Dream_Weaver's Allusions

Dream Weaver's Allusions
21

An Ode for Miss Ayn Rand

 

The world began for Miss Ayn Rand to win.
on Groundhog’s Day in Nineteen Hundred Five.
Saint Petersburg of Russia formed the bin,
where first of three, did find herself alive.

 

On paper, all through life, did thoughts get stored,
With samurai precision, offered ken,

Observations honed, keen, like edge of sword,
wielded with might, her power over pen.  

 

Throughout the ages, unsung heroes hid,
in plain sight to mankind’s un-grasped peril.
By opening the vast historic lid,
found in this trove a most fetching carol.

 

Along the path less trod this journey led,
where nature had placed universal key,
through everything did run a common thread,
for this was she decried as a banshee.

 

A moral compass she did calibrate,
the antidote to altruism’s bane,
with reasoning used to emancipate,
and egoism’s crown thus to attain.

 

The rights of man can guide him socially,
when used to limit edicts of the tribe,
the freest times produce abundantly,
the unknown ideal, to this, does ascribe.

 

As consummate artist she did aspire,
ascending in a rather novel way,
to set the hearts of men she touched on fire,
with an eternal flame that will hold sway.

 

A gravestone, where her corpse interred, depicts,
of Valhalla, New York, awareness - none.
On sixth of March, year Nineteen Eighty Six.
The world ended for Miss Ayn Rand had won.

 

Gregory S. Lewis

22

A Brief Allusion About Copyrights
 

CUI-11. Patents And Copyrights

Originally in The Objectivist Newsletter, May 1964

 

Patents and copyrights are the legal implementation of the base of all property rights: a man’s right to the product of his mind.

 

Both of these articles belong to Ayn Rand. In fact, they are the same article; verbatim. The first time it was printed was in May 1964, when it was sent to her subscribers of The Objectivist Newsletter. The second time, it was under a contract negotiated with a publisher as part of her book: Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal.

 

It was in this article she identified the notion of intellectual property as the subject of patents and copyrights. Ok, so she renamed the article from “Intellectual Ammunition Department” to “Patents And Copyrights”. As the owner, she was entitled to do so.

 

Starting with the identification of the fact that every type of productive work is a combination of mental and physical effort, thought and physical action translating thought into material form, where the ratio of these two aspects vary according to what is being done. Observing someone gather dead grasses, twigs and an assortment of larger branches and piling them up to build a fire is a technique that most children can perform with little parental intervention required. Copying an inspiring novel letter-by-letter, punctuation_mark-by-punctuation_mark, is a task most literate individuals can do.

 

For nearly two centuries, (starting with Plato around 400 B.C. till 1400 A.D.) this was the way literature was replicated. Until Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, the physical labor of copying was a significant part of the object’s value – over and above the value created by the originator of the idea.

 

The development of the mimeograph machine, by Thomas Edison, and the later Xerox machine, by IBM, reduced the time and effort required to duplicate the printed page to a fraction to that of copying by hand. With the advent of computers and the connectivity provided by the Internet, anyone that can use a computer and has access to the web can copy just about anything. No longer is the physical labor of copying a significant source of the object’s value, especially in the realm of literature.

 

So wherein does the value lie? In the fourth paragraph, Miss Rand posits the crux of her discovery and puts it forth her formulation. While a scientific or philosophic discovery which identifies a law of nature, a principle or a fact of realty not previously known is not the exclusive property of the discoverer because he did not create it.

 

“Intellectual property” is a discovery Miss Rand made during her keen exploration of existence. As such, a philosophical (or scientific) discovery which identifies a law of nature, a principle or a fact of reality not previously know, cannot be the exclusive property of the discover because she did not create it. She can copyright the book in which she presents her discovery, and she can demand that her authorship of the discovery be acknowledged, that no other man appropriate or plagiarize the credit for it-but she cannot copyright theoretical knowledge.

 

By committing her understanding of  “Intellectual Property” onto paper, she can make this theoretical knowledge available to her readers. And she does so, by utilizing the trader principle. When two people agree to the terms of an exchange, it is to the mutual benefit of both parties to do so.

