Creation and Its Enemies, by Robert Gore
Almost by definition entrepreneurs and inventors place their own self-interest and personal quests above the welfare of any group. They generally receive little encouragement from those around them, except for perhaps a handful of family members and friends (although that’s not a given), especially when they are first starting out. They are often ridiculed, discouraged, and opposed. Failure confirms the crowd’s belief in their foolishness; success brings its own problems. Innovation threatens the existing order, and the existing order rarely takes that lying down.
This is an excerpt. To read the entire article, please click the link above.
This is an excerpt. To read the entire article, please click the link above.
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
Good essay Robert, Txs.
Rand identified that subjugation of the individual, however defined, always occurs through the “co-dependence of” Attila and the Witch Doctor – through the physical in combination with the spiritual.
As you have cited, until the last two hundred fifty years or so, the individual entrepreneurs and inventors subjugated by combinations of these two, have historically remained unknown(s) – as but a part of the haze and obscurity of the tyrannies of collective darkness from which we have recently emerged.
Occasionally, one of these entrepreneurs or inventors becomes illuminated by the written light sometimes radiating from one among them, providing us with knowledge of their identity such as Marco Polo or Johannes Guttenberg. For the most part however, the “Atlases” of antiquity remain nameless – subsumed in the fashion of the “Chinese” invention of gunpowder or the 7th century Muslims invention of Daniel Durand’s double-entry accounting. Perhaps by such an absence of specificity the actual creators of same were probably victims of their own inventions, a state of affairs normally precipitated by Witch Doctors or Attilas de jour at the time.
Beginning with the consequences of the Renaissance and the emergence of Reason’s intrusions into what had been the jealously-sequestered provinces of royalty and faith, the historical state of collectivism and its inevitable subjugation of the individual began to wane. Freed from actual and psychological constraints, the likes of Bruno, Galileo, and subsequently Newton, together with a growing cascade of those merchants, tradesmen, and engineers subsequently arising in science and commerce, then rapidly, through the self-interested individual pursuit of their values, they transformed our lives and civilizations.
The basis for collectivism, however defined, is fear. It is a fear that the idea of moral responsibility and physical autonomy potentially engenders – an unfortunate potential arising from but one aspect of our nature(s). Conversely, the basis for individualism is love – the eager curiosity that arises from an individual awareness that remains untempered by fear. This resulting “passion” must, because of its unassuming innocence, be free of doubt(s). It therefore can only exist when trust is unquestioned – trust as manifested by internal confidence, but also by external security – security in the broadest of contexts.
The inescapable basis for external trust is the rule of law. If one wishes to understand why the Atlases are seeming to vanish, it is the corruption of what was fundamentally, America’s implementation of many of the ideas of English Common Law. In America, these ideas were coupled with specific identifications within the Bill of Rights arising from Jefferson’s IMPLIED moral precepts.
It can best be summed up as the body of law that logically arises from what Richard Maybury has encapsulated in his two “universal laws:” 1) Do all you have agreed to do; and 2) Do not encroach on other persons of their property.
We have, for now over a century, been fostering “rules of law” that violate both of these bedrock foundations of trust…….
Dave
In Vietnam I had cross and buddah I figured at whichever gate I ended up interviewing I could claim the other was a souvenir. Even then I had an objectivist viewpoint and considered the exercise a close examination of facts as they occurred. One day I realized they were unecessary and traded the weight for an extra bullet. God(s) help those who help themselves.
19 year old Nedjelko Cabrinovic, who threw a grenade on 28 June, had been both a Social Democrat and an anarcho-syndicalis Gavrilo Princip, the other 19 year old shot Franz Ferdinand dead the same.
While I put true anarchists to the extreme right the anarcho syndicalis type belong in the fringes of the left as they are not against government in any form but are promoting a their version using anarchist tactics. Once in power like all leftists they invariably embrace one of the two forms of fascist socialism.
Fragging refers only to events relating to Vietnam Conflict. Another reason not to have a draft law.
There are certain people whose minds I'd like to get next to in order to learn from them. You, Mr. S.L.L.Gore are one of them. You always get me thinking in terms that either haven't occurred to me ot I haven't explored.
"We would free the incarcerate race of man
That such a doom endures,
Could you but enter my skull,
Or I creep into yours."
-- Ogden Nash
As an old guy, whenever I remember a juicy something such as a bit of poetry or a quote, I've got to find a way to include it in a post. Even if I last another decade I still look at every opportunity as a final one.
I am so backed up that I will just get around to it ASAP. Hell, I have a 30 page graphic bio to write with a Jan.22 deadline and I only have 5 pages done. I'm busier since I retired than I was when employed. Where does the time go? Although, I did just go to the movies and see The Big Short. Another topic for another day.
Daunting odds and demanding virtues - welcome to being an entrepreneur.
It reminds me of the old joke about the 2 guys and the bear. One guy stops to put on his sneakers. The other guy says - why? you can't outrun the bear! - he answers - I only need to outrun you.
The excrement of regulators is the bear. I create businesses because I want to outrun my wage-earning competitors. The thing is, the more experience I get building businesses, the more I am discovering how much added bullcrap and work the government creates. I am increasingly hesitant to start new businesses and avoid the industries that are heavily regulated. I won't do a beverage again, for example.
Just as profit is made at the margins, entrepreneurial innovation is created at the margins. The regulations won't kill innovation totally, they just cripple it by shaving off the margins...
Invention is still alive and well in the US. Viewing on You Tube still gives the best evidence for that. Alot, of these inventors do it open source due to their frustration with the govt to patent their working prototypes. As far as I'm concerned their still is corruption in the govt in that area.