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vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

Tweets

Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

This is my conversational account. For my work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

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    Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 5 Nov 2019
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    It is a category error to apply the adjective “broken” to a complex system. Complicated systems break. Complex systems merely enter hostile configurations relative to you. They’re not fixed by your functional expectations. They’re still working. Just not for you.

    11:43 PM - 5 Nov 2019
    • 64 Retweets
    • 290 Likes
    • Marc Koenig Fritz Johnson Adrian Lanzafame Bushra Farooqui Nick Mangos Sigurd Høystad professional opinion haver a_yawning_cat Dima Ermilov
    11 replies 64 retweets 290 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Bruce_A‏ @Bruce_Ak 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @vgr @LloydDavis

        They are “not working” if they were specified and designed for fail-safe reliability and are nevertheless not doing that..

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @Bruce_Ak @LloydDavis

        It may provide legalistic solace to note that, but there’s a real difference between a car that’s broken by losing a wheel, versus one that’s simply been taken over by a different driver who’s going somewhere else.

        0 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Oshan Jarow‏ @OshanJarow 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @context_ing @vgr @nosilverv

        Reminds me of Noam Chomsky: “I have a rather conservative attitude towards social change: since we’re dealing with complex systems which nobody understands very much, the sensible move I think is to make changes and then see what happens—and if they work, make further changes.”

        1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
      3. Rival Voices ❁‏ @nosilverv 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @OshanJarow @TheMusingMind and

        I much prefer Chesterton's do nothing-ismpic.twitter.com/4JGi0WnEBB

        0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. Ben Basche‏ @basche42 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @vgr

        Ben Basche Retweeted Ben Basche

        https://twitter.com/basche42/status/1185975840129060866?s=21 …

        Ben Basche added,

        Ben Basche @basche42
        Warren: “The system is broken and that is the problem” Sanders: “The system is working and that is the problem”
        0 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
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      2. Zac Reid‏ @ZachaReid 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @CantHardyWait @vgr

        Zac Reid Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

        @vgr defined complex systems in a related way herehttps://twitter.com/vgr/status/1140681273725206528?s=21 …

        Zac Reid added,

        Venkatesh Rao @vgr
        Came up with a satisfying definition of a complex system that I should have thought of years ago. A system is a complex system when fixing 1 bug on average causes 1 new bug to emerge somewhere else in the system. I call it the whack-a-mole complexity threshold.
        Show this thread
        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      3. End of conversation
      1. Visakan Veerasamy‏ @visakanv 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @vgr

        Category errors break everything around me

        0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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      1. Oshan Jarow‏ @OshanJarow 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @context_ing @nosilverv @vgr

        Oshan Jarow Retweeted Oshan Jarow

        https://twitter.com/themusingmind/status/1121128686634373120?s=21 …

        Oshan Jarow added,

        Oshan Jarow @OshanJarow
        He continues: "Robert Oppenheimer is said to have remarked that the whole world is, quite obviously, going to hell - adding, however, that the one slim change of its not going to hell is that we do absolutely nothing to stop it."
        Show this thread
        0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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      1. Richard D. Bartlett‏ @RichDecibels 6 Nov 2019
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        Replying to @vgr

        Nor can you "dismantle" them.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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