Other names Mencius Moldbug Name Curtis Yarvin | Role Software Engineer Alma mater Brown University | |
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Full Name Curtis Guy Yarvin Known for Political blogger, political philosopher Residence San Francisco, California, United States | ||
Urbit with Curtis Yarvin and Galen Wolfe-Pauly
Curtis Guy Yarvin (born 1973), also known by his pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American computer scientist, political theorist, and neoreactionary thinker. His writings have played a foundational role in the formation of the neoreactionary movement. He is the creator of the Urbit computing platform, through his startup company Tlon (backed by Peter Thiel), and the author of the blog Unqualified Reservations.
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He originally called his political philosophy of insisting on the alignment of property rights with political power formalism, from the concept of legal formalism. The label "neo-reactionary" was applied to Yarvin's philosophy by Arnold Kling in 2010 and adopted by Yarvin's followers; Yarvin accepts the label but self-labels as "restorationist".
Yarvin's work on neoreaction inspired English philosopher Nick Land to brand the wider neoreaction-sympathetic movement the Dark Enlightenment. Neoreaction and the Dark Enlightenment form part of the philosophical underpinnings of the alt-right.
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..." The story was picked up by other magazines and newspapers, including the Atlantic, the Independent, and Mother Jones.
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', but has argued that some races are more suited to slavery than others.
In 2015, his invitation to speak about Urbit at the Strange Loop programming conference was rescinded following complaints made by other attendees. In 2016, his invitation to the LambdaConf functional programming conference resulted in the withdrawal of five speakers, two subconferences and several sponsors.
Personal life
Yarvin's father is Jewish. He has called himself a Jacobite.