Greetings, and Thanks!

[jaybird3rd]

A very belated hello to the Objectivist Living community!

I've mostly remained a "lurker" in the months since I first discovered these discussion boards, but I could not allow this year to come to an end without formally introducing myself and offering a sincere word of thanks to all of those who have contributed to the many fascinating discussions here, which I have followed with great interest. I'm a thirty-three year old male currently living in Alabama, I have recently completed my master's degree in computer science, and I have spent most of my career to date working with computer technology, as a technician, network administrator, and software developer. However, having recently discovered a greater passion for teaching, I have decided to devote the remainder of my career to teaching and to conducting research in the area of educational technology. I will begin my search for a doctoral program next year, and hope to begin my PhD studies in 2011.

I am a relatively new Ayn Rand enthusiast, having been introduced to her work through the recent surge of interest in Atlas Shrugged. I don't remember what prompted me to do it, but I picked up a copy of the audio book version of Atlas early this year, and began listening during my daily commute. I don't think I need to describe for the people here the impact that it had on me. I was working for the U.S. Army at the time, and immersing myself in the world of Atlas Shrugged every morning before going to work in a government office (which fit every negative stereotype of a government office that you can imagine) became an increasingly wrenching experience for me; I would move through my days in a state of complete preoccupation with what I was hearing every morning in my car. I wish I had heard it all much earlier in my life, but since I was taught at home during my high school years through a very fundamentalist Christian satellite school (which would never have gone anywhere near Rand's books), I was denied the privilege. I moved on to The Fountainhead immediately after I finished Atlas, and then began learning more about Rand herself and about the fascinating and fractured world of Objectivism.

I decided that I was a libertarian as a teenager living in the liberal northeast, and I decided I was an atheist after moving to the "Bible belt" in my twenties, so I've known for a long time that I seem to be a natural outsider everywhere I go. But one of the things I became aware of through my exposure to Rand's work is that, because my formal education had focused so heavily on technology and computer science, I was left with a somewhat impoverished understanding of other important areas of life, most notably philosophy, psychology, and economics. After getting my master's degree out of the way in May, I decided that I needed to remedy this imbalance in my knowledge before I would be ready to move on to my PhD studies, so I quit the government job (which had become intolerable to me by this time) to work part-time and to engage in private study for a year or so. The Rand corpus has served as my starting point, and although I haven't read them all yet, I now own all of Rand's novels and most of her collections of nonfiction essays. I have tried to avoid the compromised revisionist works from the Ayn Rand Institute, which I learned about thanks to Robert Campbell's diligent efforts to expose them.

I've also begun branching out to the works of other writers directly or indirectly connected with Rand and Objectivism. Of these, I have been most deeply impressed by the work of Nathaniel Branden. I now own most of his books, too, and it's possible that his work has affected me even more profoundly than Rand's! His writings in psychology have opened doors in my personal life and have enabled me to work on myself in ways I hadn't thought possible, while his writings and talks on Objectivism have provided important clarifications and corrections to Rand's ideas just when I needed them. As I have worked my way through the fundamentals, I think Dr. Branden has helped me to avoid the kinds of mistakes and misunderstandings that many overenthusiastic newcomers to Objectivism seem to stumble into, and I'm certain I will learn even more from the recent publication of his NBI lectures. Also helpful in this regard--and equally impressive to me--was Barbara Branden's excellent biography, The Passion of Ayn Rand, which I bought after hearing this promotional interview from 1986. It has been such a pleasure to read Barbara's book and her writings on this site, and the opportunity to convey my gratitude "in person" was one of the factors that motivated me to (finally) sign up as a member. Now that I am here, I'm only too aware that I have much to learn, and I'm sure I will have many questions for you all, but I also hope to make a positive contribution in any way I can.

My thanks once again to Michael Stuart Kelly and to all of the "regulars" here who have contributed much to my understanding of Objectivism so far. And, should either of them grant me the honor of reading this introduction, thanks most especially to Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden. You have enriched my life.

