Meet Curtis Yarvin: whose seemingly crazed ideas have found fertile ground among technocrats and oligarchs who have never quite shaken entitled Ayn Rand’s “greed is good” sensibility.
Essentially, the guy wants the world to be run by smart CEOs commanding Corporate States. It is a form of National Socialism without the pollution of the socialism.
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His blog, “Gray Mirror,” offers dense insights into his philosophy. Not easy to digest but if you have the time and focus, it does reduce itself to a critique of modern governance and social structures through a lens of historical and philosophical analysis. Yarvin, or Mencius Moldbug if you prefer, argues that contemporary democracy and political systems are fundamentally flawed. His advocacy of more authoritarian forms of governance falls lockstep into the activities of historical examples from Caesar to Hitler and, currently, to Hungary’s Orbán.
According to Mencius: strong leader = stability and order. Well, as history has demonstrated in the first two examples, this can be finite. For Orbán? That remains to be seen.
But what would an activist sort of philosophy be if you cannot find those who will put it into practice?
Well, for Mencius, along came the dynamic duo of tech billionaire Peter Thiel and the current Vice President, J.D. Vance, both of whom became fans.
“dense insights”
I’ve spent time reading and valuing a fair amount of post modernist writers. Often times, thier writings are justifiably difficult. But other times, it seems to be a byproduct a system that values obfuscation. Still, ebn in this murkiness, many of the original writers have valuable points to make. But there are a select group whose writings fail even there.
Yarvin is neither a skilled writer, a clear thinker, and often peddles in recycled conservative thought varished with corporatized vernacular who seems to never get to the point. And when does make a point, a younger me would have confused to relief of getting to a point as something worthy of the journey. Having hacked through thoughts before though, I find his destinations aren’t merited by his meandering assuming he gets to a point.
Still, he has the regards of some powerful and wealthy people. However, these people are more interesting because of the positioning and not their respect for Yarvin. Yarvin provides the theory woven blanket that these people need to feel good about what they believe. Less so than Nick Land or Bronze Age Pervert, Yarvin reminds me of Jordan Peterson’s rhetoric. In that sense, both are comforting to those groups confused about why the world isn’t the way they think it ought to be.
Reading Yarvin is, in my opinion, no benefit in understanding the Theils and Vances of the world. Theil’s political positioning, on the other hand, is worth noting, watching, and resisting.
Yarvin provides the theory woven blanket that these people need to feel good about what they believe.
That’s it, he is telling them what they want to hear, wrapped up in enough pseudo-intellectual verbiage that it makes them feel smart for slogging through what he’s said.
Here’s a not-so-fun read tangential to this guy.
Worth its own post.
Great idea! Just posted!
This dude looks like he cups his hands around his ass when he farts so he can waft it to his face
It’s worse than that - he’s wafting it in our face.
Strange that his personal security team hasn’t been deputized.
Makes him an easy target. Shame, that.
