Sawyer

Thanks for the recommendations, Jerry, I will be sure to check a few of those out! Mike, I haven't decided yet; as an incoming freshman I haven't even started college quite yet. I will probably choose to major in one of those but plan to also take as many classes from the other as possible. My school also offers a major dubbed Computation and Neural Systems, which is another option for me. For a while I was actually seriously considering architecture, which was what inspired me to go back and re-read The Fountainhead. Nice meeting you all, and see you around!

Let me introduce myself. It seems like a reasonable thing to do here. I'm Sawyer. I'm a college student, and for a few months I've been toying more and more with the ideas of Objectivism. And, despite my disgust when I first read the Fountainhead over a year ago, I've really started to appreciate Rand's writing and admire Roark (though I still have issues with the whole raping part.) Then I read Anthem, and now I'm working my way through Atlas Shrugged. And a few weeks ago, I worked up the courage to change my "Political Views" on Facebook to Objectivist, which was disappointingly met by people asking "what's that mean?" For a while I've been looking for other people out there like me. But whenever I discuss an issue on my Facebook page from an Objectivist standpoint, I get bombarded with cries of "you're just being selfish!" which I readily agree to, and move on. So I started looking around online for a site like...well, a site like this one, hopefully. It would be wrong of me to say I've been looking for a site exactly like this, because I haven't been here long enough to know whether I like it or not. But I do find it infinitely more appealing than poorly designed flashy websites claiming to be "Objectivist," but demonstrating no pride in their work. I find it more consistent, so far, than ARI, which is profiting from Rand's work without adding any new insights. And of course, it's far better than the satirical (one hopes!) page titled "How to become an Objectivist in 10 easy steps!" And so, I hope I will enjoy it here. I'm interested in science and computers, especially as we move into a future where artificial intelligence is a real possibility, and my goal is to found and run a successful robotics/AI company. When asked what I live for, my reply is that I live to create; I bow to no man and no thing. I worship the human intellect: my prayer is thought, my temple the mind, and my god my self. My favorite Rand quotes, so far, include: -The cliche, "Throughout the centuries, there have been men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. They fought, they suffered, and they paid. But they won." -I find motivation in Rand's introduction to the latter edition of the Fountainhead, especially: "It is not in the nature of man to start out by giving up, by spitting in one's own face and damning existence, that requires a process of corruption. Many vanish in the vast swamp of their elders who tell them that maturity consists of abandoning one's mind, security, of abandoning one's values, practicality, of losing self-esteem. Yet a few hold on and move on, knowing that that fire is not to be betrayed, learning how to give it shape, purpose, and reality. It is those few that move the world and give life its meaning." -And, from Anthem, "But we, Equality 7-2521, are glad to be living. If this is a vice, then we wish no virtue." One of my favorite all around quotes is from Edison (who had some pretty Objectivist ideas, I might add): -"Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something!" Let me end by saying that I, like Dagny, seek to hold my head like the original Taggart: As if I face a challenge, and find joy in my capacity to meet it. Also, hi. =)