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 Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      “When people show you who they are believe them the second time” — Maya Angelou 2.0 😆 They’re not stupid, the Democratic mechanism is still the most legitimate one we have. You can’t force liberalism on an illiberal, thinking population. They’ve chosen who they are.

      3 replies 3 retweets 37 likes
      Show this thread
    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      The one consolation of this democratically revealed social truth is that it confers natural immunity against a left incarnation of Trump walking through the opening created by Bernie+AOC. Stalin-lite will be held at bay by the paranoid fever dreams of the Hitler-lite.

      1 reply 1 retweet 20 likes
      Show this thread
    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      This means, absent oxymoronic emergence of moderate political charisma (been there, done that with Obama, but a repeat is psychohistorically implausible now) the only counter to extremist charisma trying to woo a fascism-lite-leaning middle from both sides, lies outside politics.

      3 replies 1 retweet 14 likes
      Show this thread
    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Commercial break. This segment of the doomscroll 2020 livetweet is brought to you by my frenemies at @ycombinator Politics is not the answer. Start up, cash in, sell out, bro down. And hire me for consulting after you get Product-Market Fit and land a series A.pic.twitter.com/TwazkrKn7E

      2 replies 4 retweets 41 likes
      Show this thread
    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      In light of recent events, I’m going to recode Obama’s 2 victories as a triumph of appeal of monarchical cult-of-personality charisma over fascism-lite. Obama got coded as “one of the good blacks” Blackish virtue signal so long as no real change to illiberalism called for.

      1 reply 1 retweet 19 likes
      Show this thread
    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Both coding voting for Obama as “proof I’m not racist” and coding voting for Trump as “defense against radical left antifa communists” are rationalizations of thinly denied basic dispositions. And you can’t blame disinformation/media bubbles either. This is who the country is.

      2 replies 1 retweet 24 likes
      Show this thread
    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      If you’re comfortable with this 800lb egregorilla in the room, you’re fine. There are three possible natural reactions for those who are not fine with it: turn institutionalist-statist (impersonal state institutions as the , turn Straussian (noble-lie programmer) or Third Way.

      2 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
      Show this thread
    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      I believe 2010s have demonstrated 3 truths: - democracy works (screw Thiel) - Straussianism doesn’t work (people aren’t that dumb, you can’t fool all the people all the time, you’re not saintly enough to lie nobly, there are no good emperors) - Industrial institutions are dead

      3 replies 5 retweets 44 likes
      Show this thread
    9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      So your real political choices are: - Accept your new 800lb fascist-lite egregorilla overload - invent better institutions - invent a third way to be elite that’s neither Straussian nor institutionalist - score a mansion; aka secure a tiny personal zone of political agency

      3 replies 6 retweets 33 likes
      Show this thread
    10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Andrew Benson

      Yeah this is a major faultline. Mercenary in the policy sheets, missionary in the charismatic streets basically.https://twitter.com/pixlpa/status/1324041539283156993 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Andrew Benson @pixlpa
      Replying to @vgr
      There's a big gulf now between actual policies people vote for and who wins elections (e.g. minimum wage + Trump in FL), which tells me that charisma/personality and connecting to an audience is key.
      3 replies 1 retweet 13 likes
      Show this thread
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
      • Report Tweet
      • Report NetzDG Violation

      Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Glenwood Morris

      Yes, even though I’m not feeling this scenario in my gut, it’s now intellectually a clear possibility. The 800lb fascist-lite egregorilla will NOT be happy if the institutionalists buy themselves 4 more years by a razor thin margin that’s vulnerable to doubt-merchanting.https://twitter.com/gemorris/status/1324040401393717251 …

      Venkatesh Rao added,

      Glenwood Morris @gemorris
      Everyone should be making plans to get out, because if Biden squeaks this out the backlash in four years is going to be a legit competent fascist. https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1324020431867711488 …
      9:40 AM - 4 Nov 2020
      • 1 Retweet
      • 17 Likes
      • Catherine Baab-Muguira Julie Fredrickson Rahul Ramchandani Florian Eric Breitenstein 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙪𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙢𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙧 Christopher F Smith nlk samuel barton
      1 reply 1 retweet 17 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          “Competent fascist” means media charmer who will pay lip-service to individualism. Don’t expect a Hitler-like figure. That’s for Germany. The “competent fascist” is a culturally specific archetype that you may not recognize till too late if you’re overindexed on foreign examples.

          3 replies 2 retweets 36 likes
          Show this thread
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          A thought on the “popular majority” — the 50-52% of the country that is NOT part of the 800lb fascist-lite egregorilla. Fortunately it’s not an egregore in its own right. It’s a loose dissensus of a hundred factions united only by their distaste for the 800lb FLE.

