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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

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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Primal widget: the most powerful piece of technology almost everybody carries almost all the time in a given milieu Backwards from today: smartphone wristwatch umbrella kerchief/towel pen hat or turban knife sword bag/basket walkey-pokey stick Am I missing any?

      47 replies 7 retweets 70 likes
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    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Yes I’m still on my sonic-screwdriver/multi-tool kick. Their fictional provenance is wands and staffs of course, but their real historical provenance is fascinating.

      2 replies 0 retweets 7 likes
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    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      For example it didn’t hit me till I thought about it, but the HHG towel has a real provenance in a primal widget. Handkerchiefs and neck-kerchiefs in the west and actual towels or turban towels (hence towelhead as a slur) in Asia.

      2 replies 0 retweets 7 likes
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    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      In India the traditional men’s upper garment is a thin towel. It got refined into a non-functional towel, such as Narendra Modi often sports. Fancy ones are often made of very non-towel material like silk. Unlike HHG towels, the stripes do not contain nutrients you can suck on.pic.twitter.com/SCKXYXPDQG

      1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
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    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Fine, fine sub “middle class” for “almost everybody”

      1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
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    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Laurian Gridinoc

      Missed an important one. Matches (and lighters, flint/steel etc)https://twitter.com/gridinoc/status/1313612839400157185 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Laurian Gridinoc @gridinoc
      Replying to @vgr
      matches
      1 reply 0 retweets 9 likes
      Show this thread
    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jerseyan  🇺🇸 📜

      Not sure shoes belong on the list. Yes they’re a fairly sophisticated tech, but they’re actually in-use continuously as clothing, not just carried as an optionality widget. Also excluding jewellery and religious/magical objects that serve no practical purpose.https://twitter.com/JerseyanUSA/status/1313614150254424071 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Jerseyan  🇺🇸 📜 @JerseyanUSA
      Replying to @vgr
      Shoes, sandals Artistic or magical things to be worn
      3 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
      Show this thread
    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Eli is actually offline for a week

      Keys are a big one I missed. Tobacco type things (also hip flasks, chewing gum), hmm... mood-altering tech. Kinda borderline, but I think they qualify. Photos of people... I think out. They’re not tech. Same as crucifixes or charms, just personal. 🤔https://twitter.com/arborrito/status/1313614883947192320 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Eli is actually offline for a week @arborrito
      Replying to @vgr
      Keys: Identity, Ownership Photograph: Of children or lover Perhaps also tobacco eg. snuff, cigs (or other state altering compounds)
      2 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
      Show this thread
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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      Hmm. Belts are an interesting case. In the form of a sash or cummerbund, they’re just a variant on the towel theme, but the leather buckled kind perhaps qualifies. Kinda unit asked though, unless you make it a platform by adding apps like holsters, scabbards, etc.

      4:22 PM - 6 Oct 2020
      • 2 Likes
      • ex nihilo Stephen
      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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          Hmm. Money as ultimate social tech multitool 🤔 Swiss-army knife of consensual microeconomic stabbings

          2 replies 1 retweet 12 likes
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        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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          Water containers? I guess leather waterskins yes, and perhaps modern bottles, but not pots. That’s cargotech, not primal widget-tech.

          1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
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        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jessica Alonso

          Okay sunglasses are inhttps://twitter.com/jessicamalonso/status/1313620366888038400 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Jessica Alonso @jessicamalonso
          Replying to @vgr
          + sunglasses? Polarization was a whole thing that was developed, too.
          1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
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        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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          Hmm. Illumination tech: torches, candles, lanterns, flashlights. A bit too specialized for my taste, but they’re now in primal widget land as part of the phone and sometimes keychains

          2 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
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        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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          Left out firearms because they were/are everyday carry only in very specific times/places unlike bladed weapons which were much more common. Also, the American tacticool mall ninja EDC culture built around firearms annoys me as poisoning a generally fun aspect of human life

          2 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 6
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          Combs and small mirrors were once common but I think they were not very universal, and rarely the most versatile tech on someone. More vanity tech.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
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        8. End of conversation

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