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Pure irony at the ASP3 editing facility last night...

Posted by sdesapio 10 years ago to Pics
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I haven't been in the Gulch much lately because we've been working 14-16 hour days editing the film - I just had to stop by and share this quick story though.

First, the setup...
In the book, when Dagny's deciding whether or not to go back to the world, John says "If any part of your uncertainty is a conflict between your heart and your mind, follow your mind."

Remember that nugget?

So last night, we ordered Chinese. Imagine my surprise when I received the MOST IRONIC fortune cookie ever...

Needless to say, we all had a pretty good laugh. :)


All Comments

  • Posted by 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    You need to click on the image above to see the full size picture.

    It says "Follow the advice of your heart."
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  • Posted by strugatsky 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I hear you, and basically agree. However, you're bringing up an important point - is this a spectrum, or a binary. Ayn Rand was writing about a war - prophetically, as is quite evident. In a war, one must take sides, otherwise he'll be crushed from every direction. So in that sense, Rand's approach is binary and for a good reason. I've often spoken with people that don't like Rand's works because they are black and white. True, she is not Chekhov or Ibsen, nor did she ever pretend to be. She described a world at war, and that world is black and white.
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  • Posted by Maphesdus 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    And that's totally fine and understandable. In pointing out the problems with Ayn Rand's statement, my intention was not to take the exact opposite stance and suggest that we should ignore logic and listen only to emotion, because obviously that would be very bad as well. I'm simply saying we need both, and should try to maintain some sense of balance in our lives. This is a spectrum, not a binary.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 10 years ago
    Wow.

    I have a bit of trivia regarding the book. I was reading Atlas Shrugged at every chance I got, in order to get through it in a timely manner. On my birthday, January 29, I cracked the book open to read it at my desk while I ate lunch and the first thing I read was the part where the huge callendar over the city read..."January 29". What are the chances of that? A little birthday gift from Ayn Rand...
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  • Posted by $ jlc 10 years ago
    'Struth! I once got a fortune cookie that said, "The galactic wizard has promised you a starship ride."

    I kept that fortune for years!

    Jan
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    (looks at the two-month old stack of unchecked lottery tickets on his desk)

    Intuition doesn't tell me to buy lottery tickets; sentiment does. And I'll continue buying them if I should become wealthy.
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  • Posted by Maritimus 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I am not Einstein either, but he is talking about intuition not emotion.

    Intuition, in my perception, is a reinterpretation of prior knowlidge. It provides a different understanding of that knowlidge, as if looking from a different angle and spotting a door which leads to a new path forward. If you are a professional problem solver, you will know, I think, exactly what I am trying to describe.

    I think that describing different emotions as having different frequences and ,consequently, subject to filtering does not make sense. They are just different emotions, frequently blends of more than one. It seems to me that every sane human being is capable and inevitably experiences the full range of human emotions. It is the knowledge acquired through education, and thus establishing that individuals moral standards, that enables the individual to prevent own action based on excessive emotional urge. Did you ever think of how many people regretted own actions embarked upon on the basis of lust? I happen to think that lust is not a mortal sin, but it is certainy a sane himan emotion.

    Describing someone as radical or violent to me describes somebody willing to take irrationally extreme actions or using an extreme force in those actions. I percieve that as not mind controlling emotions but exactly the opposite.

    Finally, using that kind of untrue analogy to say that Ayn Rand's philosophy is dangerous is ... I have no words polite enough.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I think that you may be getting into a deeper analysis than this was intended for. When my child does something that I know deserves a punishment (using logic), my emotions put a break on my actions, as I feel bad in punishing the child. To vindicate Rand, every time that I do not follow the logical need to punish the kid, the situation invariably gets worse. So, yes, of course all our actions come from the brain, but in certain cases following short term goals (emotions) contradicts the long term goals (logic, if I may call it so).
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    Not much Chinese food in Wyoming. About 30 years ago on a trip to Denver, my fortune cookie said. "It might happen. Nah, probably not." Still makes me smile.
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  • Posted by coaldigger 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I am certainly not an Einstein but I would say that I agree with his quotes as they pertain to the single mind of an INDIVIDUAL but have trouble with them as they relate to a COLLECTIVE.
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  • Posted by $ Snezzy 10 years ago
    Your heart is a metaphor for your desires. "Follow your heart" is good advice when warning you against following someone else's desires. Rand's meaning refers to avoiding the very bad suggestion, "Don't think, just act."

