Gurometer: Curtis Yarvin
Added 2025-01-02 08:37:30 +0000 UTCBack once again with the dark art of Gurometry, we turn our sights to the bad boy of Silicon Valley—the mulleted maestro, the edgy eejit, Curtis Yarvin. A legend in his own mind, but how does he rank on the Gurosity scale? Join us as we dissect his essence across 11 factors, from his revolutionarily mundane and incoherent ideas to his dazzling absence of charisma. Tune in as we feed this 'dark enlightenment' thinker into the Gurometer and reveal his true colors.
00:00 Introduction to Gurometry
02:27 Curtis Yarvin: The Man, The Myth, The Eejit
04:43 Galaxy Brainlessness
05:48 Cultishness
08:32 Anti-Establishmentarianism
09:55 Grievance Mongering
12:43 Self-Aggrandizement and Narcissism
13:30 Cassandra Complex
16:21 Revolutionary Theories
17:59 Pseudo-Profound Bullshit
19:43 Conspiracy Theories Galore
23:55 Moral Grandstanding
25:50 Grommeter Scores and Analysis
27:56 Bonus Point Attribution
34:03 Final Thoughts on Curtis Yarvin
Comments
[Nerd notes: the pen name 'Mencius Moldbug' as a pun on both 'Mencisu' (a Confucian / Ru-ist writer who advocated for fealty to the concept of 'parent' and 'sovereign' over the realities of who/what they were, so one might treat one's father as 'father' rather than as 'that drunken ass**** who abandoned me', etc) and on 'Goldbug', a term for gold-standard advocates in economics. The choice of that name is pretty much the clearest Yarvin ever gets to articulating his views.]
Ymirsdreams
2025-01-12 07:16:06 +0000 UTCSo apparently reading micro book summaries is a thing bros do now to make them feel wise, smart and well-read. I think this is what Curtis does (and so many of the other guru aspirants and their followers). They only sound super-smart to people who haven’t actually read the works being referenced. You hear it all the time. (Before the internet, there was a book called “A dictionary of Cultural Literacy” that did something similar.) They have the most superficial of understandings that they convince themselves and others is deep. But it isn’t deep at all … this is why it’s mystifying that they are taken seriously at all. (But also explains how they can move on from a full throated New Atheism to Stoicism to Christianity to whatever “philosophy” becomes part of the zeitgeist. The shallowness of understanding explains the restlessness.) Take Yarvin’s basic assertion that monarchy is a superior form of government. He can’t answer why because he only read summaries of some perennial philosophers who claim the same. Their reasoning boils down to the divine right of kings (which is the only rationale for monarchy that sufficiently answers the question as to how and who chooses: God does.) The philosophizing that gets them there isn’t in the summaries (or introductions) which is probably why Yarvin can’t get anybody there except other bros who haven’t actually read anything but vaguely need to believe that they would be in one of the elites.
KBDaxio
2025-01-10 13:55:08 +0000 UTCIt shouldn’t be
Christopher Kavanagh
2025-01-09 08:16:53 +0000 UTCTop Mattrix content: ‘He makes me think of Jordan Peterson with a kind of Romantic Nostalgia.’
john statham
2025-01-06 19:32:31 +0000 UTCNo way! I thought it was written for Hitchhiker's Guide. I had no idea there was a full version out there.
Tim Crittenden
2025-01-06 18:42:26 +0000 UTCAnd believe it or not, the source material was "Journey of the Sorcerer" by The Eagles
JustTheWorstEver
2025-01-06 18:33:35 +0000 UTCWow, I've been listening to the HHG radio plays recently but I hadn't noticed that until you mentioned it!
Philip Grant
2025-01-04 17:11:53 +0000 UTCMatt's friend made it but I believe that was part of the inspiration!
Christopher Kavanagh
2025-01-04 11:48:09 +0000 UTCHi, is the RSS feed down?
Daniel
2025-01-04 08:02:12 +0000 UTCIs your theme tune an Indian take on the intro theme from the old Hitchhiker's Guide radio play?
Tim Crittenden
2025-01-04 00:19:31 +0000 UTCIt seems like he would be better off working in the shadows and staying behind the scenes, creating the air of an arcane thinker one can refer to for guru credibility, rather than being out in the open for all to see. I feel like his brand suffers when he is exposed to too much light.
Linda Sears
2025-01-03 17:12:54 +0000 UTCSomething about his style feels like it might be particularly appealing and validating for "Silicon Valley Right" types. A kind of "here are the hacks that let you understand history and society" vibe, combined with "of course, the smart people like us should be in charge", and faux-concern for the "useless people" who don't know how to code and might even never have heard of Medium or Substack.
Philip Grant
2025-01-03 16:45:14 +0000 UTCTrue dat
John S Durst
2025-01-03 05:55:28 +0000 UTCI think he brown-nosed the right people, L, and said vague things that justify what they would've done anyway 🤷♂️ My contempt for him is profound -- just. I'd expected more, d'know?
John S Durst
2025-01-03 05:53:28 +0000 UTCOoh, that's a point. I think most gurus would be hedgehogs, but galaxy brained-ness implies fox-ness. (Never mind bringing neuroscience and brain hemispheres into it...!)
John S Durst
2025-01-03 05:46:31 +0000 UTCVery entertaining! I wanted to suggest another category for the guru meter. Is the guru a hedgehog or a fox? As described by Isaiah Berlin in his 1953 essay
Mark Francis
2025-01-03 00:46:11 +0000 UTCI think a lot of it is that he kind of sounds educated and well informed while being a right wing edge lord. He isn't just another troll and gives those views a very thin veneer of legitimacy.
Bernt Goodson
2025-01-03 00:39:36 +0000 UTCHe gets a 5 in grifting only if the only person we count at the grifted is Peter Theil
Gungy
2025-01-02 20:32:27 +0000 UTCI will give him a 5 in “eats his own ear wax”.
Jen
2025-01-02 18:29:23 +0000 UTCHe’s a guru coach.
Awakening Wonk
2025-01-02 15:45:31 +0000 UTCI admit that I am struggling with getting why Yarvin is so influential. I can understand the appeal of Peterson, the Weinsteins, Rogan, Dr. K, Huberman, Musk, and even (shudder) Russel Brand. Can anyone explain? Is it because he came up during the early days of the internet, which makes him appear to be a sage?
Linda Sears
2025-01-02 14:45:56 +0000 UTCWhich begs the question, do gurus become even more incomprehensible when they are gurus of gurus?
Linda Sears
2025-01-02 14:20:26 +0000 UTCCurtis has really got under your skin Matt 😂. I was wondering if maybe you were just a bit tired from your travels during the decoding episode. But no, it’s just Curtis! Chris needed to be solid, to steady the ship. What a team! This is a guru I’ve never heard of and will avoid. Your sacrifice has not been in vein. 😜
Neil vdp
2025-01-02 10:26:37 +0000 UTCAs the guru’s guru, Curtis should score high on the gurometer.
Kurt Ressler
2025-01-02 08:50:53 +0000 UTC
