O-Land News Junkie
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Posts posted by O-Land News Junkie
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Conservatives who have warmed to Stone will be pleased to hear that he hopes to direct a version of Ayn Rand's classic right-wing novel, The Fountainhead, although he has little truck with Rand's politics. I like it for other reasons, he argues. For her emphasis on individualism and sticking to your guns.
http://randex.org/index.php/weblog/braced_...ritical_impact/
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"I was not someone who always thought one day I would write my 'Fountainhead,' " Wagner said of the Ayn Rand novel that's captivated generations of high school libertarians with its uncompromising architect hero.
http://randex.org/index.php/weblog/deconst...monumental_ego/
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Paul Wolfowitz hasn't been my hero by a long shot, given his hand in
getting the United States government into the Iraq war mess.
Read article at Free Market Network News
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Virginia's higher-education commission has granted operating authority to Founders College, a private, for-profit school whose owners are buying a 1,100-acre estate in Campbell County near Lynchburg for its campus.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/searc...s=1045855934842
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From a new article at the Guardian:
The founder of Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia written by its users, has defied the Chinese government by refusing to bow to censorship of politically sensitive entries.Jimmy Wales, one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine, challenged other internet companies, including Google, to justify their claim that they could do more good than harm by co-operating with Beijing.Wikipedia, a hugely popular reference tool in the West, has been banned from China since last October. Whereas Google, Microsoft and Yahoo went into the country accepting some restrictions on their online content, Wales believes it must be all or nothing for Wikipedia.Wales is a long-time admirer of Ayn Rand’s writings, so his unwillingness to suffer censorsorship at the hands of Chinese bureaucrats shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
Perhaps he will even be able to change their mind:
Wales will meet senior Chinese officials in an attempt to persuade them to allow the website’s 1.3 million articles to appear there uncensored.‘One of the points that I’m trying to push is that if there’s a small town in China that has a wonderful local tradition, that won’t make its way into Wikipedia because the people of China are not allowed to share their knowledge with the world. I think that’s an ironic side-effect and something the people in the censorship department need to have a much bigger awareness of: you’re not just preventing information about Falun Gong or whatever you’re upset about getting into China, you’re preventing the Chinese people speaking to the world.’Props to Jimmy. See the for much more. (Hat tip: Instapundit)
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/586.php -
I’ve been remiss, for a couple weeks now, in not mentioning that the Atlasphere has a new editor!Our new editor is Carol Brass, pictured at right. Carol is a senior at UCLA, majoring in philosophy, and has been an Atlasphere member since March 2006.
She is now firmly at the helm of the Atlasphere columns, finding new content for your enjoyment each week.
If you have ideas for columns you would like to publish at the Atlasphere (and be paid for), please contact her at carol -at- theatlasphere.com.
Please see our writers guidelines for additional information about submitting columns.
We currently have 3,745 readers who have signed up to receive an announcement each time we publish a new column — so you’re guaranteed a very nice-sized readership at the Atlasphere!
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/584.php -
There’s never been a writer quite like Ayn Rand. Her third novel, The Fountainhead (1943), won her an enduring, impassioned following by extolling what she would later call “the virtue of selfishness.â€Â
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/searc...jectivism.shtml
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This will be old news for some, but we’ve not posted it before.
From an interview with Sandra Bullock in 2004 in Marie Claire magazine:
If you had to pick 12 things you could take to a desert island, what would you choose? We challenged Hollywood’s favorite girl-next-door to name life’s essentials. […]11. The Fountainhead by Ayn RandThe main character, Howard Roark, being safe and strong enough to be the outsider, to be the lone voice, is such a great metaphor for what, in one way, the business promotes and looks for, and in another way, doesn’t allow. When somebody breaks out and completely shatters the mold, it’s inspiring. It’s scary to set off by yourself like that. But there are so many great books that I have yet to tap into. I think it’s so unfortunate that they force you to read all the classics when you’re a kid. I couldn’t have cared less about Moby Dick when I had to read it. All I could think was, Look at the size of that book! These books are written by people who have experienced life, which, at that age, you have not yet experienced. Honestly? I think there should be required reading for adults.See the full article for Bullock’s full list of “The 12 Best Things in My Life.”
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/583.php -
Last month, Wired magazine featured a terrific article on the long-elusive goal of developing artificial intelligence smart enough drive cars.
Computers have long been able to see the world. What they have lacked, up to this point, is the intelligence to comprehensively interpret what they see.
But that is fast becoming history.
The message is clear: Autonomous vehicles have arrived, and Stanley is their prophet. “This is a watershed moment - much more so than Deep Blue versus Kasparov,” says Justin Rattner, Intel’s R&D director. “Deep Blue was just processing power. It didn’t think. Stanley thinks. We’ve moved away from rule-based thinking in artificial intelligence. The new paradigm is based on probabilities. It’s based on statistical analysis of patterns. It is a better reflection of how our minds work.”See the full article for more. It’s a terrific story of brilliant minds learning to understand how we actually evaluate the physical world — and programming computers to do something very similar.
