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Urbit

urbit.org

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Re: Urbit

#141

Post by recycle_away »

westoncb wrote: post #139
dgellow wrote: post #133

About the author, Curtis Yarvin: > Curtis Guy Yarvin (born June 25, 1973), also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political theorist, blogger, and computer scientist.[1][6] He is known, along with fellow "neo-reactionary" thinker Nick Land, for developing the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic ideas behind the Dark Enlightenment. Yarvin and his ideas are often associated with the alt-r…

It's less useful than it might seem to post a random Wikipedia extract when the subject is highly controversial / politically charged.

It's certainly not "random" as you say - the subject is the founder of the project.

The entire project is politically charged. The software was literally modeled after monarchy and fascism.

IMO this doesn't belong on HN.

Re: Urbit

#142

Post by westoncb »

recycle_away wrote: post #141
westoncb wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less useful than it might seem to post a random Wikipedia extract when the subject is highly controversial / politically charged.

It's certainly not "random" as you say - the subject is the founder of the project. The entire project is politically charged. The software was literally modeled after monarchy and fascism. IMO this doesn't belong on HN.

Yes, I'm sure a lot of people feel that way.

Other people would like to be able to judge for themselves.

Of course the extract is about the founder (who incidentally is not part of the project anymore), that's exactly why it's controversial and politically charged—i.e. the exact situation when Wikipedia is least reliable.

Edit: for instance, the linked article has "Semi-Protected" status because:

> "there is a significant amount of disruption or vandalism from new or unregistered users, or to prevent sockpuppets of blocked or banned users from editing, especially when it occurs on biographies of living persons who have had a recent high level of media interest."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Protection_policy#se...

Re: Urbit

#143

Post by oldfanthroww »

blotter_paper wrote: post #99
iudqnolq wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is by design. Prior to the current stellar analogy the founder described this using terms from feudalism. > In one design sketch for Urbit, Yarvin made the link between monarchies and the platform more explicit, classifying users as “Lords,” “Dukes,” and “Earls.” The design behind the titles, he writes, “is standard Lockean libertarian homesteading theory.” At the end of the sketch, Yarvin indicates that…

I can't find that quote by searching the text of the linked article. I was looking for it because I'm skeptical of the claim that Yarvin supports a society with multiple shareholders of political power. I read the archives of Unqualified Reservations when Urbit was first released, and I was left with the impression that Yarvin supported the rule of literally one person. This is the closest quote I've found so far, bu…

Moldbug (whom I would distinguish from Yarvin as you would a comedian's stage persona) in advocating for neocameralism proposed rule by a CEO-king. This person like a conventional CEO would hold great personal power in their organization. Unlike a king the CEO would be elected by the board and responsible to the shareholders. You can read more in the posts about Patchwork.

>Emphasis his

If you mean to emphasize the ruler's gender, I don't think that is right. Moldbug is rather fond of Queen Victoria.

Re: Urbit

#145

Post by recycle_away »

dang wrote: post #22

Many previous threads—good luck: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

Are you aware that this project is inherently political? (not just because of the founder's odious and divisive beliefs, but because the project is modeled after them).

Does this not break the guidelines?

Re: Urbit

#146

Post by pearjuice »

dgellow wrote: post #133

About the author, Curtis Yarvin: > Curtis Guy Yarvin (born June 25, 1973), also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political theorist, blogger, and computer scientist.[1][6] He is known, along with fellow "neo-reactionary" thinker Nick Land, for developing the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic ideas behind the Dark Enlightenment. Yarvin and his ideas are often associated with the alt-r…

I am pretty sure he left the project for this reason: people judging your political alliance instead of your output.

Re: Urbit

#147

Post by mellosouls »

dgellow wrote: post #133

About the author, Curtis Yarvin: > Curtis Guy Yarvin (born June 25, 1973), also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political theorist, blogger, and computer scientist.[1][6] He is known, along with fellow "neo-reactionary" thinker Nick Land, for developing the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic ideas behind the Dark Enlightenment. Yarvin and his ideas are often associated with the alt-r…

Wikipedia has an unfortunate habit of labelling anything as "far right" that is described as such by left wing or gullible journalists in left of centre mainstream publications.