    All fortune cookies are true. If it's not YOUR fortune, maybe it's someone else's. My favorite one said, YOU LIKE CHINESE FOOD.

    A friend got one that read, YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU DESERVE. She says she was terrified.
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years ago
    I was never impressed with that passage. What people often believe they "know" is faulty. And oftentimes what people believe is "from the heart" is really data processed subconsciously or without specific intention, but has lead to correct solutions/actions.
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  • Posted by Maphesdus 10 years ago in reply to this comment.
    I gotta agree with you there. The heart/mind dichotomy is a great metaphor for painting a powerful and emotionally stirring image (ironic, emotion being used to damn emotion), but when it comes to actually thinking and solving problems, the heart/mind dichotomy is a counter-productive prism through which to view the world, and if taken to an extreme, can potentially act as an inhibitor to knowledge, rather than an enhancer of it. If we set aside metaphor, we realize that the heart is simply an organ which pumps blood, and is incapable of cognitive thought. Therefore, any and all uncertainty can only ever be a conflict of the mind with itself. Emotion and logic both have their origin in thought. Thus, to feel is not the opposite of thinking, but a form of thinking. Those who attempt to listen only to logic while totally shunning emotion are killing half their brain, and half of their humanity.

    It isn't even possible to totally shut off emotion, anyway. All thought, whether emotional or logical, is simply a matter of frequency, and attempting to shut down the emotional frequencies typically only ever results in the suppression the finer and more delicate emotions, such as love, kindness, and generosity, while allowing the denser and more base emotions like hate and anger to take complete and total control. Most people here probably don't know this, but telling people to suppress their emotions and listen exclusively to logic is actually a tactic that's used by Islamic terrorist groups to make their jihadists more radical and more violent. And you know what? It works.

    So forgive me, but this is one area of Ayn Rand's philosophy that is not just merely wrong – it is also dangerous.

    ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

    Quotes from Albert Einstein:

    "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of imagination has meant more to me than any talent for absorbing absolute knowledge."

    "All great achievements of science must start from intuitive knowledge. I believe in intuition and inspiration.... At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason."

    "We are inclined to overemphasize the material influences in history. The Russians especially make this mistake. Intellectual values and ethnic influences, tradition and emotional factors are equally important. If this were not the case, Europe would today be a federated state, not a madhouse of nationalism."

    "Intelligence makes clear to us the interrelation of means and ends. But mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends. To make clear these fundamental ends and valuations, and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to perform in the social life of man."

    "Many people think that the progress of the human race is based on experiences of an empirical, critical nature, but I say that true knowledge is to be had only through a philosophy of deduction. For it is intuition that improves the world, not just following a trodden path of thought. Intuition makes us look at unrelated facts and then think about them until they can all be brought under one law. To look for related facts means holding onto what one has instead of searching for new facts. Intuition is the father of new knowledge, while empiricism is nothing but an accumulation of old knowledge. Intuition, not intellect, is the 'open sesame' of yourself."
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  • Posted by iroseland 10 years ago
    Some how fortune cookies can have a very interesting since of humor. I know that is mostly due to the pattern matching skills of our brain. My favorite one was a cookie that said 'you will attend a party where many strange customs prevail'. That was a couple of days before my birthday.. back then my birthday parties were usually pretty unhinged.. that one was no exception.
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  • Posted by $ Maphesdus 10 years ago
    I once got a fortune cookie that said, "You will soon be taking a relaxing vacation across desert sands."
    I got it while in AIT for the army...
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