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 Apr 20
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Fact checking is a worse-than-useless approach to counter programming bullshit. Brandolini bullshit assymmetry principle —“It takes 10x more effort to refute bullshit than to produce it” — applies doubly to fact-checking, so like 100x. You need better refutation models.

      8 replies 31 retweets 232 likes
      Show this thread
    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      The ingredients of a good bullshit pie. The biggest slice is giving yourself all the benefit of doubt. The second biggest slice is the missing slice of topics avoided/evaded. Fact checking doesn’t work because it on,y applies to the smallest slice.pic.twitter.com/4jGHzr21PP

      2 replies 20 retweets 90 likes
      Show this thread
    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Both Goebbels and Frankfurt are wrong about the nature of modern social media bullshit Goebbels: the bigger the lie, the easier it is to sell (he attributed this to the British). No longer true. You want a bullshit palace based primarily on aggressively claiming benefit of doubt

      1 reply 1 retweet 20 likes
      Show this thread
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Frankfurt: bullshit is indifference to truth/falsity. True only of casual confabulation, not politically motivated bullshitting. It’s still not scripted but the learned improvisational style of someone like Trump is far from indifferent. He is careful not to push clear big lies.

      4:54 PM - 20 Apr 2020
      • 1 Retweet
      • 15 Likes
      • 🎙 Piyush Maverick Tainguriya Customer Support 🎙 Kerry Samridhi Chugh Olaf U.S.O.U.S. sianos nth horizon (ovc terminal go zrr) Olaf Srinath Duggirala
      3 replies 1 retweet 15 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          The primary mode of modern political bullshit is neither Big Lie based, nor pure indifference-confabulation. It is “colored noise.” The 2 biggest things to counterprogram are a) allocation of benefit of doubt b) things being actively hidden or evaded/avoided (eg trump taxes)

          2 replies 1 retweet 21 likes
          Show this thread
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          You counter a) not with “fact checking” since the facts are not dispositive, but by balling out a *pattern* of self-serving benefit of doubt allocation. The easiest way to do that is to mock the person’s stereotypical rhetorical moves rather than examine each case.

          3 replies 0 retweets 26 likes
          Show this thread
        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          This is why the Alec Baldwin impersonations gotunder Trump’s skin. His moves were made legible through exaggerated imitation. For example, Trump’s been repeating “cupboards were bare”. He goes figurative when numbers tell a complicated wonky story that don’t obviously help him.

          1 reply 1 retweet 17 likes
          Show this thread
        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          It’s a figure of speech so it’s not a lie. There’s no point arguing how many ventilators and masks in the stockpile cross the “bare cupboard” figurative threshold. Playing that game is guaranteed to bore peop,e so he wins by default. So what do you do? You mock the *pattern*

          1 reply 2 retweets 17 likes
          Show this thread
        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          How would you script an Alec Baldwin SNL sketch for this? Like this perhaps: “the cupboard was bare, the shelves were empty, even the desk drawers in the Oval Office desk were empty. Obama used up the pencils. I had to buy my own pencils. Took me 3 years to do that.”

          2 replies 1 retweet 22 likes
          Show this thread
        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          It’s not the best joke, which is why I’m not an SNL writer, but you get the idea. You can’t fact-check a slippery mix of facts, figures, and figures of speech.

          2 replies 0 retweets 15 likes
          Show this thread
        8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          For b, there’s no substitute for investigative digging, whistleblowing, etc. Every big thing he stonewalls on, he also runs a project of interference, obstruction, intimidation, etc. So far he’s won by the “absence of evidence” logic (absence he’s engineered). He’s blameless.

          1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
          Show this thread
        9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Trump by himself is unimportant now. He’s done his damage for his handler Mitch, and is already in the trash can of history. But he’s installed a culture of bullshitting that so far has no cure or vaccine 4 years in. Time to build a refutation playbook that actually works.

          2 replies 2 retweets 29 likes
          Show this thread
        10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Karl Unchained

          And yes, this thread is bullshit too. Takes some bullshit to fight bullshit. White-hat bullshit like Alec Baldwin’s impressions. https://twitter.com/karlmaeser/status/1252390816795918336?s=21 …https://twitter.com/KarlMaeser/status/1252390816795918336 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Karl Unchained @KarlMaeser
          Was this...written by Bullshit? https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1252378797782921218 …
          1 reply 1 retweet 16 likes
          Show this thread
        11. End of conversation
        1. Ian P. McCarthy‏ @Toffeemen68 Apr 20
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @vgr

          You might be interested in this article. It introduces the C.R.A.P. framework to prevent the production and spread of bullshit in the workplace, and society. https://theconversation.com/bullshit-is-everywhere-heres-how-to-deal-with-it-at-work-135661 … Take care.

          0 replies 1 retweet 0 likes
          Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. Undo
          Undo

      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