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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 20 Apr 2018
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      People who grew up with Wikipedia seem far better informed than their intellectual/personality peers from older gens at same age. Jevons paradox. They know more *because* they can look up anything. No curiosity left unsatisfied. I’d estimate a 10y advantage in factual knowledge

      14 replies 15 retweets 156 likes
    2. Nils Gilman‏ @nils_gilman 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @vgr

      Hoo boy do I radically disagree. It utterly depends on what kind of knowledge you’re talking about. Because there’s lots that’s not on the internet, but the cult of the internet makes people think it contains everything.

      2 replies 0 retweets 12 likes
    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @nils_gilman

      Clearly I have smarter millennial friends than you 😀 Sure there’s some availability bias but that’s true of all media. Academic western libraries have their own biases.

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
    4. Nils Gilman‏ @nils_gilman 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @vgr

      Obviously all archives & data sources have their limitations. But the peril of the Internet isn't just that it makes people more heavily weigh their judgments toward the latest news & information; it's also that the myth of the Net is that it's the only data source anyone needs.

      2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @nils_gilman

      In general people triage, and pick their beyond-the-internet digging battles. If you’re not a professional academic with access to a good library and no cost to digging deep whenever, you have to pick battles. The Wikipedia gloss usually replaces ‘nothing’, not a scholarly tome.

      1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
    6. Nils Gilman‏ @nils_gilman 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @vgr

      Wikipedia strongly encourages intellectual satisficing.

      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @nils_gilman

      You’re judging random curiosities by academic research standards. Basically, in 1988, a random nerd who wondered about a question would conclude “too much trouble to figure out” and move on without ever learning *any* answer. In 2018, they’d look up Wikipedia at least

      1 reply 2 retweets 3 likes
    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @vgr @nils_gilman

      Most random curiosity does not, and should not, seek more than satisficing. It’s better than knowing no answers, and better than trying to dive deep on everything indiscriminately. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing sure, but I prefer it to elites+illiterates condition.

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
    9. Nils Gilman‏ @nils_gilman 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @vgr

      Well, if the standard is “satisfying random curiosity” then yes, Wikipedia is the best thing ever. But if the standard is producing more knowledgeable (the OP said “better informed”) citizens, I beg to differ.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
    10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @nils_gilman

      They *are* better informed. Just not about the things *you* think they ought to better informed about. Things that will give them more agency and opportunities and community in their own lives. “Better citizenship” is your priority for them.

      2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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      Replying to @vgr @nils_gilman

      I didn’t use the word citizen. I said people. The fact that you made the substitution is very revealing. Others arguing your position might have subbed “consumer” or “community member”.

      9:12 AM - 21 Apr 2018
      3 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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          Replying to @vgr @nils_gilman

          In fact I think people weren’t any better informed as “citizens” in the past either, when elites had greater ability to dictate their consumption. Most people still skipped straight to the sports section or whatever best fit their curiosity. Not local town hall debates.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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          Replying to @vgr @nils_gilman

          So arguably, the guy who was limited to sports and comics section, or the woman who could choose between cooking and fashion... such “info-seeking personas” can now range far wider/deeper

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        2. Nils Gilman‏ @nils_gilman 21 Apr 2018
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          Take any of those. I don’t think Wikipedia helps people become better informed consumers or community participants, either. But you know what *does* help people become better informed consumers? The FDA. Standards organizations. Lemon laws. Etc.

          2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 21 Apr 2018
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          Replying to @nils_gilman

          My whole point is that those personas are *imposed* personas and are all equally bad! I’m arguing for empowerment in choices about what to even learn about and becoming informed about whatever you want, rather than to fit someone else’s idea of being informed for their purposes!

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
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