Mencius Moldbug may be far right, but he may alternatively just be a thinker not afraid to challenge liberal received wisdom.

It's ok to disagree and fervently oppose but it's unfortunate when we descend into soundbite mud-slinging in service of that opposition.

Re: Urbit

#148

Post by otakucode »

ALittleLight wrote: post #15

I have seen Urbit a couple times but never really understood it. From the "Understanding Urbit" page - >Imagine that you can login from anywhere with one name and password. >And when you do, your entire OS appears. >Inside is your whole digital life. All of your communities, conversations, and connections. All of your biometric data and devices. Your entire personal archive in one place that’s secure, private, and de…

As with basically every distributed or 'cloud' system that claims to provide a solution to storing peoples data, my first question is always "What if my data is in excess of 100TB?" Someone has to have some hardware somewhere that's storing that much data, and it's not cheap to acquire, maintain, or operate that hardware. So if they're claiming I just don't need to worry about data storage any more... I'm going to worry.

Re: Urbit

#149

Post by cookiecaper »

nabla9 wrote: post #135
cookiecaper wrote: post #134

The goal is noble, but Urbit is destined to become a case study in the dangers of isolation and obstinacy. This project has gone so deep into its own inner sanctum that they've lost tabs on wider reality. While the result may have glimmers of technical excellence for brave souls to excavate some day, the impact of the juxtaposition between latent expertise and overwhelming derangement is enough to scare away (literal…

>the One True Way" never works, It works for Apple.

Apple doesn't have a One True Way -- they have a relatively-simple and relatively-uniform product line that represents their interpretation of human-computer interaction. They focused on building systems that everyone could use and love immediately, and it turns out that a lot of people appreciate that emphatic commitment to the human over the machine.

Jobs insisted on elegance and simplicity throughout, creating products that were instantly loved and admired, products that people would be proud to own and display. Technobabble was worthless to him and he did everything possible to keep it away from his customers. He expected his engineers to deliver something decent and real and trusted them to figure out the details, focusing exclusively on the vision of shipping usable, beautiful products that provided immediate value to every user, regardless of technical background.

Steve Jobs's devotion to elegance resulted in products so appealing and downright seductive that they fundamentally changed the public's expectations from computers and consumer electronics generally -- not just once (Mac), not just twice (iPod), but at least three times (iPhone; honorable mention: NeXT/OS X).

We lost him too soon.

Meanwhile, in Yarvin via Urbit, we are offered a ground-floor rate of only $512 per placard in The One True E-fief. Urbit is here to show us that they know best. That we'd be better off if we'd just raise our eyes out of the mud long enough to recognize our obvious inferiority, take our oaths of fealty, pay our taxes, and some day, when They've decided the time is Right, They'll bestow upon us The One True Network.

There could not be a starker contrast.

Re: Urbit

#150

Post by tawm »

mellosouls wrote: post #147
dgellow wrote: post #133

About the author, Curtis Yarvin: > Curtis Guy Yarvin (born June 25, 1973), also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political theorist, blogger, and computer scientist.[1][6] He is known, along with fellow "neo-reactionary" thinker Nick Land, for developing the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic ideas behind the Dark Enlightenment. Yarvin and his ideas are often associated with the alt-r…

Wikipedia has an unfortunate habit of labelling anything as "far right" that is described as such by left wing or gullible journalists in left of centre mainstream publications. Mencius Moldbug may be far right, but he may alternatively just be a thinker not afraid to challenge liberal received wisdom. It's ok to disagree and fervently oppose but it's unfortunate when we descend into soundbite mud-slinging in service…

>It's ok to disagree and fervently oppose but it's unfortunate when we descend into soundbite mud-slinging in service of that opposition.

And where does anyone do that? As far as I'm concerned your post is just concern trolling.

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