merjet

See ITOE Expanded Second Edition p. 274.

You didn't say explicitly that learning higher level concepts must come after learning lower level ones. Regardless, learning higher level concepts may precede learning lower level ones. For example, we probably all learned the concept car before we had the concepts Ford, Chevy, Toyota, sedan, convertible, etc.

Perception? Similarity but not being identical?

That was decades ago, so I don't remember very clearly. When my parents or somebody else helped me learn red, blue, green, and so on, somehow or another I reckoned those words didn't refer to a thing, shape, motion, sound, etc. They probably also often used the word "color" along with "red", "blue", "green" and so on. Eventually I learned that "color" named the category to which red, blue, green, and so forth belonged. If that was stealing from my parents or somebody else, then I must plead guilty. 🙂 The first paragraph of my earlier post was an attempt to describe the essence of the process, not the whole story and context.

To form the concept X, you need instances of the category -- call them x's -- and contrasts -- call them non-x's. To limit the number and variety of non-x's, both the x's and non-x's should satisfy a more abstract, wider, less specific, category. For example, to form the concept red instances of red are differentiated from instances of blue, green, etc. However, all the instances -- red, blue, green, etc. -- are instances of the wider concept color. I suggest "The Sim-Dif Model and Comparison" in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2 (December 2011), pp. 215-232. The entire essay can be read on jstor.org with a free membership.

Why You Shouldn’t Be A Socialist #3 I tried to put a book review of Why You Should Be a Socialist on Amazon and met a barrier that was new to me. "We apologize but this account has not met the minimum eligibility requirements to write a review. If you would like to learn more about our eligibility requirements, please see our community guidelines." The guidelines say to post a review you must have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com in the past 12 months. I did spend more than $50 in the past 12 months. However, part was with a gift card, and my net spent was less than $50. 🙂

Why You Shouldn’t Be A Socialist #2

I crossed my fingers that Mark Twain would return in 1985. Alas, it seems not to have happened. He hasn't appeared in 34+ years. 🙂

Edmond Halley was quite an achiever. He aided and funded Isaac Newton's Principia. He constructed one of the first mortality tables, which are the foundation of life insurance. Much more.

https://medium.com/@ricosutioso/diogenes-the-beggar-philosopher-fdd71946f641

Why You Shouldn’t Be A Socialist #1

Amazon 2019, ITEP and its wake Free File, Gov't Audit, ProPublica

carbon capture technologies

The author of the op-ed, Garry Galles, wrote, "The main problem with understanding Ayn Rand’s position on this today is that modern usage of the term has eroded his meaning of altruism to little more than a synonym for generosity, so Rand’s rejection of the original meaning — the requirement of total selflessness — is erroneously taken as rejecting generosity. Portraying the modern usage as "little more than a synonym for generosity" is a stretch. A parent, human or another animal, caring for its young is often not mere "generosity."

Stand Out of Our Light #3

Is "... liberty, Rand’s focus in politics” acceptable?

The following are not trying to answer your question, but: Object-Oriented Programming and Objectivist Epistemology: Parallels and Implications From here: "Most importantly, Booch's Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with Applications, which some people consider "seminal" in the field, explicitly refers to Rand as a contemporary "object-oriented" philosopher, and includes Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology in the bibliography. I have no information as to how big of a role ITOE played in the development of Object Oriented, but having read the book, I would not at all be surprised if it played a rather large part. It essentially describes the mechanics of human concept-formation and how they reflect the real relationship between entities, attributes, and measurement. It lends itself very naturally to a computer-science approach.

Adding to Reidy's post: The computers of the 1950's and 1960's were main-frame -- large and programmers were specialists. Personal computers came much later. The Apple I was launched in 1976, and the IBM PC in 1981.

https://www.dailynews.com/2020/02/02/ayn-rands-misunderstood-position-on-altruism/

Stand Out of Our Light #2

In the wake of ProPublica Stand Out of Our Light #1

The Knowledge Illusion #7

The Knowledge Illusion #5 The Knowledge Illusion #6

Bernie Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist, but more accurately he is a fascist. Like described here fascism permits private ownership of the means of production, but subject to extensive control by government. "As an economic system, fascism is socialism with a capitalist veneer." "Under fascism, the state, through official cartels, controlled all aspects of manufacturing, commerce, finance, and agriculture. Planning boards set product lines, production levels, prices, wages, working conditions, and the size of firms." State control is paramount. This captures BS's proposal for health insurance. He wants to eliminate private health insurance by the state taking over all health insurance, akin to Stalin taking over agriculture in the Soviet Union. If BS gets his way, the planning board, which already exists -- it's called Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services -- will have much greater power. As I recall, the Wikipedia article on fascism only weeks ago had more about its economic policy akin to the above. However, apparently somebody removed it.

The Knowledge Illusion #3 The Knowledge Illusion #4