These are modern thinkers applying Traditionalist and reactionary ideas to current politics and technology.
Curtis Yarvin / Mencius Moldbug
Essential Works (Blog Essays):
- A Gentle Introduction to Unqualified Reservations – His manifesto
- An Open Letter to Open-Minded Progressives – Critique of the Cathedral
- How Dawkins Got Pwned – Memetics and ideology
- Patchwork – Political theory of decentralized sovereignty
Key Ideas:
- The Cathedral – Progressive ideology as quasi-religious orthodoxy enforced by media, academia, and bureaucracy
- Democracy as failed operating system – Needs to be replaced with CEO-style governance (not elected leaders)
- Neocameralism – Sovereign corporations competing for citizens
- Formalism – Make power structures explicit rather than hidden
- Exit over voice – Leave bad systems rather than trying to reform them
Why Essential: Yarvin updates reactionary monarchism for the digital age. He's controversial and deliberately provocative, but intellectually rigorous.
Nick Land
Accelerationist/Cybergothic Reactionary
Essential Works:
- The Dark Enlightenment (essay) – Neoreactionary manifesto
- Fanged Noumena – Collected philosophical writings
- Meltdown – Accelerationism and techno-capital singularity
Key Ideas:
- HBD (Human Biodiversity) – Genetic differences matter
- Gnon (Nature or Nature's God) – Reality has its own harsh logic that democracy denies
- Accelerationism – Speed up capitalism and technology to their conclusion
- Exit – Seasteading, charter cities, secession from failed states