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Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

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Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#151

Post by runako »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #122
runako wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> society is beginning to burn through its seed corn This is mostly true in the US, where a defining characteristic of the population is a belief that we cannot do better or have more, that things will always continue to get worse, and that everyone is out to take advantage of you all the time. Other countries continue to invest in the future. China, among others, do not suffer the current American fatalism.

> This is mostly true in the US, where a defining characteristic of the population is a belief that we cannot do better or have more, that things will always continue to get worse, and that everyone is out to take advantage of you all the time. As an American immigrant, this does not seem at all true to me, from either angle - I don't think that this is a defining characteristic of Americans, nor do I think that othe…

First, I am glad you are here. Since you mention that you are an immigrant, it's worth noting that the ascendant anti-immigrant fervor is a direct expression of pessimism about our future. It's a statement that there's not enough to go around, that growth is not possible. It says that in order for me to do better, I must shrink the denominator because the numerator cannot get bigger.

The optimistic USA of the 1980s saw better days ahead, and so the presence of immigrants did not have the salience it has today. Ronald Reagan even had the latitude to enact an amnesty on the undocumented.

> I don't think that this is a defining characteristic of Americans

Here I would just ask you to look at our realized policy as the best expression of our characteristics. We don't build, or even really believe that building is possible. When we are asked to choose, we routinely cut education and healthcare. These are not signs of optimism.

The pessimism has only grown; twenty years ago, it was considered possible that Americans could enjoy universal healthcare of the sort that exists in the (generally poorer) countries of Western Europe. Today, in a much wealthier America, even the suggestion has vanished from the realm of the possible and we are headed in the opposite direction.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#152

Post by kiitos »

archagon wrote: post #104

On the subject of Yarvin, I really appreciate FrankWilhoit's take[1]: > Yarvin is only another horribly damaged person, squealing in pain in a pseudointellectual vocabulary. He has neither knowledge nor insight, but a gift for miming these things. The questions are, first, how might we stop so many children from being psychically tortured so that their minds become piles of bloody shred like this, and then second, wh…

Extraordinarily good stuff! Thanks for sharing, I haven't seen it before.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#153

Post by soulofmischief »

cempaka wrote: post #93
bdangubic wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

countries have no friends or enemies, only national interests

"Countries" as such do not have interests, no. This is a line the ruling class puts out when it wants to obscure the fact that its own interests are always prioritized, often to the great detriment of the vast majority of the country. One could perhaps say that "governments" have interests, and in that case the interests of a genuine socialist state and an authoritarian regime that's just pretending to be one are qui…

Governments have interests, people have interests, both are interested in the future of their country, which is just land.

This is why I am careful to delineate my patriotism as to my country, land and people, but specifically not my corporate government, who are greedy, genocidal, parasitic traitors to the Constitution and to humanity. A kangaroo court controlled by organized crime.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#154

Post by TimorousBestie »

cassepipe wrote: post #89
blactuary wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

I’ve read LessWrong on and off since 2014. Read SSC and ACX semi-regularly. Scott’s a crank. He writes convincingly, he understands charisma and style, but he just can’t hold his own in an intellectual exchange.

Just last week he and Tyler Cowen of Marginial Revolution got into a dispute over USAID and DOGE and the degree to which Scott fails over and over again to read otherwise simple sentences is staggering.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#155

Post by bee_rider »

exizt88 wrote: post #67

One of my favorite things about Curtis Yarvin is that one of his main ideas is laughably easy to prove wrong. He says that whenever we go into the past, the previous generation seems to be more "right-wing" than the current one. Which is almost comically wrong. For example, you get Victorian Era being much more conservative than its predecessor, Georgian Era. Same goes for Christian Roman Empire vs Pagan Roman Empire…

I actually don’t even know what this means, in the sense that “right wing” and “left wing” are sort of… relative and semi-modern concepts.

Like, more right wing as in more conservative? More religious? More monarchist? Something about seating arrangements in France?

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#156

Post by n4r9 »

unsigner wrote: post #65
mikrl wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My philosophical excursions eventually led me to his writings, but I never found what I read to be inspiring or substantial. Pretty much like Ayn Rand in that respect. Like a precocious undergrad who just discovered set theory and thinks he’s king of the… uhh sovereign corporation? Lots of literary references though. Borges, of course gave him Urbit/Tlon[0], and wrote some racially spicy stuff in his day. Pretty sure…

you're not wrong about most of this, but anti-semitic? he's very openly Jewish

His father was Jewish but his mother is said to be a Protestant. He doesn't describe himself as Jewish as far as I can see.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#157

Post by sanderjd »

homefree wrote: post #133
n2d4 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes Scott a crank?

[flagged]

I have noticed this too. I've only ever read him off and on, and I get the feeling that he must have written something during one of the periods I wasn't reading his still at all that got him "canceled", but I have no idea what it was.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#158

Post by eikenberry »

MrZongle2 wrote: post #139
eikenberry wrote: post #110

Didn't have time to make it through the entire (long winded) article, but is it wrong to boil down his thinking to the simple idea that a benevolent, competent dictator is the best form of government? I ask as this seems like a very simplistic and obvious idea. The problem isn't that this is necessarily incorrect, it is how do you find this mythical figurehead? History has shown that we have never discovered a system…

benevolent, competent dictator Choose one.

Most are neither and what you get seems more like a roll of the dice than anyone choosing.

Re: Curtis Yarvin's Plot Against America

#160

Post by biophysboy »

underlipton wrote: post #131
biophysboy wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A sci-fi variant of autocracy is not an interesting idea though. Why is a CEO king and a royal board of directors interesting? Its not even novel: his proposal is identical to that laid out by the "technocracy" movement a century ago.

Tangential: I'm reminded of the sadly stillborn Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and its apparent ambition to present a "modern" monarchy, styled visually with elements of both contemporary business and the mafia. You're right, there's nothing inherently noble or benevolent in autocracy; the king brought forward to the present isn't a statesman or innovator, he's a robber baron or a crime boss. I kind of lament that that s…

That is a shame - sounds like a fun idea for a JRPG.

Bioshock sort of touches on technocracy, but its more post-apocalyptic. A game that spans the rise and fall of a "board of great geniuses" would be great.

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