          2 replies 0 retweets 14 likes
          Show this thread
        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Natural, un-prefixed liberalism, grounded in individual curiosity, openness to experience, exploratory spirit, and divergent thought, does not cohere into egregores well. The part that does is called “classical liberalism” and is indistinguishable from the 800lb FLE at this point

          2 replies 2 retweets 16 likes
          Show this thread
        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          So even though it *looks* like it has demographic mass to compete, it doesn’t. It lacks the “sticks bound together around an axe” strength of true fascism. 49 sticks bound around an AR-15 trump (heh!) 51 loose sticks. Let’s not pretend it’s all electoral college distortion.pic.twitter.com/HZePAv0Sna

          1 reply 0 retweets 12 likes
          Show this thread
        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Back to razor-thin race in MI/WI/PA. I’m now basically at peace with either outcome as democratically legitimate. The difference is in the noise zone. Yes if Trump takes it, he’ll do so gracelessly threatening lawsuits all the way, but he does have the mandate of the 800lb FLE.

          1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
          Show this thread
        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Note that the 800lb FLE will not return the favor. Win or lose, it will basically regard the popular majority as an alien existential threat to the body politic that doesn’t have a right to exist and needs to be disenfranchised one way or the other.

          2 replies 2 retweets 11 likes
          Show this thread
        8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          The purist-fascist core of the 800lb FLE (fascism lite egregorilla, portmanteau of egregore and gorilla for those joining late) will keep trying to lock down the electoral college system and courts, and continue to tighten its grip via vote suppression, gerrymandering etc.

          2 replies 2 retweets 13 likes
          Show this thread
        9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          The more lightly attached shell around that kernel will continue to make excuses for the core, rationalize its posture via appeals to anti-communist scaremongering, downplay the fascism charge etc. None of this is surprising anymore.

          1 reply 2 retweets 10 likes
          Show this thread
        10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          I’d like to edit an anthology of short stories titled “Egregorilla Games: Tales from the global cozyweb underground”

          2 replies 0 retweets 9 likes
          Show this thread
        11. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

          Scenario planning inside baseball update. We’ve landed on the cusp of complex and chaotic. Everything that @nils_gilman Transition Integrity Project war-gamed out will now be tested. Recall that they concluded anything short of a Biden landslide would be fraught. Here we are.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1323030163802660864 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Venkatesh Rao @vgr
          Cynefin actually models these well Clear: Biden clear landslide Complicated: Trump clear landslide Complex: Biden after crisis Chaos: Trump after crisis Disorder (center): Perma-unraveling pic.twitter.com/B0ZBmclQAN
          Show this thread
          2 replies 4 retweets 7 likes
          Show this thread
        12. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          If you haven’t been following this closely btw, the TIP itself (a mundane, nerdy exercise in the sort of wonky workshopping that goes on all the time) got coded as a wild Soros-funded deep state conspiracy to prepare the ground for an anti-Trump coup.

          2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
          Show this thread
        13. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Upside from this election so far: 1. I invented the word egregorilla and the term 800lb Fascist-Lite Egregorilla (800lb FLE for short) 2. Finally figured out how to use cynefin in a practically useful way. I grok the diff between exaptive constraints and no constraints now.

          2 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
          Show this thread
        14. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          I’ll admit now that I’ve used it meaningfully and substantially, I have a good deal more respect for Cynefin than before. Thing is richer than it looks at a casual glance. I was guilty of dismissing it too quickly as a lightweight, overwrought idea before.

          4 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
          Show this thread
        15. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          On a personal note I feel like I’ve truly matured a bit in the last 4 years. In 2016 it took me months of Trump-derangement syndrome to come to terms with the election outcome. This time, it took me 5 minutes to become genuinely okay with the remaining possible outcomes.

          2 replies 0 retweets 23 likes
          Show this thread
        16. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          And that’s the full range: from a relatively peaceful transition to either candidate or extended strife/chaos. I may face other psyche-management problems this time around, but difficulty accepting the truth-by-democracy isn’t going to be one of them.

          1 reply 0 retweets 12 likes
          Show this thread
        17. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          2016 was extra-hard largely due to being an immigrant who had endured 15 years of immigration ooga-booga believing pain was worth it to move to more liberal country. It was hard to accept that at least ideologically it was no more liberal than India, and possibly *less* liberal.

          1 reply 1 retweet 38 likes
          Show this thread
        18. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jascha Wilcox

          Maturation is merely conditioning you believe makes you stronger 🤣https://twitter.com/jaschawilcox/status/1324065091180847104 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Jascha Wilcox @jaschawilcox
          Replying to @vgr
          Is that maturity, or simply conditioning?
          2 replies 2 retweets 9 likes
          Show this thread
        19. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Another maturity win: I cleared calendar of critical stuff and plunged fully into doomscroll. Politics is not in my top 5 interests, but I’m too old to pretend my interests are above the gravity pull of big political events. I’m not Elon Musk. I don’t have better things to do.