 

The United States has had copyright laws on the books nearly from its inception. While in her copyrighted work she cites the Great Britain’s Copyright Act of 1911 as the most rational, the article was made available under the protection of U.S. copyright law. When an individual purchases an item that has been copyrighted, they are agreeing to the terms of the exchange.

 

The Intellectual Property is the text of the work as put forth by the author. The theoretical knowledge contained therein is made available via the copyrighted work. It is the readers’ responsibility to discover the idea which the work embodies, should they so desire. Even so, nature does not guarantee the success of any human endeavor.

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23

Paper Route Newsflash

 

About 15 years ago, I was sitting on my glider on the front porch of the house I owned in a fairly densely populated community. A young girl who delivered the local newspaper was out collecting the monies owed to her from subscribers.

 

When she got to where I lived, she turned and walked up the sidewalk and stepped up onto the porch and engaged me with a rather strange question.

 

“So, when are you moving?”, she inquired.

 

“Well,” I hesitated, “I wasn’t planning on moving. Why do you ask?”

 

Looking into my eyes, she responded, “There are blacks moving into the neighborhood.”

 

I leaned forward and looked down the street to my left. Then, turning my head, I looked down the street to my right. Then I looked back at her, leaned forward a little further and indicated with a hand gesture for her to move in a little closer – which she did.

 

As she leaned forward, I quickly glanced up and down the street again, then put my hand up near my mouth as if to cover my words. In a lowered voice, I told her, “There are blacks living on this planet.”

 

We pulled back from each other. As I watched her, her eyes got real wide; as if a thought had struck her that went way past the dinnertime conversations she was probably accustomed to having.

24

Changing the Culture

 

Stephen R. Covey wrote many years ago in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” a guiding principle he identified as: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”  This is closely aligned in my mind with Dale Carnegie’s advice in “How to Win Friends and Influence People” where he penned his advice: “You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.

 

Ayn Rand sought first to understand, then to be understood. Albeit, Mr. Covey’s context was to first understand people, then to be understood by them. An aspect of this can be seen in Mr. Carnegie’s advice, by being interested in other people, other people think you have their interests in mind. Miss Rand sought first to understand human nature, and then to pass on that understanding. Mr. Covey qualified his advice with listening so you really, deeply understand another human being. Rand qualified her advice by advocating an understanding of reasoning and reality.

 

All three of these individuals have insights about human nature. All three indicate positive values that might be achieved via judicious application of their respective principles.

 

Carnegie’s book originally listed twelve things his book would do for you. The audience he appealed to he envisioned as looking for new thoughts, visions and ambitions, friends, popularity, persuasiveness, influence and prestige, new clients or customers, increased earning power among others listed.

 

Covey’s list of potential benefits was more generalized. He offered advice for being effective in life, identifying character values and life goals, and setting prioritization. He also offered advice on interdependence; strategies for working with others.

 

Rand examined values, and identified what the criteria are for things to qualify as values, and why happiness is pursuant to their achievement. The tool she identified as the only one best suited for dealing with others was reason, with the only alternative for humanity to resort to being force.

 

Both Carnegie and Covey appeal to an implicit sense of selfishness, telling their readers what they should expect for themselves by reading their books. Rand, on the other hand, painstakingly leads her readers through the virtues of selfishness explicitly.

 

Carnegie and Covey offered suggestions on how to be more effective when dealing with others. Rand simply presented her ideas to others, relying on the soundness of her arguments to stand on their own merit. 

 

One of these suggestions was to: Begin with praise and honest appreciation. Rand advocates this principle: One must never fail to pronounce moral judgment.

 

Another suggestion was to call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. Falling in line with the pronouncement of moral judgment, make it as clear and concise as possible.

 

Where it was advocated to give the other person a fine reputation to live up to, Rand pointed out that a man is a being of self-made soul.

 

In the spirit of the titles of both books, Carnegie points out: Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct. Rand addresses this in her pithy remark cited by Leonard Peikoff in his Epilogue: To save the world is the simplest thing in the world. All one has to do is think.

 

Carnegie’s last suggestion was to make the other person happy about doing what you suggest, Covey’s win-win solution, if you will. Here, Rand speaks though John Galt, pointing out that “Happiness is the state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s own values.

