/ratanon/ -Urbit

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File: 95c2f70b7f9b321⋯.png (11.01 KB,480x480,1:1,urbit_logo.png)

Urbit Anonymous 04/15/20 (Wed) 19:46:34 No.14591

What do we think about it, /ratanon/? Is it a nascent tech cult whose adherents adopt ritualistic identities, write incomprehensible code in esoteric languages, and plan the overthrow of the Internet's world order? Is its use of hierarchical infrastructure nodes a plot by the evil Mencius Moldbug to brainwash techies into accepting neoreactionary ideas? Is it trendy Silicon Valley vaporware number infinity? Or is it, dare I say it, the future of computing?

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Anonymous 04/16/20 (Thu) 08:26:24 No.14593

It is not trendy at all, unfortunately. It is one of the most important software projects in existence, and it has been compromised by Curtis Yarvin's love for the obscure. Decentralization of the Internet will determine the intellectual future of civilization. Continued centralized control by the likes of Google, Facebook and Cloudflare, the sheer difficulty of competing with them will retard technological progress and protect self-destructive government policy from criticism. Most players in the market are trying to decentralize data (IPFS) or federate data and identity (SOLID). Nobody is doing distributed applications in as fundamental and principled a way as Urbit. And at Tlon they are risking it all because CY couldn't bring himself to design a more conventional VM and programming language or to make the implementation easier for an outsider to comprehend and work on. For everyone's sake I hope this part of the design was his stroke of genius, not stupidity. If not, other developers inspired by Urbit will have to try to create a viable global computer.

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Anonymous 04/16/20 (Thu) 16:48:24 No.14598

>>14593

>And at Tlon they are risking it all because CY couldn't bring himself to design a more conventional VM and programming language or to make the implementation easier for an outsider to comprehend and work on.

There's no low-risk way to attempt a coup of Big Tech, so it looks like you're arguing that the particular risks he chose to take are misguided.

I think that while Yarvin does love the obscure for its own sake, he is using it instrumentally in the case of Urbit. Many verysmart HackerNews commenters argue that Urbit is like a cult but fail to specify why a cult is a bad thing. Having a uniquely dedicated group of early adopters seems like a potential strength. (And the tech does work. The cultists aren't drinking snake oil.) The tradeoff is that any casually interested programmers won't be able to contribute the odd bug fix or suggestion. I think 80/20 suggests that this isn't a huge detriment.

>a more conventional VM

My impression so far is that the unconventional aspects of Arvo are improvements rather than mere changes compared to current operating systems. If the Urbit network is actually going to replace the current paradigm, might as well break multiple things at once within a single period of chaos.

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