History of Curtis Yarvin in Timeline

Curtis Yarvin, also known as Mencius Moldbug, is a far-right American blogger and a key figure in the Dark Enlightenment, or neo-reactionary movement (NRx). Along with philosopher Nick Land, Yarvin is considered a founder of this anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic philosophical movement.

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Full Timeline Career & Achievements

1920: Thiel's observation since 1920

Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women have rendered the notion of 'capitalist democracy' into an oxymoron

1973: Curtis Yarvin's Birth

In 1973, Curtis Guy Yarvin was born into a liberal, secular family.

1985: Entered Johns Hopkins program

In 1985, Curtis Yarvin entered Johns Hopkins's longitudinal Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth.

1988: Graduated from Wilde Lake High School

In 1988, Curtis Yarvin graduated from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland.

1992: Graduated from Brown University

In 1992, Curtis Yarvin graduated from Brown University.

2002: Began work on Urbit

In 2002, Curtis Yarvin began work on the Urbit networked computing platform.

2002: Founded Urbit platform

In 2002, Curtis Yarvin founded the Urbit computer platform.

2007: Began Unqualified Reservations blog

In 2007, Curtis Yarvin began the blog Unqualified Reservations to promote his political views.

2007: Published "A formalist manifesto"

In 2007, Curtis Yarvin published "A formalist manifesto" on Unqualified Reservations, outlining his concept of "formalism".

2008: First use of "neoreactionary"

In 2008, Curtis Yarvin first used the term "neoreactionary" to describe his project.

2008: Financial crisis strengthened libertarian convictions

In 2008, the federal response to the financial crisis strengthened Curtis Yarvin's libertarian convictions.

2009: Thiel's essay

In 2009, Curtis Yarvin pointed to an essay by Peter Thiel, where the latter declared: "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible".

2009: Wrote about US civil rights programs

In 2009, Curtis Yarvin wrote that since US civil rights programs were "applied to populations with recent hunter-gatherer ancestry and no great reputation for sturdy moral fiber", the result was "absolute human garbage".

2011: Thiel gave money to Tlon's co-founder

In 2011, Peter Thiel gave $100,000 to John Burnham, co-founder of Curtis Yarvin's startup Tlon.

2012: Wrote about Retire All Government Employees or RAGE

In 2012, Curtis Yarvin wrote about Retire All Government Employees or RAGE.

2012: Gave talk at BIL Conference

In 2012, under his pseudonym Mencius Moldbug, Curtis Yarvin gave a talk about "rebooting" the American government at the BIL Conference, advocating for "RAGE" (Retire All Government Employees).

2013: Srinivasan advocated society run by Silicon Valley

In 2013, Balaji Srinivasan advocated in a speech for a "society run by Silicon Valley ... an opt-in society, ultimately outside the US, run by technology", echoing Curtis Yarvin's ideas.

2013: Co-founded Tlön Corp

In 2013, Curtis Yarvin co-founded Tlön Corp to develop Urbit with funding from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund.

2013: Co-founded Tlon to oversee Urbit

In 2013, Curtis Yarvin co-founded the company Tlon to oversee the Urbit project.

2013: Focused on Urbit

In 2013, Curtis Yarvin largely stopped updating his blog to focus on Urbit.

2014: Stopped writing Unqualified Reservations

In 2014, Curtis Yarvin stopped writing Unqualified Reservations blog.

April 2016: Unqualified Reservations completed its mission

In April 2016, Curtis Yarvin announced that Unqualified Reservations had "completed its mission".

2016: Coaching Peter Thiel

In 2016, Curtis Yarvin privately asserted to Milo Yiannopoulos that he had been "coaching Thiel" and that he had watched the 2016 US election at Thiel's house.

2016: Invited to LambdaConf 2016

In 2016, Curtis Yarvin's invitation to present on Urbit at LambdaConf 2016 led to withdrawals of speakers and sponsors.

February 2017: Public attention on Bannon's influence

In February 2017, Curtis Yarvin came to public attention when Politico reported that Steve Bannon read his blog and communicated with Bannon's aides.

January 2019: Left Tlön Corp

In January 2019, Curtis Yarvin left Tlön Corp, while retaining some involvement with Urbit's development.

2019: Left Tlon

In 2019, Curtis Yarvin left the company Tlon.

2020: Began Gray Mirror

In 2020, Curtis Yarvin began blogging his views under the page name Gray Mirror, speculating on achieving a fascist coup in America.

2020: Started Gray Mirror newsletter

In 2020, Curtis Yarvin started writing the Gray Mirror newsletter.

May 2021: Conversation about presidential power

In a May 2021 conversation, Michael Anton said Curtis Yarvin was arguing that a president could "gain power lawfully through an election, and then exercise it unlawfully".

2021: Death of Jennifer Kollmer

In 2021, Curtis Yarvin's wife, Jennifer Kollmer, died. They had two children together.

2021: JD Vance cited Yarvin as an influence

In 2021, Vice-president JD Vance cited Curtis Yarvin as an influence.

2024: Married Kristine Militello

In 2024, Curtis Yarvin married Kristine Militello.

January 2025: Hypothetical authoritarian president taking office

Curtis Yarvin said that if a hypothetical authoritarian president were to take office in January 2025, "you can't continue to have a Harvard or a New York Times past since perhaps the start of April".

January 2025: Attended Trump inaugural gala

In January 2025, Curtis Yarvin attended a Trump inaugural gala in Washington D.C., as an informal guest of honor.

January 2025: New York Times interview

In a January 2025 New York Times interview, Curtis Yarvin suggested historical precedent for his reasoning, referencing Franklin Delano Roosevelt's actions.