 

Supplemental listening: http://traffic.libsyn.com/philosophyinaction/2013-11-10-Q1.mp3

25

A little ditty I wrote back on Dec. 11, 2008.

Barack, the magic puppet
Who pulls his strings?
Chicago style politics
May have gave him wings.

His dance of vast evasion
Keep delusions going strong
With the right appointment picks
Some canaries quell their song

Those leftist old world policies
Down that path again we’re led
They have not worked out in the past
Isn’t communism dead?

26

On 10/12/2012 at 8:20 PM, dream_weaver said:

“then who is God?”

 

I stopped into the local market to pick up a couple of dinners.

We were behind an elderly couple with kindly looking faces. The cashier, who has worked there for years, was waiting for the coupons to print out, looking at our order and mentioned that the dinners came with a drink, or if we would like something from the impulse display, that it comes with the meal. I let him know that I thought he was observant, a fact he seemed to file inside himself, perhaps to be sorted out at some future point in time.

I mentioned that the gal in the delicatessen had put two sides in with the chicken having explained to her that two sides would be preferred, in lieu of a drink. She was agreeable to it. One of the other employees had informed me that was an acceptable option.

A few more coupons printed out. The clerk had more coupons in his hand than I could identify without counting. I commented that it sounds like someone won the coupon jack-pot.

The older gentleman piped up at that point about running out of paper. I replied, I wouldn’t worry about running out of paper, all you have to do is plant another tree. He indicated that such things took time. I agreed, by letting him know that coordinating such events have to be well planned out in advance.

 

27

A short ode to Myth:

The ancient Myths, thick swirling fog, rendered from emotion,
are guideposts for some wayward minds, set firmly in commotion.
As poets write their prose and rhymes, oft with their mystic insight,
get read and heard and spread by those, who are not yet quite contrite.

The Myths, you see, are you and me, ensconced in cryptic verse,
lest the outcome’s progeny averts and shuns off Circe.
Their roots run deep and spread below what is most eas’ly seen,
and as their years pass, turn sublime, whilst they primp and preen.

The truths to which the Myths most seem to accurately portray,
set forth with many caveats, which needed to purveyed.
The music in the background, lifts forth and lends its voice,
To rhyme and reason vetted fully, in its final choice.

28

The Muse of the Curtain Call

Where has the adventure gone?
When did it up and leave?
Yon future has yet still to spawn,
the past—packed in its sleeve.

Recanting tales from days of old,
grand splendor yet to come.
Whilst scales of justice mete what’s told,
causality keeps sum.

Behold the context that’s perceived,
keep it clear in mind.
Lest conceptually deceived,
make wisps of fog that bind.

Entities are presupposed
in all actions observed.
Thought analyzed and recomposed,
for clarity deserved.

Awareness comes not divvied up,
focus starts that process.
Before coffee pours in a cup,
there’s much to coalesce.

Value presupposes life,
it’s enacted on the stage.
In examples that are rife,
performers earn their wage.

The politic doth interact,
with more complexity.
Freedom to live or suicide pact,
enforced collectively.

The curtain’s up, the cast’s on set,
there is no dress rehearsal.
Ad-libbed scripts form epithet,
this play’s quite universal.

29

Still Waters Run Deep

The rivers flow forth from their source,
their mouths feast on oceans and seas.
Mankind’s hist’try runs it course,
‘tween its berms of philosophies. 

30

The Forgotten Path

A line between two points that’s straight,
with compass scribe an arc.
Project between dependent views,
with gutter spike leave mark.

Upon a page, line after line,
filled with repeated letter.
Duplicate each stroke in kind,
while penmanship gets better.

Descript geometry’s an art
programmers try to capture.
Their lines of code, while often bold,
must correlate to rapture.

Planography that’s based on keys,
to truly understand,
must break them down and make them sound
to not face reprimand.

To all of this add tolerance;
a band of width that’s known—
related to an origin,
to reap from what was sown.

Pythagoras, his theorems held,
for proof, one looked to see.
The evidence of senses saw,
the observed, thus, must be.

The rank and file, lest’t be defiled,
should on this onus stand.
The penalty, if varied much,
deserves such reprimand.

With more to write, yet less to say,
The penalties, though come what may.
Determine what lies in the course,
But do not account for the horse.