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Urbit

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Urbit is a decentralized personal server platform aiming to "reboot computing" and "build a new internet on top of the old internet." By addressing macro-level problems inherent in the TCP/IP suite and Unix family of computers, and instead networking personal servers that communicate with each other, replacing the client-server relationship with a "digital land" model, the platform seeks to distributes the client-server relationship across all computers on the network.

The Urbit software stack consists of a set of programming languages ("Hoon," a high-level functional programming language, and "Nock," its low-level compiled language); a single-function operating system built on those languages ("Arvo"); a personal address space, built on the Ethereum blockchain, for each instance of the operating system to participate in a decentralized network ("Azimuth"); and the decentralized network itself, an encrypted, peer-to-peer protocol running on top of the User Datagram Protocol.

The Urbit platform was conceived and first developed in 2002 by Curtis Yarvin. It is currently developed by its parent company, the Tlon Corporation, which Yarvin founded with John Burnham, a Thiel Fellow, in 2013, though Burnham would later depart in 2014. The company has received seed funding from various investors since its inception, most notably Peter Thiel, whose Founders Fund, with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz invested $1.1 million in 2013.

The platform is known for being complicated and obscure, as a consequence of its approaches. It is also mired in controversy due to the opinions of its creator, Curtis Yarvin, and his association with the Dark Enlightenment.

Politics and controversy

Yarvin's reputation has resulted in Urbit's considerable controversy at public events and conferences, most notably at LambdaConf 2016, when Yarvin's inclusion at the event resulted in five speakers and three sponsors withdrawing their participation in response. Yarvin had previously had his invitation to the 2015 Strange Loop conference rescinded, with the conference's organizer noting that "his mere inclusion and/or presence would overshadow the content of his talk".

The source code and design sketches for the project have made various allusions that correspond to Yarvin's views, including initially classifying users as "lords," "dukes," and "earls." Yarvin and Tlon reject any ideological associations for the project, with Tlon CEO Galen Wolfe-Pauly responding that "the principles of Urbit are very palatable ... we're interested in giving people their freedom." Andrea O'Sullivan of Reason commented that "when you parse through the underlying values that guide the system, a rather libertarian ethos begins to emerge."

After seventeen years of working on the Urbit project, Yarvin departed Tlon in 2019.

References

  1. ^ Wolfe, Alexandra (2017). Valley of the Gods: A Silicon Valley Story. Simon and Schuster. pp. 219–222. ISBN 9781476778945.
  2. ^ O'Sullivan, Andrea (2016-06-21). "Can Urbit Reboot Computing?". Reason.com. Retrieved 2019-06-14. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ Lecher, Colin (2017-02-21). "Alt-right darling Mencius Moldbug wanted to destroy democracy. Now he wants to sell you web services". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  4. Yarvin, Curtis; Philip, Monk; Dyudin, Anton; Pasco, Raymond (May 26, 2016). "Urbit: A Solid-State Interpreter" (PDF). Tlon Corporation. Retrieved June 13, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  5. Pein, Corey (2018). "Poor Winners". Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 9781627794862.
  6. Townsend, Tess (2016-03-31). "Controversy Rages Over 'Pro-Slavery' Tech Speaker Curtis Yarvin". Inc.com. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  7. Auerbach, David (2015-06-10). "When All It Takes to Be Booted From a Tech Conference Is Being a "Distraction," We Have a Problem". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
  8. "A Founder's Farewell". Urbit.org. January 14, 2019. Retrieved June 13, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |dead-url= and |note= (help)

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