[lisper]

OK, well, that's pretty much how I see it, except for one thing: I am vehemently opposed to making things unnecessarily complicated in order to keep out the riff-raff, and I don't think one needs to resort to any conspiracy theories in order to take that position. (If anything, there seems to be a fundamental contradiction between Urbit's stated goal of (re-)democratizing the internet and Curtis's approach. That and the fact that they sold address space for cash. But at this point that is neither here nor there.)

Ironically, I agree with Urbit's stated goal of making it easier to run your own server. The reason I say "good riddance" that I was pretty sure that Curtis's approach would fail, and Urbit would implode sooner or later. But as long as it was alive (and funded by Peter Thiel) it was sucking all the oxygen out of the room.