Jay

Edited December 28, 2009 by jaybird3rd

[Alfonso Jones]

Welcome to OL, Jay.

Bill P

[BaalChatzaf]

Hey Jaybird,

Best of luck to you in your newly chosen career. You sound determined and focused and you should do well in your efforts. Way to go!

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Chris Grieb]

Welcome to OL!

[Robert Campbell]

Jay,

Welcome to OL!

Robert Campbell

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Jay,

After an intro like that, there's not much to say except welcome.

I look forward to reading your posts and interacting.

Michael

[Max Eichelberger]

Hello Jay, I think Michael summed it up ("there's not much to say except welcome") for me.

Enjoy your stay. *tips hat* And good luck.

[ValueChaser]

Always interesting to see the different historical ways by which Objectivism's adherents grasp Rand's key points. And I too have read a couple of books by Nathaniel Branden; the most enriching for me was "Honoring the Self". I would like to reread that book soon and truly integrate into my psychology some of the principles that I need. Congratulations on your Master's degree, and on your focused ambition to be employed in a job that brings out the best of yourself!

--John

[Steve Gagne]

Jay --

Though much of my personal path has led in the opposite direction of yours, I always welcome one who can think independently and clearly. And please, do not denigrate your CompSci background as "limited" to technology. I believe you will find that your own understanding of information theory will stand you in good stead as you learn and share about some big topics around here, such as truth-value and certainty, learning, induction, concept formation, conceptual hierarchies, and the like. And, since you've also been reading NB's books, you may even discover that you already understand more about philosophy and psychology than you ever suspected.

So welcome, I look forward to engaging.

Vty

Steve

[DavidMcK]

Welcome Jay, I want to comment on how rapid your development has been since you discovered Rand. Some of us who are older had the sense that there was something very right about Objectivism but also something else was needed; we had to wait while Nathaniel and Barbara were writing and making their own discoveries. I also know what you mean about working in a quasi govermental type atmosphere...I worked for Raytheon for a year near Dallas Tx and they did a lot of contract work for the military. It was awful..a place for ex-military people to go, and they tried to run the company like a squad of soldiers. I knew I didn't belong there when my supervisor told us that there was no place for an individual in that company (we were working on maintenance of the P-3 Orion aircraft-a sub chaser), so I quit after not getting along with hardly anybody there, and got a better job at TWA (now taken over by AMR). Your progress is remarkable and inspiring, and I suspect anyone who gets you as a teacher will consider themselves very lucky.

David

Edited December 29, 2009 by DavidMcK

[jaybird3rd]

Thanks to all of you for such a warm welcome! It's greatly appreciated.

[jaybird3rd]

Though much of my personal path has led in the opposite direction of yours, I always welcome one who can think independently and clearly. And please, do not denigrate your CompSci background as "limited" to technology. I believe you will find that your own understanding of information theory will stand you in good stead as you learn and share about some big topics around here, such as truth-value and certainty, learning, induction, concept formation, conceptual hierarchies, and the like.

I think you might be right about this. It's been a strange and enlightening experience, embarking on a study of philosophy only after having been trained in computer science. It seems almost as if I have unknowingly approached my education backwards, and that I am only now (quite accidentally!) being exposed to certain topics that I wish I was more aware of in the beginning. In other words, if my background in computer science has helped me to understand these broader philosophical topics, the reverse is also true: my exploration of philosophy, as meager as it has been, has already deepened my understanding of computer science.

