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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. GrowWiser‏ @Grow_Wiser Nov 14
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      GrowWiser Retweeted Venkatesh Rao

      Main thrust of the thread aside, disassociating virtue from the cheapest thing bothers me. It is a virtue to prioritize having your own house in order. Too many buy free-range eggs and then claim they can't make ends meet. Kindness at the expense of others.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1327662938979647494 …

      GrowWiser added,

      Venkatesh Rao @vgr
      The cynical view is few people care to do more than virtue signal. 80% want the cheapest thing, screw how their virtue is perceived. Of the remaining 20%, 16% only want to signal care, not pay for actually caring. Leaving only 4% who actually care. I don’t think this is true.
      Show this thread
      2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      Show this thread
    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @Grow_Wiser

      When all externalities are priced, the virtuous option will also be the cheapest option

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    3. GrowWiser‏ @Grow_Wiser Nov 14
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      Replying to @vgr

      This doesn't make paying the current premium virtuous if one later has to ask for financial help.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @Grow_Wiser

      I think that is very situation dependent, and if help is indeed asked for later, that is a separate event whose virtue has to be judged separately. It's a very generic observation, not a critique. Any choice you make now might cause future choices with different virtue calculus.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @vgr @Grow_Wiser

      I could pay a premium for free range eggs and then later ask taxpayers to bail me out when I can't make rent. Equally, I might eat commercial eggs now and then later discover the conditions of factory farming and go ask a priest for help dealing with moral crisis.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @vgr @Grow_Wiser

      There's always consequences of all choices that may require going for people who made different choices. It's their choice then whether to give it, and under what conditions. Taxation aggregates and socializes this so that we all get some slack for our decisions.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @vgr @Grow_Wiser

      If you, for eg. have a bias towards self-reliance, your choices may be robust to some consequences, but you may create harder choices for others (including chickens if you grant them personhood). That's the definition of a negative externality.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @vgr @Grow_Wiser

      Power is not having to deal with the negative externalities of your own choices. It's okay to seek power, but it shouldn't be confused with virtue. You may act in ways that never require you to ask for help, but you might still act in ways that force others to. Moral hazard.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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      Replying to @vgr @Grow_Wiser

      This is my basic problem with libertarian virtue ethics focused on 'sovereign individual' type thinking. It often conflates power and virtue, and using power to force harder choices on others for personal responsibility. I'm fine with darwinist competition so long as you own it.

      1:40 PM - 14 Nov 2020
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 14
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          Replying to @vgr @Grow_Wiser

          "that may require going for people who made different choices" --> "that may require going for help to people who made different choices

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. GrowWiser‏ @Grow_Wiser Nov 14
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          Replying to @vgr

          Everything you say is reasonable. The point of the thread your post prompted is to point out that there are two deeply conflicting worldviews underneath. I think "the everything is interconnected and may be meaningless so let's just be kind" perspective is getting too much play.

          2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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