Tyler Bass
Forbidden Knowledge TV
June 13, 2015
This month, Strange Loop software conference decided to exclude developer Curtis Yarvin from a speaking engagement, incensing members of the “dark enlightenment†monarchist movement who consider Yarvin their leader. Strange Loop had previously scheduled Yarvin, who has written under the pen name “Mencius Moldburg,” to speak about his software system stack Urbit.
Over the past decade, Yarvin had used his blog “Unqualified Reservations†to rail against democracy – this week, drawing particular ire from tech-conference organizers for his contention race has biological roots justifying chattel slavery. As his Strange Loop talk was to be only on the subject of software, Yarvin’s sympathizers believe his exclusion represents a dangerous, albeit inevitable, cultural precedent for political tolerance.
Alex Miller, who is organizing the St. Louis, Mo.-based conference, made the rejection call even though he said he had never read any of Yarvin’s writings. Nonetheless, a Miller email to Yarvin read in part: “[I]t is clear to me that your opinions in areas outside your talk are concerning enough for a significantly large number of attendees that those reactions are overshadowing the talk and acting as a distraction for launching the conference as a whole.â€
At the 2012 BIL Conference, which is not unlike TED, Yarvin laid out why he thought Americans should overthrow their government.
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