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. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      The mother of science (let alone its handmaiden) is moderate realism, not Cartesian scepticism - more specifically, a realism that permits the "critical control of objectivity" (Deely), that is, awareness of both object and conditions of experience of the object.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    2. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      You can't get to this via Descartes, unless you use his scepticism as a sort of koan. To reach it with clarity requires understanding how real relations (that is, signs) function to found experience, and thus form the frame for quantifying confidence in a belief.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    3. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      Arlyn Culwick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      So... no, philosophy gave rise to STEM and is still required to best understand the nature of scientific knowledge.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1270883829717168128?s=19 …

      Arlyn Culwick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      One reason I'm an unrepentant STEM supremacist is that I think it's *necessary* pre-work before you can meaningfully tackle humanities and social sciences with any sort of depth in 2020. The primary value of STEM is not knowledge but establishing a connection with instruments
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    4. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      Arlyn Culwick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      This beautifully humbling and strengthening experience cannot be the result of Cartesian scepticism, which is absolute and extreme. It's actually premodern moderate realism in concrete form:https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1270886719332573186?s=19 …

      Arlyn Culwick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      But paradoxically, the more your identity shrinks as a result of this process, the greater your confidence in what's left. It will likely last longer than the last layer that was peeled away. It strengthens your solipsism.
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    5. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      Arlyn Culwick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      This isn't growing *solipsism*, it's increasing the perfection of one's understanding of another object. https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1270887688820813824?s=19 … The humbling of the ego is antithetical to solipsism, which is by definition closed off to things outside the mind.

      Arlyn Culwick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      So growing solipsism, in the context of a ego being shrunk by an instrumental connection with reality is a sign of a *growing* scientific sensibility. (not a necessary result of "doing STEM"... in fact shallow talent can grow the ego in a narrow prowess/procedural identity sense)
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    6. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      Arlyn Culwick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      I love science deeply *because* of its ability to transcend solipsistic and self-oriented, egotistical perspectives. But this creates the opposite response to "hail science" - https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1270889248040747009?s=19 … - it makes science the vicegerent of being. It's "hail being!"

      Arlyn Culwick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      pic.twitter.com/LrXJEXUBTd
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    7. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      Arlyn Culwick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      There's a beautiful ethical corrollary to this: https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1270887688820813824?s=19 … Doing science is like "joint attention," the process by which humans become aware of other people's perspectives *by* focusing on the same object. By it, we are led out of solipsism into other-awareness.

      Arlyn Culwick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      So growing solipsism, in the context of a ego being shrunk by an instrumental connection with reality is a sign of a *growing* scientific sensibility. (not a necessary result of "doing STEM"... in fact shallow talent can grow the ego in a narrow prowess/procedural identity sense)
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    8. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      In joint attention, we gain awareness of another person's perspective through focus on an object. In science, we gain awareness of another object by focusing on the signs by which we experience the object. Both lead us out of solipsism by checking experience against a mediator.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    9. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      As joint attention is the servant of other-awareness, science is the servant of being-awareness. Both humble and strengthen us. Both keep us from self-worship (that is, unless we get confused and start worshipping science or joint attention!) Worship the deity, not the priest.

      1 reply 1 retweet 0 likes
    10. Arlyn Culwick‏ @arlynculwick Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick @vgr

      Arlyn Culwick Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      I love how so often we have to pursue a question down to the farthest depths before finding real value. Reality doesn't come with a how-to. It's almost like it's set up to favour worshippers and true lovers. No one else has the will to go deep enough.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1270880712338497536?s=19 …

      Arlyn Culwick added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      This particular example is particularly powerful for me. Spent my PhD years working on interferometric space telescopes for exosolar terrestrial planet detection. The stack of assumptions underlying the instrumentation is *incredibly* deep.
      Show this thread
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jun 11
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation
      Replying to @arlynculwick

      Interesting counter but no. I would not describe my position as moderate realism. I’m merely moderately polite towards prevailing conventions of consensus realism. My definition of solipsism is a more robust one: I cannot be sure of the nature of anything outside my in mind.

      7:56 AM - 11 Jun 2020
      • 1 Like
      • Arlyn Culwick
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jun 11
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @vgr @arlynculwick

          “Hail being” is where *you* land pursuing this line of development, but it’s not the only place to land. What you’re calling other awareness and joint attention are still bracketed for me with not-my-mind doubt and subject to something closer to solipsism and Cartesian skepticism

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Jun 11
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation
          Replying to @vgr @arlynculwick

          Solipsism isn’t “driving” things. It’s the least unstable core at the core of flux. Your attempt to locate a “cause” for scientific sensibility in a particular place in the western tradition (second scholasticism over cartesianism) suggests we are not talking about the same thing

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        4. Show replies

      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