User:Decomposing Zoomer/sandbox

Urbit is a decentralized personal server platform. The platform seeks to deconstruct the client-server model in favour of a federated network of personal servers in a peer-to-peer network with a consistent digital identity.

Overview
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 routing system consists approximately of 255 "galaxies", 65,000 "stars", 4 billion "planets" and 4.3 trillion "moons", which respectively function similarly to DNSs, ISPs, personal computers and devices that connect to them.

Co-founder Galen Wolfe-Pauly claims that Urbit can have an all-purpose functionality akin to WeChat, albeit with the end user retaining data ownership.

Background
The Urbit platform was conceived of in 2002 by neo-reactionary thinker Curtis Yarvin. 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 has been described as "complicated for even the most seasoned of functional programmers".

OS1
Urbit OS1 launched in April 2020. This consisted of a group messaging app, a message board, a note-taking system, and several simple apps such as a clock and a weather meter.

Politics and controversy
In 2015, Yarvin's invitation to the Strange Loop conference was rescinded; the conference organizer said Yarvin's "mere inclusion and/or presence would overshadow the content of his talk." In 2016 after Urbit founder Curtis Yarvin was invited to the functional programming conference LambdaConf, five speakers and three sponsors withdrew their participation due to their stated opposition to Yarvin's political views.

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

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