For one Objectivist entrepreneur’s take on developing artificial intelligence, see the Atlasphere’s interview with Peter Voss.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/582.php -
Instapundit says “Atlas is shrugging.”
Consider the evidence:
Millions of men like Mr. Beggerow — men in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55 — have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified, even as an expanding economy offers opportunities to work.About 13 percent of American men in this age group are not working, up from 5 percent in the late 1960’s. The difference represents 4 million men who would be working today if the employment rate had remained where it was in the 1950’s and 60’s.What could be causing all these men to stay home? For the full story, see Dr. Helen Smith’s post on the topic.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/581.php -
We just received the following announcement:Greetings!There’s been a lot of mystery surrounding the startup of Founders College — the greatest revolution in higher education of our lifetime. You can be the first to get the real deal (not the media mush) on this exciting project by checking outwww.founderscollege.com. Whether you’re a friend or just curious about the project, you’re getting a first look because you’re a rational, prolific, powerful web communicator. There will be many exciting milestones to come — announcement of our location, full faculty listing, and much, much more — and we’ll be in touch along the way.Best,Tamara K. FullerExecutive Vice President & Chief Strategy OfficerFounders College Education, Inc.Their web site looks like a good start to a great idea. (I mean, who could not love that logo?)
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/579.php -
The new issue of People magazine contains this quote from Brandon Routh, Hollywood’s new Superman:“I don’t know if most people will want to read something this heavy, but I really recommendAtlas Shruggedby Ayn Rand. It will take you all summer to read but you just might learn something, be inspired and have your opinions changed.”Sweet.
Somebody tell him about the upcoming Atlas Shrugged movie.
Is he Latin enough for Francisco? Inscrutable enough for Galt? Let the speculation begin!
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/576.php -
From a new article in The Hindustan Times about actresses with a passion for reading:They are hot. They are sassy. They are sexy. But mind you, they are not dumb! We’re talking about the Bollywood starlets. Check out what some of these gorgeous actresses manage to indulge in despite having a pressure-cooker kind of life.Whenever some actresses are off work, all they are glued on to is…Books! Reading has influenced their thinking in many ways. The starlets have drawn inspiration from reading award-winning novels.They believe that books have influenced their lives as much as other important social and professional events. Actress Preity Zinta is among the passionate readers club, who finds Ayn Rand’sFountainheadas one of the most influential book of all time. “I have read this book several times till now and still whenever I find time, I like to read it again. This is the book, which has influenced me a lot. Initially when I read this book, it was difficult for me to understand it but later on when I read it again, I realized the importance of its character,” explains Preity.Talking further about the book she says, “The character of Howard Roark in this book has inspired me very much. He is a man of strong will who faces big problems in life but wins over them with his wisdom and endurance.”Her father gave her the book when she was in 8th grade. See our earlier post on this topic for additional background.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/575.php -
The situation may not be as simple as “Living Under Capitalism = Being Happier” but a new article in New Scientist called “Wealthy Nations Hold the Key to Happiness” suggests that such a conclusion is not far from the truth.
The “Map of World Happiness” below sums it up pretty well. Red indicates happiness. Yellow indicates unhappiness.
From the article:
According to the analysis, a country’s happiness is closely related to its wealth, along with the health and education levels of its people. It is no surprise that people spending heavily on healthcare, such as US citizens, rank highly, says White, as this investment increases life expectancy and general wellbeing.“There is a belief that capitalism leads to unhappy people,” he says. “However, when people are asked if they are happy with their lives, people in countries with good healthcare, a higher [earnings] per capita, and access to education were much more likely to report being happy.”Many thanks to friend and political-happiness scholar for calling this new article to our attention.
This certainly adds an interesting twist to the “Materialism = Unhappiness” equation that we hear advanced a lot, implicitly or otherwise, in American Buddhist and leftist circles.
Here is an interesting tidbit:
Countries that rank in the top 20 in both White’s list and the Happy Planet Index – presumably very happy places indeed – are Costa Rica, Bhutan and Antigua and Barbuda.I wonder what these countries have going for them.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/572.php -
The Atlasphere columns are now available through an RSS/XML syndication newsfeed.
Someone requested this feature last year, and it made perfect sense — but I’ve only now had time to set it up.
The little orange RSS icon is hidden behind the password-protected “columns” section of our site, but you can copy the actual link to your clipboard using this link.
Drop me a note if you notice any problems or have questions.
I know the feed doesn’t validate strictly, but haven’t had time to look into it, and I probably won’t bother unless it’s actually, you know, causing problems.
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/571.php
[Randex]Revisiting the intellectual heritage of a free society
in News
Posted
The philosophy of Ayn Rand (1905-1982) is a systematic and integrated unity that is founded on the axioms of existence, identity, and consciousness. Rand explains that knowledge is based on the observation of reality and that to attain knowledge a person employs the processes of induction, deduction, and synthesis.
http://randex.org/index.php/weblog/revisit...a_free_society/