Isn't it too late to save the world?

Activism for Reason, Rights, Reality
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The title refers to Rand’s character Dominique and her earlier position on metaphysics before meeting Howard Roark. According to the unconverted Dominique, the universe is malevolent and that no matter what, evil will eventually win out. Nevertheless, Dominique acknowledges the existence of man’s ability to create.

For example, every company and individual that benefits the population seems to be under fire, (Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Martha Stewart). Though America has so much potential, it looks as if it’s falling into the left’s relativism and the right’s religious party.

I was just wondering, maybe good cannot succeed into this world. Though there is so much potential to create a beautiful society based on reason, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, yet it’s constantly denied by the majority. If you were to gather a 1000 random men and women to ask them if “the love of money is the root of all evil,” you’ll probably get a show of 997 hands. I believe in individualism, but how could three succeed over 997?

It’s been this way throughout history. Will it ever change? Whoever said the universe would run a course, ending with an outcome of good?

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To add

Dominique with threw her ability from the world. What makes Dominique different from Francisco?

3

Dominique is quite different from the strikers in her reasons…

The strikers withdrew their ability because it was the only hope; Dominique withdrew her ability because she thought there was no hope.

And by the way, if this is what it comes down to, 3 may defeat 997 by refusing to help the 997.

4

Dominique is quite different from the strikers in her reasons…

The strikers withdrew their ability because it was the only hope; Dominique withdrew her ability because she thought there was no hope.

And by the way, if this is what it comes down to, 3 may defeat 997 by refusing to help the 997.

Richard Halley

And what exist to show us that there is in fact hope? There’s no eternal product that we can look too. Evil yes, it rises up all the time. Then again, it doesn’t have to rise, it merely swallows up that which is good.

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Evil can only exist where there is good for it to swallow. If you see evil, there is always hope: just look and you will find the good.

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Evil can only exist where there is good for it to swallow.  If you see evil, there is always hope: just look and you will find the good.

Sounds more like a zen quote then an example of actual reality Y_Feld. :blink:

Could you give me an example? Or even multiple examples?

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And what exist to show us that there is in fact hope?

Rationality.

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Atlas Shrugged is, in summary, my Zen quote. I’m sure you can find all the examples you want in that book.

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And what exist to show us that there is in fact hope?

How about this forum… :blink:

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Even better than a banner ad…

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How about this forum… 

Admins, feel free to quote me on that.

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Of course there’s hope. Evil is fundamentally impotent.

The only way that evil can possibly profit is through the default of the good.

Reality is on our side, for pete’s sake.

Isaac Z. Schlueter

http://isaac.beigetower.org

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There was a time when 997 out of 1000 thought the earth flat. There was a time when 997 out of 1000 thought the earth was the center of the solar system. One could make a huge list of such statements.

And, there was a time when Rand had not yet existed.

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I was just wondering, maybe good cannot succeed into this world. Though there is so much potential to create a beautiful society based on reason, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, yet it’s constantly denied by the majority. If you were to gather a 1000 random men and women to ask them if “the love of money is the root of all evil,” you’ll probably get a show of 997 hands. I believe in individualism, but how could three succeed over 997?

It’s been this way throughout history. Will it ever change? Whoever said the universe would run a course, ending with an outcome of good?

The benevolent universe premise doesn’t mean that the good will always win. It means the good CAN win. It means the good has a fighting chance. As someone who has been fighting for Objectivism for 42 years and for my own personal values for longer than that, I agree with Ayn Rand that “Those who fight for the future live in it today.”

Thanks to Objectivism, I’ve made good choices, had great successes, made wonderful friends, and am living a very happy and fulfilling life.

I do realize that there are a lot of mixed up unhappy people doing stupid and irrational things out there, but so what? That’s THEIR problem, not mine. Thanks to Objectivism, if I see trouble coming, I can deal with it appropriately. That might involve enlisting the aid of rational people, appealing to the rational side of someone with mixed premises, avoiding evil people, not sanctioning bad ideas, getting good legal advice, buying insurance, etc.

As to how three can succeed if they are opposed by 997, don’t forget that good rational people have a huge and powerful ally on their side: REALITY. As Thoreau put it in one of my favorite quotes: “One man more right than his neighbors is a majority of one.”

