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Urbit

urbit.org

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Re: Urbit

#131

Post by obituary_latte »

phs318u wrote: post #92
theamk wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Urbit “planet” is like a VM, but running an OS developed completely independently from existing computing words. There is a custom language, a custom network layer, a custom cryptography and custom identity system. There are even custom words for common terms. This has no GUI, but it does has a web interface that you can connect to. From the practical standpoint, you have a linux process running from a data directory…

> custom cryptography Just lost me. > you are only supposed to interact with it by running it and typing commands So, "the last computer you'll ever need" ... other than my phone, because the last time I wanted to type commands on a phone-sized device, was back when I was wet-dreaming over the Sharp Zaurus. Given the artificial scarcity of the IDs and the semi-mystical woo describing the proposition, my spidey-sense…

Oh man I remember the first time my buddy showed me his Zaurus out front of a bar in NYC - he had some kind of Remote Desktop with a Linux shell in that tiny screen. He had to scroll around to see stuff with the stylus in a not-so-user-friendly a manner and the input was slow as balls but I was absolutely enamored. I at the time was very proud of my newly released Motorola Razr in my pocket yet here was my buddy with this magic device showing me up. Thanks for the trip :)

Re: Urbit

#132

Post by IronBacon »

I don't recall to have heard about it before and to be honest the far right and racists remarks posted by others about the project founder make me uncomfortable, but the last few lines where they introduce the "Dojo" with a REPL and a Lisp like syntax, that was interesting...

Re: Urbit

#133

Post by dgellow »

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-right.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin

Re: Urbit

#134

Post by cookiecaper »

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 (literally scare away) basically everyone.

This style of issuing a large corpus of dicta that comprise "the One True Way" never works, not even in actual bona fide religion. Systems and protocols that last are built iteratively by collaborators across institutions, each piece finding immediate utility as it's integrated and deployed.

The big question around Urbit is not whether it will succeed -- rather, it's whether Yarvin will appreciate that he's rapidly disproved the nascent brand of proto-monarchist philosophy Urbit was meant to realize. [0]

See also: Pontormo at San Lorenzo [1], Xanadu [2]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Enlightenment

[1] https://blog.garrytan.com/always-be-shipping-a-lesson-from-j...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu

Re: Urbit

#135

Post by nabla9 »

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.

Re: Urbit

#137

Post by mkl »

crazygringo wrote: post #42

For all the other commenters who couldn't understand what the heck this is (like myself)... Wikipedia at least gives a fairly straightforward explanation [1]: > Urbit is a decentralized personal server platform. The platform seeks to deconstruct the client-server model in favour of a federated network of personal servers in a peer-to-peer network with a consistent digital identity. > The Urbit software stack consists…

The (now deleted!) "Urbit overview" page on urbit.org [1] is probably clearer, but still doesn't really make sense to me.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20190114175600/https://urbit.org...

Re: Urbit

#138

Post by jevgeni »

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…

Thanks for the heads up

Re: Urbit

#139

Post by westoncb »

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.
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