Ninth Doctor

This review is gone, deleted by the author I presume. I have it cached, it was a 3 star review that focused on the physics parts of the book. It was a soundly written review, but was getting down votes, so who knows...

Today David Weigel has rehashed the above at Slate, this time adding in material that takes ARI to task over foreign policy. The fact that he makes no acknowledgement of the diversity of opinion within "Objectivism" on this matter is something I find irritating. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/09/the_new_president_of_the_cato_institute_wants_the_think_tank_to_adopt_the_personal_philosophy_of_ayn_rand_as_policy_.single.html

We'll see, I haven't read anything yet to get me intrigued enough. There's a review on Amazon that matches my expectations, here's the summing up: "So overall I found the book tedious, crankish, and not altogether intellectually honest." Maybe once they make a sample available, it'll lure me into taking the plunge. I'm actually a big admirer of Spengler's Decline of the West, though in the end I agree with Popper's critique of it. Say what you want about it, there was real erudition at work. I learn something new every time I go back to it, and the facts presented check out, reliably.

Nope. "Fossil" doesn't occur either. Got a problem wid dat?

He’s saying that Peikoff ascribes views to Kant that Kant didn’t hold. However, this doesn’t mean that the ideas Peikoff attacks have never been held by anyone, or that they’re not influential. They’re just not Kant’s. You’ll find a few threads on OO where I among others argue about this, and I think you’ll find that it’s typically a matter of those who have read Kant being told off by those who haven’t. Phrases like “may you be damned” have been lobbed my way in that context. He’s also saying that Peikoff’s view of Aquinas is inaccurate, but that that’s a less troublesome error in his view. His overall point is that for DIM to be right, the intellectual history has to be right. And it’s not, though he's granting some extra wiggle room in those last two sentences. I haven’t gotten the book yet, I guess I’m waiting on the sidelines.

Does anyone here speak Russian? I gather this comes from the Russian Libertarian party(?); they've taken the above video, edited out my additions, tacked on some material from a meeting of theirs, and added Russian subtitles to Rand's comments. I'd just like to know that it's not commentary from the Rachel Maddow school of Rand criticism. It certainly looks positive in intent.

Heh. I knew you’d pick up on this sooner or later. I don’t know who she had in mind with the not knowing what they’re doing line, but it does call to mind this old Morley Safer story, where there’s a museum guide basically saying this means everything and nothing at the same time.

Here's a followup. Schiff acknowledges that about half the people he talked to answered in a more or less sensible manner. And they, naturally, didn't make the cut.

When I was in elementary school I supported Jimmy Carter’s reelection. Can I be forgiven? Should I still be doing penance? Here’s the first half of the appropriate spiritual cleansing ritual for any Objectivist who voted for Obama in 2008: To be performed weekly until November.

I pulled out a brief excerpt with the Paul Ryan religion connection in mind.

The Reason Magazine live twitter feed is a laugh riot, and very helpful for controlling nausea. http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/06/reason-staff-live-tweets-the-final-day-o

Who? I googled it and nothing came up. "Rascal" makes me think of Dostoyevsky. Here’s a quote that sometimes comes to mind when someone, invariably an Objectivist, demands an unrealistic level of intellectual consistency from a politician: Primitive savages know how to start a fire by friction. They must have discovered the process tens of thousands of years ago. Yet as lately as the middle of the eighteenth century scientists were still debating whether or not heat was a material element (an "indestructible substance"), though they were already experimenting with the steam engine. So a principle may be put in practice long before it is understood or defined. Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine, Chapter 23 Now I’m gearing up to watch some DNC coverage tonight. They keep saying “Forward”, and here’s how I keep visualizing what they mean:

The words “fossil fuels” don’t occur in Atlas Shrugged. And it looks like they’re going to end Part II on the first page of Part III. You call that being true to the book?!?! Boycott! The new Francisco is shaping up to be a keeper. Mr. Thompson too, love the face.

She probably mixed up Dutch and Brooklyn with Belgian and Congo. It could happen to anyone!

Oops, Grames had already posted this. I didn’t look, I just looked at the last couple posts, saw someone mention Schiff, and thought of this great video I’d just seen. A hit and run. Now I feel like a n00b.

Here's his latest:

New trailer. Looks good.

I think an unambiguous example of when choosing death was rational was Guy Fawkes on the scaffold. He had maybe 5 minutes of life left to him, during which he was to be drawn and quartered. He got the chance to leap from the scaffold and thus kill himself. Ironically, according to Christian theology he committed a mortal sin in doing this, thus damning himself to hell for eternity.

How about Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. P.G. Wodehouse "continues to help" me in the sense that rereadings always bring pleasure. Will Durant's Story of Civilization series is really good for rereading too.

I say it depends on where you live. If you're in California or one of the other states that's certain to go to Obama, then by all means vote for Johnson and help get his popular vote figure higher. Also, if you're in a state that's solid for Romney, I say vote Johnson. If you're in a battleground state, as I am, you've got some moral dilemmna to grapple with. I'm hoping the November polls show Romney comfortably taking my state, so I can vote Johnson without conflict.

This looks like really good news: http://www.slate.com...r_ayn_rand.html In fact, now that I have a deeper understanding about Cato, I believe almost all the name calling between libertarians and objectivists is irrational. I have come to appreciate that all objectivists are libertarians, but not all libertarians are objectivists.

Sure, according to Barbara Branden’s biography she received an advance, and later returned it. It was going to be about unrequited love, there’s a character name or two on record, and the final line of dialogue, which I can’t recall offhand. “What suffering?”, or something like that I think.

And here’s something good from the VHS middens, the 1974 interview with James Day. He’s a sympathetic, unchallenging interviewer, so this one lacks the fireworks of the Wallace and Donahue interviews, and I think it’s a much lower voltage affair than the Johnny Carson one, maybe for lack of a live audience. Far as I can tell this is the first time it’s been on YouTube, and it certainly hasn’t been available for a long time. Laissez Faire Books used to sell it on VHS, but we’re talking 20 years ago. The subject matter is pretty wide ranging of course, but the most time is spent on religion and esthetics. There are some nice zingers. Sorry about the picture quality, alas my VCR belongs in a nursing home. Enjoy.

Here's some thoughts from someone who actually got elected: "Truth advances and error recedes step by step only; and to do our fellow-men the most good in our power, we must lead where we can, follow where we cannot, and still go with them, watching always the favorable moment for helping them to another step." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1814. ME 14:200 And here's the part that comes immediately prior, concerning the founding of the University of Virginia: "I agree … that a professorship of Theology should have no place in our institution. But we cannot always do what is absolutely best. Those with whom we act, entertaining different views, have the power and the right of carrying them into practice. "