ex_banana-eater

Savoy, Are you an Objectivist? It would be interesting if you could start applying Objectivist principles to becoming more social and dating women, so a lot of the guys who are interested in the PUA stuff don't end up being aimless zeros who derive their self-esteem from conquest over women.

This would result in destroying entire industries. As a Canadian, I drove down to California last month, and I did not do any blood tests. Had I decided to rent a house and immigrate to California while I was there, how would the blood tests be retroactively imposed on me? The only possible means to enforce this would be to blood test all cross-border traffic.

Thanks David. I found out more on the specifics: http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/iphone-news/a...one-is-illegal/ So it may not be illegal now, since it is currently being processed. The morality of the situation is that when people Jailbreak they replace the original iPod software with something that uses copyrighted Apple code. However the EFF claims that in cases like this has traditionally been called fair use. I'm still unsure of what I should personally do. I'd like to Jailbreak to install that program but don't want to be stealing software.

Does anyone have information related to personal copies in Canada? I heard one could legally save their DVDs and CD's to their computer for personal use and back-up reasons. Also, if that is the case and the law says so, is there any reason that it would still be wrong to save those CD's to your computer? For example, the law says it is legal yet the CD has some kind of protection on it that prevents you from saving it.

I'm wondering if any of you know anything about the legality and morality of jailbreaking an iPhone. "Jailbreaking" is a term for replacing the original software that comes with the iPod or iPhone with a different set of software that is more customisable. I personally have an iPod Touch, and there is a program called AnkiMini which I want to get. It is just a flashcard program where you write flaschcards to study basically anything (I would use them for language study). The software is only compatible with jailbroken iPods. I actually got my iPod Touch mainly for this purpose, to study languages with AnkiMini, but didn't know it could be illegal or immoral to modify the software. I did a bit of searching and Apple claimed that it is illegal to modify your iPod or iPhone by jailbreaking it. I'm not sure the details, but I think it would be a violation of your terms of use when you buy it. Does that make sense and if so, would it be immoral to jailbreak it? I often modify the software that originally comes on machines I buy, for example I changed the OS on my netbook from Windows XP to a Linux distro. How is somebody to know in such cases that what they're doing is wrong without spending time researching every product they buy.

Free markets are better than slave states at producing goods in abundance and competitive prices.

I think most people who buy Apple products like this are simply ignorant of what has been on the market for a long time. There are touch screen tablet PC's with cheaper price tags, that have full keyboards and all the functionality of a notebook that have existed for a long time. Check out Asus EEE PC line, they have a couple touch screens. The great thing is that you don't need to buy special "Apps" since you can run regular computer software on them.

Your proposal of restricting who I can trade with would be a violation of my rights. America should unilaterally end tariffs and protectionism against all nations (except those who we are at declared war with) because those laws are a violation of the rights of the citizens. Whether or not a foreign country does not reciprocate by ending trade barriers on their side should have no bearing on our decision to protect individual rights within our own country.

Recently there was an opinion piece published on the same topic: http://www.alternet.org/media/145819/ayn_r..._serial_killer/

I did a readings course on the Critique of Pure Reason, and we prepared for it with the book "German Philosophy 1760-1860" by Pinkard. I already had an idea of Kant being a philosophy major and an Objectivist but I found this book a very good primer. I think one ought to be somewhat familiar with Hume before they read the Critique, as well.

The wealthier and knowledgeable the people around you, the better off you will be. Our lives are sustained by values, not negatives.

Why Nazism Was Socialism and Why Socialism is Totalitarian by George Reisman http://mises.org/story/1937 Story http://mises.org/media/1552 Audio

They are hesitant in putting to death an innocent man, not murderers. Also, a fetus is not an individual man, so I find these people entirely consistent: they defend the lives of individual, living human beings.

That was a novel in which characters acted on principle with their values. Obviously, everything in the novel is "dramatic." The purpose of Ayn Rand's writing was to display men as they could be and ought to be.

Yes, I am absolutely certain I do not have slaves.

I don't agree at all. Most heterosexual men are not attracted to other men, for example, no matter how much they admire the other person. There is something physiologically hardwired to certain female characteristics (and some would say this is the waist to hip ratio) that makes us specifically attracted to them, if we're heterosexual.

I'm the same. The first few minutes of talking automatically gives me a tonne of important information. If I've had three dates (not movie dates where you can't talk to each other) but dates where we've gotten to talk about our life and values, I can absolutely be into that person enough to have sex. Didn't Dominique and Roark have sex before having a full conversation?

Right, the US and other Anglosphere countries are still the freest in the world, so there is every reason to salute that right now (when differentiating them from the rest of the world).

Here I sense you mean "I find all healthy women physically attractive." I suppose you would have to define what healthy means to you. Would you consider a woman unhealthy if she had a very hairy upper lip or a large birth mark on the side of her face? What if, she had a huge scar from a dog bite across her jaw, neck, and cheek, would you consider that an "injury" and thus not healthy?

An absolutely essential characteristic of love is that you be physically attracted to your partner. That is definitely not the same as beauty though. For definitions of beauty, see the Ayn Rand Lexicon online.

A state is not a geographical location, it is a government ruling in a given geographic area. There is one government that, in it's founding principles, certainly deserves admiration. Can anyone guess which one it is?

The good of a high population density of productive people is the specialization of labour, and the increased value that each person productively creates. All human production is a series of adding more usable things from unusable things to this earth, not a scramble to gobble up nature-made resources as in the case of animals. Capitalism is the moral system of government because it is the only system which guarantees individual rights. Individuals rights are moral-political ideals that grant freedom of action to the individual, as long as he does not violate the rights of others. I believe laissez-faire capitalism is the moral system of government because it leaves me free from the force of others (including the government) to pursue my self-interest, and ultimately, happiness. If someone has slaves, they are a leach by the very act.

Typically, bosses have to let go of poorly performing employees if the situation gets really bad. So what boss wouldn't intend to fire the employee in such a situation? Maybe he is exaggerating the extent of what the financial situation of the company could like like in the coming months, but that's called a worst case estimate.

Definitely a good point. If this is what bluffing is, then I don't see any reason for it being wrong or considered dishonesty. What if, for example, you are nervous about talking to a girl but don't want to shake and look at the floor when you approach her? Those actions are certainly not mandatory actions to display to be "honest" with someone. In fact, I doubt they can even be considered "fake," because the interpretation of your body language or voice tone by someone is not a true indication of your feelings. I can smile when I'm sad, for example, and I don't consider that dishonest.

I would check this premise. Why would more human beings mean more poverty, disease, and less freedom? Maybe more human beings raised to be unthinking leeches, who do not create or produce anything, and support dictatorships. More people who are generally productive means more wealth, less poverty and disease. Competition has nothing to do with it lowering standards of living--capitalism is a race to the top.