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

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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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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 8
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      Since WW2, the story of humanity has increasingly been the story of the top 100 or so charismatic big cities. The ones that can each lay claim to an important subplot of the human story. Not necessarily the biggest ones but the ones that you instantly associate with a big story.

      6 replies 21 retweets 113 likes
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    2. Tentatively returning to this hellsite‏ @pneumatik Feb 8
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      Replying to @vgr

      Was this not true before WW2? Most of the story of history I know (casual amateur interest in history) is driven by 100 or fewer cities at any one time.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 8
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      Replying to @pneumatik

      No because urban economies didn’t overtake rural ones globally till after WW2. The rural countryside was still the main story.

      2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
    4. Tentatively returning to this hellsite‏ @pneumatik Feb 8
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      But the rural countryside existed to be ruled by the cities. The Mediterranean was a story of Rome and Carthage, and then Rome and a few Greek city-states, and then just Rome. Rome was fed by Sicily and Egypt, but Rome controlled the narrative.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    5. Tentatively returning to this hellsite‏ @pneumatik Feb 8
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      Replying to @pneumatik @vgr

      Similar with China around the same time, I think. Much later, the English Civil War was cities. French Revolution was Paris and its suburbs. Even though by far the most deaths were in rural Vendee, all that anyone remembers is Madame Guillotine and the Reign of Terror in Paris.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 8
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      Replying to @pneumatik

      I disagree. The drama is not the same as the story. Cities couldn’t overwhelm rural-based political power until well into industrialization. The US Civil War is the first case of city power defeating rural power. Well into the 19th century cities were relative,y weak.

      11:26 PM - 8 Feb 2020
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        1. Tentatively returning to this hellsite‏ @pneumatik Feb 8
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          Replying to @vgr

          I sort-of get what you're saying. I would agree that the rural sector had the actual power, but the actual political power resided in the cities. Or maybe I don't understand what you're saying.

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