Ep 43. Moldbug vs Chomsky hypothetical debate on #power #democracy #media

The mindcrime liberty show discusses what a hypothetical Noam Chomsky versus Moldbug (aka Curtis Yarvin) debate might look like comparing and contrasting their agreements and disagreements. This conversation is structured in the format done by Alasdair MacIntyre in  his book After Virtue, Dallas Willard in Nietzsche versus Christ at the veritas forum or especially the book the Great Debate Burke and Paine (ie it’s not a real  live debate if one is thinking that).  Both Chomsky and Moldbug somewhat ironically end up with the same view of America and its various Satellites/vassal states around the world: they are undemocratic oligarchies. This is clearly demonstrated in Chomsky's book manufacturing consent which takes aim at the corporate press and if you examine what Moldbug would call the cathedral they both end up with roughly analogous models albeit with quite different visions of what a better society would look like. Moldbug and Chomsky mainly differ on the question of democracy on both its feasibility and desirability. Moldbug of course has a low view of democracy which mirrors David Friedman's competitive dictatorship model as well as Hoppe's monarchy theory while Chomsky is a left anarchist. We also discuss Chomsky’s at times bizarre relationship with both academy and the corporate press considering his stance otherwise.

 

We selected these two thinkers because both Chomksy and Moldbug have similar class and social backgrounds and are two central figures in modern American/Western discourse for better or worse.  Chomsky casts quite the long shadow and is the Bertrand Russel of our time while Moldbug has cast his own influence with a seemingly small platform and for many years operating under his pen name.  Certain aspects of the mainstream right and left would regard both of them as dangerous or even quite frankly stupid.  That may be the case but their influence cannot be discounted and we both think they are very good representees of a certain intellectual debate existing in the current age  over democracy and its feasibility/desirability while at the same time having similar models of the existing society i.e an undemocratic oligarchy managed mainly by the corporate press and to some extent the education system.