To give only one example of what I mean: so much of modern software engineering involves constructing abstract models of objects, entities, relations, and actions, and programming them to interact in ways that will allow the computer to solve problems in the real world. Having read a little of Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, and having heard some of David Kelley's lectures on the subject, it seems obvious to me now that epistemology--particularly in the areas of concept formation and validation--is directly applicable here, especially since some of the most difficult challenges that students of computer science face early in their careers involve learning to synthesize useful and valid sets of models. However, in all the years I've spent in computer science classrooms, I don't recall epistemology ever being mentioned or discussed explicitly. I can't help but wonder how much more I would have learned, or how much better I would have learned it, if I understood more of the philosophical underpinnings of what I was doing. But, because I did not, my understanding of the philosophy was very indirect and very skeletal. I'm much more conscious of that now, and this is what prompted my remark about having an "impoverished understanding" in this area. On the other hand, perhaps the philosophy is more resonant to me now than it would have been if I was not already familiar with at least one potentially fruitful area of application.

From what little I've read of ITOE so far, I do know one thing for certain: if Rand could have lived longer while retaining her powers, and if she had been interested in studying the subject, I'm sure she would have made an excellent computer scientist. It's been fascinating to learn something of the workings of her mind.

Jay

Edited December 30, 2009 by jaybird3rd

[jaybird3rd]

Welcome Jay, I want to comment on how rapid your development has been since you discovered Rand. Some of us who are older had the sense that there was something very right about Objectivism but also something else was needed; we had to wait while Nathaniel and Barbara were writing and making their own discoveries. I also know what you mean about working in a quasi govermental type atmosphere...I worked for Raytheon for a year near Dallas Tx and they did a lot of contract work for the military. It was awful..a place for ex-military people to go, and they tried to run the company like a squad of soldiers. I knew I didn't belong there when my supervisor told us that there was no place for an individual in that company (we were working on maintenance of the P-3 Orion aircraft-a sub chaser), so I quit after not getting along with hardly anybody there, and got a better job at TWA (now taken over by AMR). Your progress is remarkable and inspiring, and I suspect anyone who gets you as a teacher will consider themselves very lucky.

Well, you're very kind. I think one of the things that has contributed to whatever progress I've made is my lifelong tendency to find and devour any available resource on every subject I become interested in; as a kid, I used to drive my parents crazy with this. The subject of Objectivism has kept me busier than most (what an understatement!), and as I've explored it, I've been amazed at the body of work that has been amassed over the years, by Rand herself and by others who have written on her ideas. I think I've benefited greatly from having such a rich library available to me from the beginning, and as I said earlier, that's especially true of Nathaniel's and Barbara's writings.

As for the circumstances that lead me to quit my job with the Army ... I can identify with much of what you've said about your own career. The facility I worked for specialized in maintaining heavy armored vehicles and helicopters, but I worked in the paper-pushing software development department while I was still a full-time student. Most of our biggest software projects were farmed out to overpriced contractors who usually delivered shoddy goods; we were responsible for fixing them, and for other equally mundane and non-creative "work." Everyone did as little as possible and bolted out the door at exactly 4:30. When I would say that I only needed another half hour to finish what I was working on today, but that it would take me two hours to recreate my context and finish it tomorrow, I would in effect be told that I was a government employee and that I should learn not to work so hard.

I could go on forever, but suffice it to say, I didn't fit in to the tenured government employee monoculture and learned that this was not a place that wanted the best I had to offer, and thus was not a friend to my highest aspirations. I was vaguely aware of this already, but I didn't know how to put it into words until after I had read Rand. When I finally understood what was bothering me, I knew that I had to leave for my own well-being, and I turned down the opportunity to hire on full-time with benefits after graduation. Were it not for Rand's influence, I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that.

Jay

Edited December 30, 2009 by jaybird3rd

[Barbara Branden]

Jay, I am truly happy that my book was important to you. Thank you for telling me. One of the greatest rewards of writing is learning that one's words have made a difference in the reader's life.

Barbara

[jaybird3rd]

Barbara,

It's been a year of exciting discoveries for me, thanks in large part to your important and thought-provoking work. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to tell you this, and I can't think of a more appropriate way to bring the year to a close.

Again, thank you very, very much.

Jay

Edited January 1, 2010 by jaybird3rd