literature.cafe

Hey Lemmy! Time to do some digging!

I was sent a link from a friend about some Totally Cool™ guy who has close ties to JD Vance: Curtis Yarvin. Anyone aware of this guy and his desires? I won't put the link in here as my last post was removed because of it, but a comment within the thread is copied below.

Apparently Japanese media covered the story as was posted to Reddit, but there doesn't seem to be too much talk of this in the US.

From a comment in the reddit discussion: “Curtis Yarvin is a far-right ‘intellectual’ that wants to end democracy and install what I can only really describe as cyberpunk feudalism. He’s suggested turning the United States into a patchwork of corporate fiefdoms ruled with absolute impunity by CEOs, as well as putting mandatory ankle monitors on all unemployed and poor people. This sounds like a joke, but I’m serious. JD Vance is not just a fan of him intellectually, but also a personal friend. As someone who has known about Yarvin for several years, it’s been really concerning seeing how he could potentially become a Rasputin-like figure in the event of a Trump victory. Beyond this, Yarvin has also spent many years advocating for what sounds eerily like Project 2025.”

Links within comment:

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

https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techno-authoritarian-ideas

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23373795/curtis-yarvin-neoreaction-redpill-moldbug

For those familiar with Star Citizen lore, he apparently wants to turn the US into the Stanton system “lol” …

Archived version

In 2008, a software developer in San Francisco named Curtis Yarvin, writing under a pseudonym, proposed a horrific solution for people he deemed “not productive”: “convert them into biodiesel, which can help power the Muni buses.”

Yarvin, a self-described reactionary and extremist who was 35 years old at the time, clarified that he was “just kidding.” But then he continued, “The trouble with the biodiesel solution is that no one would want to live in a city whose public transportation was fueled, even just partly, by the distilled remains of its late underclass. However, it helps us describe the problem we are trying to solve. Our goal, in short, is a humane alternative to genocide.”

He then concluded that the “best humane alternative to genocide” is to “virtualize” these people: Imprison them in “permanent solitary confinement” where, to avoid making them insane, they would be connected to an “immersive virtual-reality interface” so they could “experience a rich, fulfilling life in a completely imaginary world.”

Yarvin’s disturbing manifestos have earned him influential followers, chief among them: tech billionaire Peter Thiel and his onetime Silicon Valley protégé Senator J.D. Vance, whom the Republican Party just nominated to be Donald Trump’s vice president. If Trump wins the election, there is little doubt that Vance will bring Yarvin’s twisted techno-authoritarianism to the White House, and one can imagine—with horror—what a receptive would-be autocrat like Trump might do with those ideas.

Trump’s first campaign was undoubtedly a watershed moment for authoritarianism in American politics, but some thinkers on the right had been laying the groundwork for years, hoping for someone to mainstream their ideas. Yarvin was one of them.

Short Summary

The article delves into the unsettling ideological influence of Curtis Yarvin, a software developer known for extreme views on societal restructuring. Yarvin advocates for dystopian solutions like converting unproductive people into biodiesel and virtualizing them into permanent solitary confinement, ideas that have attracted influential figures like Peter Thiel and J.D. Vance.

Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire, and Vance, a former Silicon Valley insider and now a Republican senator, are closely aligned with Yarvin's concepts. Thiel, particularly, has funded Vance's political career, elevating him into positions of influence within the GOP. Yarvin's philosophy, labeled neoreaction or NRx, promotes authoritarian governance and dismantling traditional governments in favor of corporate-controlled micro-states called "patchworks."

Vance, shaped by his time in San Francisco and mentored by Thiel, echoes Yarvin's radical ideas, advocating for extreme measures like political purges and the replacement of civil servants to consolidate power. His rise within Republican circles, backed by Thiel's financial and strategic support, underscores a growing convergence of tech wealth and political power aiming to reshape American governance along authoritarian lines.