The Errors of Ayn Rand Why I No Longer Consider Myself an Objectivist
Posted by Dobrien 8 months, 4 weeks ago to Philosophy
“ In the summer of my 16th year, my mother gave me her tattered old copy of Atlas Shrugged. “Read it,” she said. “And learn how the world really works.”1
I was, as teenagers tend to be, suspicious. And the cover jacket seemed to suggest this was a book about… a motor that didn’t work? a missing person named John? A woman who liked trains? Not exactly my usual fare. But years earlier, my mother had introduced me to Tolkien, Howard, Heinlein, and Asimov; she had truly never steered me wrong. So I read Atlas Shrugged.”
I was, as teenagers tend to be, suspicious. And the cover jacket seemed to suggest this was a book about… a motor that didn’t work? a missing person named John? A woman who liked trains? Not exactly my usual fare. But years earlier, my mother had introduced me to Tolkien, Howard, Heinlein, and Asimov; she had truly never steered me wrong. So I read Atlas Shrugged.”
100+ years ago if you did not like how things were going, you could leave
today there is not place to "leave" to
government is everywhere
those that think they have the right and power to tell you how to live are everywhere
so until we have "starships" we are stuck dealing with them.....
Ayn Rand was not perfect
she gave us a different way to look at the world
how many others can say that?
A strict interpretation of the oath to "never live for the sake of another man" would be hard to live up to when it comes to raising children.
To an animal, the rearing of its young is a matter of temporary cycles. To man, it is a lifelong responsibility--a grave responsibility that must not be undertaken causelessly, thoughtlessly or accidentally.
In regard to the moral aspects of birth control, the primary right involved is not the "right" of an unborn child, nor of the family, nor of society, nor of God. The primary right is one which--in today's public clamor on the subject--few, if any, voices have had the courage to uphold: the right of man and woman to their own life and happiness--the right not to be regarded as the means to any end.
Source: The Voice of Reason, "Of Living Death," p. 55, by Ayn Rand , Jun 30, 1990
That said, I do believe in intuition. My wife's intuitions (ok, I know that sounds sexist) are much better than mine. But I'm much more hesitant to act on intuition unless I can find some logic behind it.
It's also my firm belief that if a race of superior aliens ever does find us, that they will laugh their butts off at "quantum physics" and "the uncertainty principal".
If the momma ain’t happy , nobody happy….. if the daddy ain’t happy nobody care.
"The empowering message of quantum mechanics is that the empirical data of everyday life, and also our intuitions, are generally veridical, not delusional; and hence that our mental resolves can often help bring causally to pass the bodily actions we mentally intend. The role of our minds is to help us, not to deceive us"
Unfortunately, today, I see more and more examples where the "intuitions" which people rely on ARE delusional, and their minds ARE deceiving them.
Feverishly do what they do best . Twist , distort and pervert reality. Control the culture , control the mocking bird media. Control Education control population.
I nowadays find these views in grave error, for two reasons. First, I believe she is wrong about “non-rational” means of knowing. Not only do non-rational means of knowing exist, their existence is necessary for reason to function. Rand delighted in the Age of Reason, but the Age of Reason failed to defend reason…”
I recently wrote on this site “Humans are capable of three things that no other mammal can do viz. Reason, Emotions, and Imagination. The tool of Reason is logic specifically Aristotle’s logic as found in his Organon. The tool of Emotions is Faith. The tool of Imagination is Creativity. Properly integrated, these three functions allow we humans to Think…”
Underlying Reason and Logic is the evidence of our senses. Seeing, tasting, hearing, touching, and smelling are the only ways our brains can apprehend the reality of the universe. That apprehension of reality comes in the form of data which our brains attempt to comprehend. If there is no data, there is no knowledge. Or as Sabine Hossenfelder wrote in her book Existential Physics, “…Provided that – and here’s the crux – your search for meaning respects scientific facts.
If your belief conflicts with empirically confirmed knowledge, then you are not seeking meaning; you are delusional…”
The author of the article you quote wrote “I nowadays find these views in grave error, for two reasons. First, I believe she is wrong about “non-rational” means of knowing. Not only do non-rational means of knowing exist, their existence is necessary for reason to function…” but offers no data to support his assertion that “…non-rational means of knowing exist…”
How? By what means does he come to this conclusion? What proofs does he offer?
"The contemporary consensus that consciousness is an epiphenomenon and free will is non-existent is incorrect. “Our minds become endowed, by means of the quantum mechanical dynamical rules, with the power to influence the macroscopic properties of matter, without themselves being totally predetermined by material properties alone… The empowering message of quantum mechanics is that the empirical data of everyday life, and also our intuitions, are generally veridical, not delusional; and hence that our mental resolves can often help bring causally to pass the bodily actions we mentally intend. The role of our minds is to help us, not to deceive us, as the materialist philosophy must effectively maintain.” Source: Quantum Theory & Free Will, Henry Stapp "
And this says it all about Rand and this subject: "Interestingly enough, Rand seems to have been aware — at least on a subconscious level — of this weakness in her philosophy. According to her biographers, Rand originally intended to include a Catholic priest named Father Amadeus in Atlas Shrugged. He was to be a moral counterpart to John Galt, representing a form of moral absolutism that contrasted with the moral relativism of the villains and the rational egoism of the heroes. " []
Understanding that purposed causation is necessary to account for our evolution into introspection, perhaps through quantum realities of the non physical mind, to control the physical brain and perceive reality itself.
This evolution, I portend, took place approximately 2500 to 3000 years ago; { Julian Jaynes }
In other words: I had no intellectual, educational or foresight knowledge, therefore it must have been a quantum "insight".