History of Curtis Yarvin in Timeline

Curtis Yarvin, also known as Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political blogger and software developer. He is most notable as a founder, alongside Nick Land, of the Dark Enlightenment or neo-reactionary (NRx) movement. NRx is characterized by its anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic views, advocating for a return to traditional social hierarchies and often expressing skepticism towards modern political systems.

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Full Timeline Career & Achievements

1920: Referenced Thiel's essay

Yarvin referenced a 2009 essay by Peter Thiel, in which Thiel said that Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of 'capitalist democracy' into an oxymoron.

1973: Curtis Guy Yarvin's Birth

In 1973, Curtis Guy Yarvin was born into a liberal, secular family. His father worked as a diplomat for the US government, and his mother was a Protestant from Westchester County.

1985: Entered Johns Hopkins's Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth

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 working on a personal software project that eventually became the Urbit networked computing platform.

2002: Founded Urbit Computer Platform

In 2002, Yarvin founded the Urbit computer platform as a decentralized network of personal servers.

2007: Started Blog Unqualified Reservations

In 2007, Curtis Yarvin started the blog Unqualified Reservations to promote his political views and popularized the term "red pill" from The Matrix.

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2007: Published "A formalist manifesto" on Unqualified Reservations

In 2007, Yarvin published "A formalist manifesto" on Unqualified Reservations, calling his concept of aligning property rights with political power "formalism".

2008: First use of term "neoreactionary"

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

2008: Strengthened Libertarian Convictions Due to Financial Crisis

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

2009: Thiel's essay

In 2009, Yarvin referenced a 2009 essay by Peter Thiel, in which Thiel declared: "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible .... Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women—two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians—have rendered the notion of 'capitalist democracy' into an oxymoron."

2009: Wrote about civil rights programs

In 2009, 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 Invested in Tlon Co-founder

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

2012: Introduced acronym "RAGE"

In 2012, Yarvin introduced the acronym "RAGE" (Retire All Government Employees) during a talk.

2012: Gave a Talk About Rebooting the American Government at the BIL Conference

In 2012, under his Moldbug pseudonym, Curtis Yarvin gave a talk about "rebooting" the American government at the BIL Conference. He advocated for the acronym "RAGE", defined as "Retire All Government Employees", and shared controversial views on World War II and political correctness.

2013: Srinivasan Advocated for Society run by Silicon Valley

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

2013: Co-founded Tlon

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

2013: Stopped Updating Unqualified Reservations

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

2014: Stopped Writing Unqualified Reservations Blog

In 2014, Curtis Yarvin stopped writing his blog "Unqualified Reservations".

April 2016: Announced Unqualified Reservations Completed its Mission

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

2016: Claimed to be "coaching Thiel"

In 2016, 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 Present on Urbit at LambdaConf 2016

In 2016, Yarvin was invited to present on the functional programming aspects of Urbit at LambdaConf 2016, which resulted in the withdrawal of five speakers, two sub-conferences, and several sponsors due to his controversial views.

February 2017: Public Attention After Politico Report on Bannon

In February 2017, Yarvin gained public attention after Politico reported that Steve Bannon, a White House Chief Strategist under Donald Trump, read Yarvin's blog. Yarvin denied direct contact with Bannon but joked about his White House contact being the Twitter user Bronze Age Pervert and later gave a copy of Bronze Age Pervert's book Bronze Age Mindset to Michael Anton.

Bronze Age Mindset

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January 2019: Yarvin Left Tlön

In January 2019, Yarvin left Tlön, but retained some involvement in Urbit's development.

2019: Left Tlon

In 2019, Curtis Yarvin left Tlon, the company he co-founded to oversee the Urbit project.

2020: Started Blogging on Gray Mirror

In 2020, Curtis Yarvin began blogging his views under the page name Gray Mirror, where he speculates on how to achieve a fascist coup in America and replace democracy with a new form of monarchy.

2020: Started Gray Mirror Newsletter

In 2020, Curtis Yarvin started his newsletter "Gray Mirror", in which he argues that American democracy is a failed experiment.

May 2021: Conversation about gaining power

In May 2021, Anton and Yarvin had a conversation where Yarvin argued 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 of a rare hereditary condition.

2021: Cited as an influence by JD Vance

In 2021, Vice-president JD Vance cited Curtis Yarvin as an influence and made controversial comments regarding firing midlevel bureaucrats if Trump were to become president again.

2023: Thiel's comments

In 2023, Thiel told The Atlantic he didn't think Yarvin's ideas would "work" but found him to be an "interesting and powerful" historian.

2024: Married Kristine Militello

In 2024, Curtis Yarvin married Kristine Militello.

January 2025: Attended Trump Inaugural Gala

In January 2025, Curtis Yarvin attended a Trump inaugural gala in Washington, D.C., where he was considered "an informal guest of honor" due to his influence over the Trumpian right.

January 2025: Comments on FDR in NYT Interview

In a January 2025 New York Times interview, Yarvin claimed that Franklin Delano Roosevelt took absolute power during his presidency, drawing criticism for oversimplification and cherry-picking historical interpretations.

January 2025: Hypothetical authoritarian president

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".