I know the clickbait / rage articles about him. I want to know what actual HN users think.
its-summertime · 3h ago
There are comments along with each article submitted to Hacker News
ai_critic · 6h ago
He's a windbag and perhaps the best example of how some people really just need a wedgie.
That said, he does raise some interesting points--in extremely roundabout ways--and it's incredibly telling how different people react to him. The amazing amount of butthurt und sturm und drang that comes up whenever urbit is mentioned, for example, is almost always due to political/tribal stuff and not due to technical deficiencies or the deliberate obfuscation of whatever ideas actually might be there.
I think he's basically riding coats of the populist MAGA movement at this point in an almost ESR "I helped make this" sort of way, and while an interesting footnote in the evolution of NRx he's basically just an edgelord with some extra money.
wmf · 1h ago
I keep seeing people credit Yarvin with the rise of the alt-right or MAGA but I don't see any elements of NRx in MAGA other than the edgy attitude. None of his ideas have been implemented or if they have it's by accident. Of course his writing is so obfuscated I guess he could use hindsight to twist his own words into something like a correct prediction.
mindcrime · 5h ago
Never heard of him.
bigyabai · 6h ago
He's like a neoconservative Žižek. His party uses him to confuse and anger opponents, as a method to deflect criticism away from matters concerning policy or influence.
His original bibliography is largely ignored in polsci circles, found most often next to a print copy of Protocols of the Elders or somesuch conspiracy.
ai_critic · 6h ago
Perhaps, but Zizek is at least funny and so on and so on.
That said, he does raise some interesting points--in extremely roundabout ways--and it's incredibly telling how different people react to him. The amazing amount of butthurt und sturm und drang that comes up whenever urbit is mentioned, for example, is almost always due to political/tribal stuff and not due to technical deficiencies or the deliberate obfuscation of whatever ideas actually might be there.
I think he's basically riding coats of the populist MAGA movement at this point in an almost ESR "I helped make this" sort of way, and while an interesting footnote in the evolution of NRx he's basically just an edgelord with some extra money.
His original bibliography is largely ignored in polsci circles, found most often next to a print copy of Protocols of the Elders or somesuch conspiracy.