As to history, have a good look at it. When reason was even a small force in the culture, men prospered and the men of reason did even better. The only thing the men of reason have lacked is a solid epistemological foundation and, most importantly, a rational morality. They have it now.

In the past 42 years I have watched the growth of Objectivism with delight and amazement. History is changing dramatically for the better and Objectivists are making it happen.

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It’s somewhat hard to see any positive change, if anything it seems to be getting worse. They hasn’t been any fundamental change in the moral philosophy of most people, even in many of those who have read the works of Ayn Rand, since the mid-twentieth century. Our society seems to be in a stagnant state, one portentous of some future age of gradual or swift decline.

Sometimes it looks like it is too late. Where can you guys see some sign of hope?

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Sometimes it looks like it is too late. Where can you guys see some sign of hope?

Like I said, Rexton… here.

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Like I said, Rexton… here.

That’s what this site is all about :slight_smile:

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Sometimes it looks like it is too late.  Where can you guys see some sign of hope?

All over the place!

Here are a few items from my CyberNet in just the past month:

An Objectivist Conference in Europe

An Objectivist Conference in Virginia

An Objectivist opening a psychotherapy practice

28 books by Objectivists in the Amazon Top 100K books

10 Objectivists in the Amazon Top 10K reviewers

Several references to Ayn Rand in the media including a UPI syndicated story

19 publications or references to ARI op-eds in the press

Articles and Letters by Objectivists in major publications

An Objectivist with a regular radio show on 30 stations

12 lectures by Objectivists

Yaron Brook appearing on The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News 4/7/04

*** Yaron Brook appearing on Geraldo at Large TONIGHT 4/17/04 ***

And THIS …

The University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business just

received $1 million from BB&T to set up a faculty position to teach

and research the moral foundations of capitalism.

In addition to creating the BB&T Chair for the Study of Capitalism,

the donation will fund undergraduate and graduate courses to study Ayn

Rand’s _Atlas Shrugged_, establish a speaker series on capitalism and

add an Ayn Rand reading room to the business school’s Springs

Library.

JOHN ALLISON, CEO and chairman of BB&T, announced the grant yesterday

(3/24/04). The news appeared in The State (Columbia, SC)

<http://tinyurl.com/yu8e9>, the USC student newspaper

<http://tinyurl.com/3ethv>, and syndicated by the Associated Press

<http://tinyurl.com/2hqzv>.

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That sounds good, very promising. It’s amazing that we now have that capitalism program! Now if they’d only set up another one at Harvard… :lol:

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When I first attended a speech by Ayn Rand in the late sixties, the room was full of girls wearing capes and the like. At the time, there weren’t any qualified professors of philosophy who were Objectivists. Her arguments didn’t enter into any serious discussion about politics, ethics, etc. I was called a cult follower, and by the looks of many of those in the audience at that lecture, I could understand why they thought that. When Ms. Rand was still alive, many who followed her were just that – followers. Even Miss Rand encouraged certain practices that gave people cause to point their fingers and accuse, and though I admire Dr. Peikoff greatly and think that he has done more than anyone to further the study of Objectivism, there is still that tendency to excommunicate people who disagree with one point or another. Rationalization is a danger to Objectivists, and I’ve seen it among those at ARI as well as Kelley’s bunch.

But, none of this matters. Her philosophy will outgrow personalities – it already has to a certain extent. Her ideas are too powerful not to be recognized as a major shift in philosophic thinking, and it is the ideas that matter in the end, not any personality quirks, or personal flaws, or even the mistakes made in certain conclusions made by Miss Rand herself. She said it herself once; she stated that she had given the tools necessary to correct whatever mistakes she herself made, and she was right.

You can’t imagine how much things have changed just in my lifetime. In the beginning, the only thing one might read about Miss Rand was a scathing review of her fiction!

Betsy is right. Don’t dispair because that will only cut your own enjoyment of life; the only duty you have is to yourself and the life you live. While you may feel discouraged when you see what is happening in the world, remember that we do not live ahistorically and the changes we advocate are profound. We are doing battle against the most broadly entrenched ideas in the history of mankind, ideas so widespread that they seem self-evident to most people. No change comes overnight, but every life lived in reason cuts into the lifespan of these false ideas. We won’t live to see a virtuous society, but our own virtue will help to build it.