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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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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      To the extent that the blame/judgment subplot has gotten itself into a weird narrative bind where only a tiny subset are subject to it, the narrative mechanism has broken, and either needs to be fixed, or other parts of the mechanism need to pick up the slack.

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
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    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      I think I know why we're in this condition. The thing is, ideologies only accept accountability for loci of agency they see as legitimate, so everything that happens at other loci is the fault of people who see agency there as legitimate.

      1 reply 1 retweet 5 likes
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    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      ie if your philosophy only recognizes the legitimacy of individual agency in personal life, then collective failures are obviously the fault of collectivists.

      1 reply 3 retweets 8 likes
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    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      Usually, this wonderful leap of logic involves attributing god-like correct functioning and infallibility to an emergent mechanism at the higher levels which would work great if only humans would cede all agency to the Higher Power at that level. Markets, gods, take your pick.

      1 reply 1 retweet 9 likes
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    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      I'm blameless and doing everything right wherever I'm responsible for my actions. There exists a higher power that *would* do everything right if only we'd let it. Some evil people don't let it. They're to blame for everything wrong at other levels.

      1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
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    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      Thinking about how to get past this condition. I have no good ideas at present, but I'm thinking a first design commitment is to take agency abdicators at their word. If they want animal levels of non-culpability, even if it sounds insulting to me, let them claim it. Move on.

      2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
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    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      The implication is that I wouldn't attempt to argue with them anymore than I would attempt to argue with my cat. My cat does his cat-tricks to try to manipulate me, I do my human-tricks to prevail. Hard to say this in non-pejorative way... but I'm very nice to animals.

      3 replies 1 retweet 7 likes
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    8. Alec Resnick‏ @aresnick Feb 13
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      Replying to @vgr

      Alec Resnick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      Wow I love this point about loci of agency, legitimacy and accountabilityhttps://twitter.com/vgr/status/1228117353772146688 …

      Alec Resnick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      I think I know why we're in this condition. The thing is, ideologies only accept accountability for loci of agency they see as legitimate, so everything that happens at other loci is the fault of people who see agency there as legitimate.
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    9. Alec Resnick‏ @aresnick Feb 13
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      Replying to @aresnick @vgr

      Do you have suggestions about where I could go to read more about it?

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    10. Alec Resnick‏ @aresnick Feb 13
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      Replying to @aresnick @vgr

      (e.g. Qualitative analyses of such instances, psychosocial analyses of why it happens, sociological/political analyses of how to leverage it, etc.)

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Feb 13
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      Replying to @aresnick

      Not sure... I just made up the point myself. Presumably there are psychologists who've researched feelings of agency and mental models of assumed scope thereof.

      5:00 PM - 13 Feb 2020
      • 1 Like
      • Alec Resnick
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        1. Alec Resnick‏ @aresnick Feb 13
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          Replying to @vgr

          It feels very big, though sorting out the arrow of causality seems subtle. Regardless, the connection between mechanisms of agency and mechanisms of legitimacy is great.

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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