Curtis Yarvin

Curtis Guy Yarvin (born 1973), also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political blogger and software developer. He is known, along with accelerationist philosopher Nick Land, for founding the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic philosophical movement known as the Dark Enlightenment or neo-reactionary movement (NRx), which originated in the late 2000s. By the early 2020s, Yarvin and his ideas were noted as having growing ideological influence in the American Right, including among prominent figures such as Vice President JD Vance, and venture capitalist and Republican megadonor Peter Thiel.

In his blog Unqualified Reservations, which he wrote from 2007 to 2014, and in his later newsletter Gray Mirror, which he started in 2020, he argues that American democracy is a failed experiment that should be replaced by an accountable monarchy, similar to the governance structure of corporations. In 2002, Yarvin began work on a personal software project that eventually became the Urbit networked computing platform. In 2013, he co-founded the company Tlon to oversee the Urbit project and helped lead it until 2019. He made a return to the company in 2024, described as having a "wartime C.E.O" role.

Yarvin has been described as a "neo-reactionary", "neo-monarchist" and "neo-feudalist" who "sees liberalism as creating a Matrix-like totalitarian system, and who wants to replace American democracy with a sort of techno-monarchy". He has defended the institution of slavery, and has suggested that certain races may be more naturally inclined toward servitude than others. He has argued that whites have inherently higher IQs than black people, and opposes US civil rights programs.

Yarvin has influenced some prominent Silicon Valley investors and Republican politicians. Political strategist Steve Bannon has read and admired his work. Vice President JD Vance "has cited Yarvin as an influence himself". Michael Anton, the State Department Director of Policy Planning during Trump's second presidency, has also discussed Yarvin's ideas. In January 2025, Yarvin attended a Trump inaugural gala in Washington; Politico reported he was "an informal guest of honor" due to his "outsize[d] influence over the Trumpian right".