Don't get me started on AR. I read all her books as a young man and as an ardent acolyte used every opportunity to proselytize . . .
Now, through the lens of life experience, cynicism and a broader view I see it for what it is/was.: utter bs from a seriously self deluded, narcistic individual who lived in an idealistic never-never land.
Now, through the lens of life experience, cynicism and a broader view I see it for what it is/was.: utter bs from a seriously self deluded, narcistic individual who lived in an idealistic never-never land.
OK, I finally remembered a clean one. That's difficult for me.
It's the French Revolution. A priest, a rabbi, and an engineer are in the tumbrels being taken to the guillotine. The tumbrels halt and the priest is led up the thirteen steps. The executioner says, "Father, as your last wish, you may have a choice- you may face your death looking up or looking down." The priest replies, "I would like to face up so that my last sight on this Earth is the heavens above, which the Lord has created." He is placed face up in the guillotine, the executioner releases the rope, the blade steaks downward, then suddenly stops, inches from the priest's throat. The crowd shouts, "A miracle, a miracle!" and the priest is set free.
The priest is then led up the thirteen steps. The executioner says, "Rabbi, as your last wish, you may have a choice- you may face your death looking up or looking down." The rabbi replies, "I would like to face down so that my last sight on this Earth is the ground below, to which my body will return." He is placed face down in the guillotine, the executioner releases the rope, the blade steaks downward, then suddenly stops, inches from the rabbi's neck. The crowd shouts, "A miracle, a miracle!" and the rabbi is set free.
Finally, the engineer is led up the thirteen steps. The executioner says, "Engineer, as your last wish, you may have a choice- you may face your death looking up or looking down." The engineer replies, "I would like to face up so that I can see how the whole thing works." He is placed face up in the guillotine, but before the executioner can release the rope, the engineer points and says, "Oh, I see what the problem is!"
It's the French Revolution. A priest, a rabbi, and an engineer are in the tumbrels being taken to the guillotine. The tumbrels halt and the priest is led up the thirteen steps. The executioner says, "Father, as your last wish, you may have a choice- you may face your death looking up or looking down." The priest replies, "I would like to face up so that my last sight on this Earth is the heavens above, which the Lord has created." He is placed face up in the guillotine, the executioner releases the rope, the blade steaks downward, then suddenly stops, inches from the priest's throat. The crowd shouts, "A miracle, a miracle!" and the priest is set free.
The priest is then led up the thirteen steps. The executioner says, "Rabbi, as your last wish, you may have a choice- you may face your death looking up or looking down." The rabbi replies, "I would like to face down so that my last sight on this Earth is the ground below, to which my body will return." He is placed face down in the guillotine, the executioner releases the rope, the blade steaks downward, then suddenly stops, inches from the rabbi's neck. The crowd shouts, "A miracle, a miracle!" and the rabbi is set free.
Finally, the engineer is led up the thirteen steps. The executioner says, "Engineer, as your last wish, you may have a choice- you may face your death looking up or looking down." The engineer replies, "I would like to face up so that I can see how the whole thing works." He is placed face up in the guillotine, but before the executioner can release the rope, the engineer points and says, "Oh, I see what the problem is!"
Ah, and what a gorgeous marina, you civilization-fab lot make me want to be a man in white tights and apply for a job at the Hellenic ministry of silly walks.
I play curveball games on the pc all week, inbetween I terrorise this place (hey, I have to take it out on someone)
[Pirsig's Zen was no1 on the E-list. The first 15 titles on my Dutch lit. list were the Randiest books of the NL+B(Hugo Claus) porn galaxy, with full-support of the filthy pot-smoking subversive commie-bstrd teacher]
Fore example, the idea of linear time breaks down:
Study showing that humans have some psychic powers caps Daryl Bem's career | Cornell Chronicle
It is trivial to find other completed studies of such quality -and beyond. The number of studies are in the hundreds, low thousands, in fact. They cover all facets of possible complaint about error or faults. The lack of potential for error in the findings (viewed in individually under a microscope and as a meta set) approaches the limit of the number of atoms in the universe. An infinitesimally small potential for error.
All that is left is the pout of the projected emotion of the linear minded who might find themselves living in a notably smaller subset of what reality actually is.
What we find is that the measure of intellect is more profound than just some test; it enters areas of quantum function that many viewpoints find difficulty with.
And if linear time breaks down, so does the majority of the math of physics and thus it's edifice.
This is a forced situation, as the potential for error in the results of the given thousands of tests on psychic sensitivity, states that the formulations and thus the edits of linear science --that of the 'rational' universe.... are not really wrong, but of a limited subset, with an incomplete basis.
To believe otherwise (in projection of argument) is to be the ignorant bully in the schoolyard. That they are trying hard to hold onto a worldview that is like winning the lottery with random number pickings, winning dozens of times in a row. So unlikely, that it is impossible to calculate how wrong such a position is.