          2 replies 0 retweets 23 likes
          Show this thread
        20. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          One of the reasons I’m not an entrepreneur, despite having many necessary traits, is that I lack the ambition to work on things big enough to hold focus-lock through big news events like this. Good litmus test. If this can’t distract you from mission, you’re a true entrepreneur.

          4 replies 3 retweets 33 likes
          Show this thread
        21. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          But this is also the reason I can be a consultant: I’m distractible enough to pay more attention to the environment than I need to, so I can sell surplus situation awareness/orientation to clients who are so focused they pay less attention to the environment than they need to.

          2 replies 1 retweet 36 likes
          Show this thread
        22. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Ah news. CNN just called Wisconsin for Biden and looks like Trump campaign is going to call for a recount. The margin seems to be ~20,000 votes so not surprising.

          3 replies 1 retweet 8 likes
          Show this thread
        23. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Covid update: dead guy elected in North Dakotahttps://www.cnn.com/2020/11/04/politics/north-dakota-candidate-died-covid-wins-election-trnd/index.html …

          1 reply 2 retweets 13 likes
          Show this thread
        24. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Go home Portland you’re drunkhttps://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/04/us/election-results?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#with-protests-planned-around-the-country-emergency-declaration-extended-in-portland …

          2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
          Show this thread
        25. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Boeing Defense

          Commercial break sponsored by Boeing. No matter who wins you can count on the military industrial complex to continue building cool shit. And now for a limited time, free Nespresso coffee machine with every F-15EX.https://twitter.com/BoeingDefense/status/1323321728378957824 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Boeing DefenseVerified account @BoeingDefense
          Our F-15EX has the advanced technologies to take on the missions of today and adapt to meet the missions of tomorrow.
          2 replies 3 retweets 14 likes
          Show this thread
        26. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Aside: the commercial breaks are my favorite part of this livetweet thread. Trump campaign claims to have filed lawsuit in Michigan to halt counting till it has access to observe.https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-results-and-news-11-04-20/h_114cb9154af91ea8436b34d2a11a61ba …

          1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
          Show this thread
        27. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Celestron

          Another commercial break. Results in the remaining undecided states are brought to you by Jupiter, Saturn, and Marshttps://twitter.com/Celestron/status/1324079467678060547 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Celestron @Celestron
          Look at the detail the NexStar 6SE telescope can take of the planets. Great job, Juan Manuel González (@juan_manuel_gzz)! Who else owns a NexStar 6SE? pic.twitter.com/lsWec3Djn2
          3 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
          Show this thread
        28. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted ***

          While waiting for real movement, a pseudoevent update: Kanye conceded I'm told he's a musical genius. I wouldn't know. But everything else about the guy strikes me as tedious and not very bright self-importance and I hope he slinks quietly off this stagehttps://twitter.com/platformpapi/status/1324083288361717760 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          *** @platformpapi
          Low-key sounds like Kanye to me 🤷‍♂️ https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1324044360380395520 …
          3 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
          Show this thread
        29. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted ***

          Wishful thinking here. It's more than guys declaring themselves cool. When a candidate tries to claim victory it has a small but real effect on trust in the process. To declare victory before all votes are counted is to undermine the future of the process.https://twitter.com/platformpapi/status/1324083288361717760 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          *** @platformpapi
          Low-key sounds like Kanye to me 🤷‍♂️ https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1324044360380395520 …
          1 reply 1 retweet 6 likes
          Show this thread
        30. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Jordan Acker

          Ugh. Making the sausage in a democracy can get real ugly. Who the hell are all these people? I thought it would be more orderly "observing" by a few campaign reps from each side. This is a mosh pit.https://twitter.com/JordanAckerMI/status/1324072809283420160 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Jordan AckerVerified account @JordanAckerMI
          In fact, the ⁦@MIGOP⁩ has so overwhelmed the Detroit vote counting room with “challengers” (most who are not lawyers), preventing actual Dem lawyers from actually getting in. Sure feels like a deliberate attempt to try to steal the election. pic.twitter.com/pIZCzUB6VH
          3 replies 1 retweet 8 likes
          Show this thread
        31. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 4
          • Report Tweet
          • Report NetzDG Violation

          Trump campaign now has 3 legal filings going. 2 in PA, 1 in MI, plus a recount request in WI. Legal full-court press. Biden team seems to have burned veterans of 2000 Gore/Florida shitshow working on it, so looks evenly matched.

          8 replies 65 retweets 251 likes
          Show this thread
        32. 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