Vanity Fair on Ayn Rand's Influence in Silicon Valley

Posted by robgambrill 7 years, 5 months ago to Business
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“THEY SHOULD RETITLE HER BOOKS IT’S O.K. TO BE A SOCIOPATH!” reads the article, but the people they list as influenced by Rand reads like a who's-who of Silicon Valley Innovators.
SOURCE URL: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/10/silicon-valley-ayn-rand-obsession


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  • Posted by wiggys 7 years, 5 months ago
    "and that a win-at-all-costs mentality" this statement is NOT made by AR. If the writer said to win without adversely affecting another person that would be more like it.
    The fact that AR is mentioned in and of itself is positive in my opinion.
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    • Posted by lrshultis 7 years, 5 months ago
      N. Brandon quoted a Spanish saying, "take what you want and pay for it" and added that the hard part is to rationally know what you want, with, I believe, the 'rationally' being the most important part.
      I am not sure what Rand would have thought of that since it was after the breakup.
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      • Posted by ewv 7 years, 4 months ago
        Ayn Rand in "Causality versus Duty", The Objectivist, July 1970:

        "The disciple of causation faces life without inexplicable chains, un-chosen burdens, impossible demands or supernatural threats. His metaphysical attitude and guiding moral principle can best be summed up by an old Spanish proverb: 'God said: 'Take what you want and pay for it.'' But to know one's own desires, their meaning and their costs requires the highest human virtue: rationality."

        So "take what you want and pay for it" did not mean to her stealing from others and paying the price when caught. She was talking about the cost of pursuing your goals in accordance with strict causality in both identifying what is required to reach a goal and what is required of you to do it.
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        • Posted by lrshultis 7 years, 4 months ago
          Branden used it several times but being close to Rand at the time most likely took the proverb as one that became his favorite.
          The trouble with the Causality versus Duty is that both distinguish different causes of actions. Rand, in that case, uses the 'final cause' type of cause which she considered to be only available to a rational mind. Unless there is no mind, there would be no final cause to consider. But a person who believes in duty does have a mind and duty would be a final cause in that case. The fact that duty is irrational does not remove causality from it. It just is a cause of a wasted life. There is no such thing as strict causality, just causal strings whether goal oriented or not.
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          • Posted by ewv 7 years, 4 months ago
            "Causality versus duty" distinguishes an ethics based on causality from an ethics of doing one's duty because it is duty without regard to goals and means.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 7 years, 5 months ago
    Oh, Nicky my boy, don't you think it would be a good idea to read before you criticize/ If you did do the reading, your comprehension abilities are greatly lacking, for Ms. Rand never advocated a single thing you say she did. Of course, that didn't stop you. You are not a fool. You are an ignorant, malicious fool.
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    • Posted by lrshultis 7 years, 5 months ago
      Wasn't there some quote by Rand something like this one from the article?

      " The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me."
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      • Posted by ewv 7 years, 4 months ago
        She never said that, but it comes from Howard Roark in The Fountainhead in this form https://campus.aynrand.org/blog/2016/...

        "“Do you mean to tell me that you’re thinking seriously of building that way, when and if you are an architect?'

        “'Yes.'

        “'My dear fellow, who will let you?'

        “'That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?'”
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  • Posted by cksawyer 7 years, 5 months ago
    "Donald Trump, is also a self-described Rand devotee."??!! Really?! Coulda fooled me.
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    • Posted by $ Snezzy 7 years, 5 months ago
      Misquote. The full sentence is: " Peter Thiel, whose dissatisfaction with a Gawker story led him to underwrite a lawsuit that eventually killed off the site, and who made the outré decision to publicly support Donald Trump, is also a self-described Rand devotee."

      The subject of the sentence is Peter Thiel, not Donald Trump.
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  • Posted by $ Abaco 7 years, 5 months ago
    Very interesting read. That's where I grew up..my old stomping grounds. I played high school football with one of the founders of Adobe - just one example. These are bright people. The leftists tolerate them in order to acquire campaign contributions. The author sounds confused...
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    • Posted by 7 years, 5 months ago
      In the part where Nick Bilton decries the poor cab drivers losing their jobs to Uber, I couldn't help but think of directive 10-289...

      Later on, Bilton seems to suggest that the "selfish" innovators will get there comeuppance when more socially minded motivated innovators displace their creations?
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 7 years, 5 months ago
    "From a business perspective, this new generation of technology moguls rival the Fords and Rockefellers of previous eras. Social networks alone are more valuable than the G.D.P. of more than 95 percent of the countries around the globe."
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 7 years, 5 months ago
    The article didn't say her books are about sociopaths. It was quoting an unnamed startup founder. The article then said most founders live by one of Rand's defining mantras.

    I highly suspect the unnamed founder has not read any of her books. If she read it, she'd probably realize it means just the opposite.
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