Welcome home, sailor.

Here is the discussion under "Video" here in the Gulch:
http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2b...

Here is the link on YouTube to the series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...

You can just search on YouTube for "John Galt Xcowboy2"

Best wishes,
Mike M.

Thank you for posting this Mike. I am really enjoying these. There is so much in Galts speech it helps to break it up and bring in the visual effects.

Watching it, every day.
More - thinking about the consequences, the reality of it in practical and widespread ways.

In many ways it is too easy to READ "Galt's Speech" and say "yeah... yeah... yeah...." but not really grasp the DEPTH of the meaning. This forces you to stop and listen while viewing images that bring another dimension of meaning. Number 5 "Free Will" takes heavily from "The Miracle Worker" which was endorsed by Ayn Rand as vivid demonstration that perception is a CHOICE, that perception is a higher level of awareness than sensation, and the GENERALIZATION of sensations into perceptions gives meaning to feelings. Both the story of Helen Keller and Rand's explanation of it, are very powerful.

Cited as "Kant Versus Sullivan," Philosophy: Who Needs It, 90-93)

My hope is that he comes up with enough spare time to finish it. As far as I am concerned this is probably some of the best pro-atlas shrugged work that has been done in a very long time. It has been obnoxiously useful, I pass the link on to anyone I run into that thinks they know what objectivism is about but are horribly wrong.

I just finished the "This is John Galt" segment and it was well done. I agree the use of Fred Thompson definitely makes an impact. One of the most interesting aspects I continue to find is the power of language. Such words as "sacrifice" are almost now commonplace and I believe people are now not questioning what it actually means to sacrifice oneself. A variation of a Howard Roark comes to mind (perhaps a conversation between Roark and Gail Wynand), something to the effect of: I would gladly die for you but don't ask me to live for you. Also, statements by Ayn Rand concerning sacrifice seem relevant as well, something to the effect of when someone calls for sacrifice you should run and that if you are willing to sacrifice your life there will always be someone there willing to take your sacrifice at benefit to themselves.

The criminology aspect of your statement is also interesting and may very well have merit. I recently viewed a course at the Ayn Rand Institute called "What is Capitalism?" and during this course a segment of Ayn Rand speaking explains that there are three paths one may follow in capitalism:

1. The entrepreneur/producer who creates new processes (or inventions that lead to processes) which others will follow.
2. Those who follow said processes and are compensated based on effective repetition of said processes i.e., employees.
3. Looter - Those who steal the productive efforts of the other two segments.

Rand presents this as a choice which seemed to make sense to me. Here is the link to the "What is Capitalism" course at ARI if you're interested, it's approximately 1 hour but well worth the time:

http://campus.aynrand.org/classroom/16/

Thanks for posting this, definitely worthwhile information and I look forward to making my way through the other segments!

While this second edition is more polished and integrated, the first set had some better elements. From that first set from 2007, I used #8 Evasion for a presentation to my senior seminar in criminology. I found the passages from Galt's Speech, wrote them up and edited them to fit the video presentation and passed them out to the class before clicking it up, so that they could follow the script. (Just to note: The rational choice theory of criminology assumes that criminals are self-interested actors. It is not without evidence. However, evasion underlies much of that and much else in criminal activity. My topic was "The Choice to Think: A Metachoice to Explain the Conflicting Data of Rational Choice Theory." More on that later.)

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00xStn_j...
The idea of using Fred Thompson for "Mr. Thompson" struck a resonant chord with many Objectivists when Gleason first floated his second edition.

"Atlas Shrugged" has long enjoyed a strong fan base, of course, and it is no surprise that if you dig into YouTube, you can find rough drafts such as this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STnUlpHf...

This high school project is a favorite of mine and was touted also by others on another Objectivist board. (The girl reminded me of my high school Dagny.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l_2sHzX...