Study showing that humans have some psychic powers caps Daryl Bem's career | Cornell Chronicle
It is trivial to find other completed studies of such quality -and beyond. The number of studies are in the hundreds, low thousands, in fact. They cover all facets of possible complaint about error or faults. The lack of potential for error in the findings (viewed in individually under a microscope and as a meta set) approaches the limit of the number of atoms in the universe. An infinitesimally small potential for error.
All that is left is the pout of the projected emotion of the linear minded who might find themselves living in a notably smaller subset of what reality actually is.
What we find is that the measure of intellect is more profound than just some test; it enters areas of quantum function that many viewpoints find difficulty with.
And if linear time breaks down, so does the majority of the math of physics and thus it's edifice.
This is a forced situation, as the potential for error in the results of the given thousands of tests on psychic sensitivity, states that the formulations and thus the edits of linear science --that of the 'rational' universe.... are not really wrong, but of a limited subset, with an incomplete basis.
To believe otherwise (in projection of argument) is to be the ignorant bully in the schoolyard. That they are trying hard to hold onto a worldview that is like winning the lottery with random number pickings, winning dozens of times in a row. So unlikely, that it is impossible to calculate how wrong such a position is.
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Yeah, I'm one of those who have difficulty with these quantum things, including the special relativity...
I studied radioactivity and relativity theory sooner than my age (I lived next to a state library). In high school I argued with my Physics teacher that Einstein was wrong. Even until now I found that many researchers were "wrong" about some things.
The problem is not whether I can not understand what they think. The problem is I see a clue that the data is NOT sufficient to draw a conclusion.
It's like when I/we saw something/someone that look like a ghost. Others just quickly conclude that it was a ghost. But me, I don't do things like that. I even go back and analyze. Most of the time I found the answer. And when I don't, I still see that no conclusion can be made out of poor data/evidence.
This precognition thing, I think it is just like normal brain behaviour. It is just that human is not always conscious when/how the brain is working.
I was an ardent AR follower in the days of my youth. Note that the "joke" about the guillotine is deployed to a different end by her hero of heroes, John Galt, in Atlas Shrugged, when while being tortured under the supervision of a corrupt scientist, Dr. Ferris, the machine breaks down, and Galt instructs them to clean a vibrator or some such. From Sparknotes:That's sick.
"At the State Science Institute, Galt is tortured with a device called Project F, as Dr. Ferris, Wesley Mouch, and Jim Taggart look on. The device runs electrical currents through his body. Dr. Ferris tells him that he will not be allowed to leave the room until he provides a complete outline of the measures he intends to take as economic dictator. Galt endures the torture without speaking. When the machine breaks down, he tells the man operating it how to fix it. The operator realizes in horror what is happening and rushes out of the room. In his overwhelming desperation to see Galt destroyed, Jim finally realizes his true nature as a nihilist, and the knowledge is too much to bear. He screams and collapses."
Of course the most controversial aspect of Rand is her ethics of "rational self-interest". But she did have some interesting ideas about metaphysics and epistemology which she herself regarded as foundational. Her axiomatic concepts are the underpinning in turn for what followed.
I think these ideas are incorrect. But the alternatives are also unacceptable to many.
The motivation for the novels (and she did write more than just the novels, mostly in the form of articles serialized in a couple of periodicals to which I subscribed, in particular The Objectivist) was to create heroic figures whom she could admire (and I suspect, in her fantasies, be ravished by). Her husband, a nice man she met in the studios in Hollywood, fell short of her standards, and she had a lengthy affair with her disciple Nathaniel Branden, with full knowledge of his wife Barbara. When Branden took up with yet another (and substantially younger) woman, Rand had a tantrum in the hell-hath-no-fury as a woman scorned category, and excommunicated Nathaniel and Barbara. NB published a reply in which he admitted that he simply could not find Rand attractive, given her age, regardless of his respect for her intellect. Branden went on to have a successful career as a psychologist and author. Rand died of lung cancer some years after the breakup.
One engineer I know, based on her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged, admires Rand (although from other remarks he's made does not understand her), but admits that he's been unable to finish Galt's three-hour broadcasted speech. Someone told me that he tried reading it aloud, and it did take about three hours!
They couldn't cut to commercials, as Galt had seized the airwaves completely.
Toole told me he was going to read AS. I'd forgotten to ask him how far he got.
The nonfictional material is a bit less tendentious, but things slip in from time to time in which she disses certain philosophical predecessors, reserving particular contempt for Kant.
I've got no problem with AR, my problem is the pseudo-intellectualism posing as intellectualism for a veritable clown show cavalcade of illiterate flag wavers in a goosestep parade, who could not urinate their way out of a discussion based on any known or possible form of reason. (Sometimes I wonder if they take their Rush albums to bed with them). How that whole crowd is being unwittingly driven as a wedge and faction from a darker quarter.
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