible *despite* being highly redundant and repetitive

        1 reply 0 retweets 16 likes
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      4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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        But the people who *have* put in the work to read Carse have all been way more deeply influenced by it. I’ve read both. I never cite World is Flat except as a joke. I cite or use Carse almost every other thing I write. Often in a foundational way.

        1 reply 0 retweets 9 likes
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      5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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        Shall we call this the Velvet Underground effect? https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/03/01/velvet/ …

        2 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
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      6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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        Inequalities: ubiquity is not endurance endurance is not influence influence is is not consequentiality

        1 reply 1 retweet 10 likes
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      7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 26 May 2019
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        Compressing does not lead to incompressibilty though. If you write a very good summary of a book it could still be further summarized as “like that other summary except with this 1 extra point”. Incompressibility requires differentiation by adding integral original elements.

        2 replies 1 retweet 7 likes
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      8. End of conversation
      1. Michael Chapiro‏ @mchapiro 26 May 2019
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        Replying to @vgr

        Michael Chapiro Retweeted Michael Chapiro

        Related:https://mobile.twitter.com/mchapiro/status/1124413847589216256 …

        Michael Chapiro added,

        Michael Chapiro @mchapiro
        If I limit myself strictly to ideas I fully understand I won't get very far (if you want to go fast, go alone...). Discovery > attribution. Engineering style tinkering > bureaucratic formality Collaborative exploration > lecturing ...and this is part of why we need Twitter.
        Show this thread
        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Priya‏ @Prigoose 26 May 2019
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        Replying to @vgr

        Defensive pre-compression: Write an insightful article, then summarize it in a short phrase like 'premium mediocre'. That way you own both the original + compression 😋

        1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
      3. Josh Whitkin‏ @joshwhitkin 27 May 2019
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        Replying to @Prigoose @vgr

        Labeling a complex idea isn't enough to be compression. For me 'premium mediocre' isn't self-explanatory. I had to read longform, so it's a label. However, 'waldenponding' I grasped the instant I read it, and reading the longform explanation didn't add anything key.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      4. Show replies
      1. Larry Rosenthal‏ @LarryRosenthal 26 May 2019
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        Replying to @vgr @jhamby

        The medium is the message. Why it’s best to toss a few Easter eggs into stuff.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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