Curtis Yarvin

He defends what he posted under Mencius Moldbug in a Medium blogpost here[0], which is nominally level-headed. There are in fact genetic differences across ethnic groups (sickle cell anemia comes to mind immediately), and it would be silly to think that the only possible generic changes are changed skin color and a specific blood disorder. You can say that since men have a statistically higher muscle density, they are genetically better slaves than women are. That does not mean that I'm advocating we enslave all men, or that slavery is anything other than abhorrent. 0: https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an…

> The "leader" is an avowed racist and nasty person in general. Oh, good. This again. Curtis has stated publicly, "I am not an 'outspoken advocate for slavery,' a racist, a sexist or a fascist." See: https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an…

I read Yarvin's response to this whole incident: https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an… Could someone provide a link to his pro-slavery arguments?

It seems to me that a truly 'healthy' community would not draw it's boundaries so tightly. If I were building a community I'd want it to be one that welcomed even those with views I found despicable so long as they could engage in thoughtful, reasonable discourse. A community should allow for people to be wrong, and still be welcome. Having near zero interest in Curtis' political writing his recent AMA [0] and Medium post [1] come off as earnest and harmless. 0 - https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4bxf6f/im_curtis_yarvin_develop… 1 - https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an…

I've spent the last 15 minutes reading everything I can find about the subject, and honestly nothing seems very inflammatory. Have you read this? https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an… He seems like a reasonable, intelligent person, and people have gone out of their way to mischaracterize what he did say and to label him a racist. He was also writing under a pen name, and -- believe it or not -- roleplaying is common recreation. Just because Moldbug believed something doesn't mean Chris believed those things. All in all, I think this is just another example of the insular tribalism present in all of Silicon Valley. It's ironic that the place that prides itself on being the most tolerant and the most progressive is in fact so victorian and reductionist that their ideas can't withstand a simple debate. Easier to label and shun, eh? I'm not a fan. It's somewhat ridiculous that I have to add a disclaimer that I don't share any of their ideology, even in secret. I'm proud of my beliefs, and this has nothing to do with the politics at play. If you're going to be inclusive, then be inclusive. To shun someone so intelligent and to reduce their entire body of work to a few glib sentences isn't a productive strategy. From my perspective, it seems strange that anyone could read that Medium post and come away hating Chris. He's clearly here to talk tech, not politics. So what's the problem? When you join a Twitter mob and serve as…

>>- Thiel believes that the 19th amendment destroyed democracy, because women vote in favor for anti-libertarian welfare measures. When faced with the choice between saving democracy and capitalism, Thiel chooses capitalism. Trump shares this antidemocratic sentiment. This needs a citation, because whenever I've seen people say this, they cite this this essay https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertar… And frankly, if you think he opposes women's suffrage, you didn't read it. He clarifies further in an addition: But the most intense response has been aimed not at cyberspace, seasteading, or libertarian politics, but at a commonplace statistical observation about voting patterns that is often called the gender gap. It would be absurd to suggest that women’s votes will be taken away or that this would solve the political problems that vex us. >>-Thiel is the (primary?) backer of Curtis Yarvin, the alt-right (read: white supremacist) thoughtleader about "human biodiversity" (read: why some races are biologically inferior). Moldbug is explicitly not a white supremicist. You can read his explanation here: https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an… He disagrees with you about factual matters of human population genetics, but not about the moral issue about how people with different genetics should be treated.

Let's assume everyone on this list is indeed here out of sincere and disinterested belief (I wouldn't underestimate peer pressure, or even more cynically : the subtle but real career brownie points one can earn at some organizations, for openly displaying one's allegiance to social justice causes) But then how does being a "bright professional and integral FP community member" equate to undisputable authority on a completely unrelated moral topic ? "Bright professionals" doesn't necessarily imply "thought leaders that have given this particular issue more careful consideration than anybody else". Heck, it doesn't even necessarily imply "good people". This is the very fallacy Yarvin describes as "IQism" here : https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an… I knew nothing about him or this controversy until know, but approaching it with an open mind I found the above clarification quite sincere, and way more articulated than that 3 paragraphs long open letter that features all of the familiar, easy rhetoric...

To prevent ambiguity, these are the posts I read: [1] https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/how-to-respond-to-hostile-media-inqu… [2] https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an… I have not read Mencius Moldbug posts, and I don't think I'll do so in the foreseeable future. Chalk it up to a lack of interest. > In person, Yarvin was evidently so flagrantly racist that he was ostracized by other attendees. I would like to judge this for myself. It's not personal; I won't take anyone's word for it. I'm not the same race as Yarvin. I'm Indian. Being a different race, and given India's history, I think I'll be sensitive enough to racism. And if I don't like Yarvin in person, I'll avoid personal interactions with him too. And if they ask me after that, I'd still support allowing Yarvin to attend the conference the next year. The only way I'll change my mind is if Yarvin doesn't stick to his proposed (technical) agenda during his talk, or if he is personally responsible for being disruptive to other people interacting with each other. For example, someone getting too drunk and creating a ruckus would be grounds for exclusion, in my book. In contrast to all this, there are extremely well-known companies that are adversely affecting my life with their abuse of patent laws. Yarvin and Urbit have zero impact on my life, one way or another.

"Let me say this unequivocally: Yarvin chose to produce this controversy. This is not an accident. He is not a pitiable figure who is persecuted for his beliefs. He is not simply an eccentric functional programmer who, like you or me, happens to hold a couple of beliefs out of the mainstream. Nope. Yarvin’s hobby is writing hateful things, publishing them, and cultivating a movement of hateful people working toward hateful ends. This controversy serves those ends. He knew when he submitted his proposal that, if accepted, he could count on at least a brief flurry of interest in his ponderous, indulgent treatises." This is a really twisted view. Yarvin has been working on Urbit for many years and it is his life now. He signed up for the conference to promote it. His political blog has been dead for over two years. I don't see any reason why he would want this controversy, and he claims himself he signed up for the conference to talk about Urbit -- https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/how-to-respond-to-hostile-media-inqu… I also think it's a major stretch to call his blog "hateful." (And what does that even mean, OP is pretty hateful toward Yarvin, should OP be banned too?) Yeah, his Moldbug character was an edgelord, writing in the style of 18th century pamphleteer. So what. The supposedly terrible quotes were taken out of context and misunderstood or distorted (again, see link above). Much of the blog is quite fascinating history and political analysis,…

His whole deal is genetics, it's the core of his argument. But if you read it carefully you notice all this rhetorical sleight of hand. The guy is one of the most transparently disingenuous writers I've ever encountered. I feel like the arrogance is just a cover for a weak argument that is just too painfully tedious to deconstruct. https://medium.com/@curtis.yarvin/why-you-should-come-to-lambdaconf-an… > Here’s how you are not-racist. You hold two beliefs: one, neurological problem-solving performance (ie, “intelligence”) is homogenously distributed across the genetically inhomogeneous human species. Two, it’s better to be smart than stupid. > Ergo, no race is better than any other race, because all races are equally smart. Is that right? I hope I have it right. > Here’s how I’m not-racist: I share neither belief. But he's a racist because he uses the word race in a genetic context, and so are you if you do the same - which is what he's trying to get you to do. [ Sorry, I realize that this isn't the most coherent post... ]