Curtis Yarvin

Curtis Guy Yarvin
Yarvin's speaker biography photo from the 2012 BIL Conference
Born (1973-06-25) June 25, 1973[1]
Residence San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Other names Mencius Moldbug
Alma mater
Spouse(s) Jennifer Kollmer
Era Contemporary philosophy
Region Western philosophy
School
Main interests
 Political philosophy
Notable ideas
 Formalism, neocameralism,[4] criticism of demotism[5]
Website Unqualified Reservations

Curtis Guy Yarvin (born June 25, 1973), also known by his pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American computer scientist, political theorist, and neoreactionary.[1] His writings played a foundational role in the formation of the neoreactionary movement.[7] He is the creator of the Urbit computing platform,[8][9] through his startup company Tlon, which is backed by Peter Thiel.[10] He is the author of the blog Unqualified Reservations.

Yarvin originally called his idea to align property rights with political power "formalism",[5][11] from the concept of legal formalism. The label "neo-reactionary" was applied to Yarvin's ideas by Arnold Kling in 2010 and adopted by Yarvin's followers;[5] Yarvin prefers the label "restorationist."[12]

Yarvin's work on neoreaction inspired English philosopher Nick Land to brand the wider neoreaction-sympathetic movement the Dark Enlightenment.[5] Neoreaction and the Dark Enlightenment form part of the philosophical underpinnings of the alt-right.[1][13]

In his book Alt-Right: From 4Chan to the White House, Mike Wendling called Yarvin "the Alt right’s favorite philosophy instructor." He added, "Yarvin’s key contribution to the development of alt-right thought was a searing critique of democracy based on supposed genetic 'facts' combined with a dash of intellectual snobbery."[14]

Public attention

Yarvin came to public attention in February, 2017 when Politico magazine reported that Steve Bannon, who served as White House Chief Strategist under U.S. President Donald Trump, read Yarvin's blog and that Yarvin "has reportedly opened up a line to the White House, communicating with Bannon and his aides through an intermediary..."[15] The story was picked up by other magazines and newspapers, including the Atlantic, the Independent, and Mother Jones.[16][17][18]

Controversy

Yarvin's opinions have been described as racist, with his writings interpreted as supportive of slavery, including the belief that whites have higher IQs than blacks for genetic reasons. Yarvin himself maintains that he is not a racist because, while he doubts that "all races are equally smart," the notion "that people who score higher on IQ tests are in some sense superior human beings" is "creepy". He also disputes being an 'outspoken advocate for slavery',[8][19] but has argued that some races are more suited to slavery than others.[20]

In 2015, his invitation to speak about Urbit at the Strange Loop programming conference was rescinded following complaints made by other attendees.[21][19] In 2016, his invitation to the LambdaConf functional programming conference resulted in the withdrawal of five speakers, two subconferences and several sponsors.[8][22]

Personal life

Yarvin's father is Jewish.[23] He has called himself a Jacobite.[4] Yarvin watched the results of the 2016 presidential election at the home of Peter Thiel, a Trump backer. "I watched the election at his house, I think my hangover lasted into Tuesday. He’s fully enlightened, just plays it very carefully", he told Milo Yiannopoulos.[24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kirchick, James (16 May 2016). "Trump's Terrifying Online Brigades". Commentary Magazine. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  2. ↑ Stanley; et al. (1 September 1988). "SMPY College Freshmen". Precollege Newsletter. Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth at Johns Hopkins University (10): 2.
  3. 1 2 Yarvin, Curtis; Bukowski, Richard; Anderson, Thomas (June 1993). "Anonymous RPC: Low-Latency Protection in a 64-Bit Address Space" (PDF). Proceedings of the USENIX Summer 1993 Technical Conference. USENIX: 175–186.
  4. 1 2 3 Pell, Nicholas James (January 29, 2014). "Overreacting to Neoreaction". Taki's Magazine. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Finley, Klint (22 November 2013). "Geeks for Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries". TechCrunch.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Eliana (7 February 2017). "What Steve Bannon Wants You to Read". Politico. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  7. ↑ Dyga, Edwin (14 October 2014). "The Future of Australian Conservatism". Quadrant. 58 (10): 46–58. ISSN 0033-5002.
  8. 1 2 3 Townsend, Tess (31 March 2016). "Why It Matters That An Obscure Programming Conference Is Hosting 'Mencius Moldbug'". Inc.com.
  9. ↑ van Wirdum, Aaron (11 July 2016). "Urbit: The Bold Pitch to Re-Decentralize the Internet, on Top of the Internet". bitcoinmagazine.com. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  10. ↑ MacDougald, Park (14 June 2016). "Why Peter Thiel Wants to Topple Gawker and Elect Donald Trump". New York Magazine: SelectAll. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  11. ↑ Mencius Moldbug (23 April 2007). "A formalist manifesto". Unqualified Reservations. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Mencius Moldbug (28 November 2013). "Mr. Jones is rather concerned". Unqualified Reservations. Retrieved 11 April 2016. If I had to choose one word and stick with it, I'd pick "restorationist." If I have to concede one pejorative which fair writers can fairly apply, I'll go with "reactionary." I'll even answer to any compound of the latter - "neoreactionary," "postreactionary," "ultrareactionary," etc.
  13. ↑ Gray, Rosie (28 December 2015). "How 2015 Fueled The Rise Of The Freewheeling, White Nationalist Alt Right Movement". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Wendling, Mike (2018) Alt Right: From 4chan to the White House. London: Pluto Press. Page 28–29.
  15. ↑ Johnson, Eliana and Eli Stokols (February, 2017) "What Steve Bannon Wants You to Read." Politico. (Retrieved April 17, 2017.)
  16. ↑ Gray, Rosie (February 10, 2017) "Behind the Internet's Anti-Democracy Movement." The Atlantic. (Retrieved April 17, 2017.)
  17. ↑ Revesz, Rachael (February 27, 2017) "Steve Bannon ‘connects network of white nationalists’ at the White House." The Independent. (Retrieved April 17, 2017.)
  18. ↑ Levy, Pema (March 26, 2017) "Stephen Bannon Is a Fan of a French Philosopher...Who Was an Anti-Semite and a Nazi Supporter." Mother Jones. (Retrieved April 17, 2017.)
  19. 1 2 Byars, Mitchell (6 April 2016). "Speaker Curtis Yarvin's racial views bring controversy to Boulder conference". Daily Camera: Boulder News. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  20. ↑ Gray, Rosie (February 10, 2017). "Behind the Internet's Anti-Democracy Movement". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  21. ↑ Auerbach, David (10 June 2015). "The Curious Case of Mencius Moldbug". Slate.
  22. ↑ Townsend, Tess (5 April 2016). "Citing 'Open Society,' Racist Programmer's Allies Raise $20K on Indiegogo". Inc.com.
  23. ↑ "Why I am not an anti-Semite". June 23, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  24. ↑ Bernstein, Joseph (5 October 2017) "Here's How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream." Buzzfeed.com. (Retrieved 31 October 2017.)
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