 Move Over Government, Here Comes Google!
by Teresa Summerlee Isanhart
At the risk of alerting our Federal and State governments to what I'm sure they'd consider a huge oversight on their end, Google has pretty much rendered, or at least proven, the absurdity of a few antiquated labor and copyright laws. (Read more...)
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Lessons from Planned Economies
by Mary Poppendieck
The difference between a planned and a market economy is rooted in two different management philosophies: management-as-planning/adhering and management-as-organizing/learning. Management-as-planning/adhering focuses on creating a plan that becomes a blueprint for action, then managing implementation by measuring adherence to the plan. Management-as-organizing/learning focuses on organizing work so that intelligent agents know what to do by looking at the work itself, and improve upon their implementation through a learning process. (Read more...)
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Six Words to Shut Their Traps
by Luke Setzer
Imagine a real life Eddie Willers struggling in today's world to make the best life possible for himself and his loved ones. He could encounter various verbal traps and handle them efficaciously. In all walks of life, you will encounter people who will attempt to divorce the cold equations of finance from their transactions with you. You should never let them get away with it. Eddie Willers would not. This article employs Eddie Willers in a way to help you in that worthy aim with six easily memorized words. (Read more...)
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University of Florida Outreach Engineering Management
by Luke Setzer
A young man once asked an old sea captain, "What do you do when you find your ship caught between a storm on one side and jagged rocks on the other?" The captain answered, "What you do is not get yourself into that situation in the first place." This article aims to help those considering a popular engineering management program to keep out of a potentially rough and dangerous situation. Laying a solid intellectual foundation and mapping a plan from start to finish before committing to this program will go a long way toward keeping you afloat once you set sail into the thick of it. (Read more...)
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Getting a Job you Want
by Dean Michael Gores
A young woman I ran into a few days ago has it pretty tough. She just got divorced, she has a year old child, and she has never worked or even graduated from high school. Below is a letter I wrote to her. Its Objectivism applied to getting a job. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
September 5, 2007 |
Advice for Those Considering NCSSM
by Luke Setzer
Between 1982 and 1984, I attended a state boarding school called the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM). Founded in 1980, it became the first such state school for eleventh and twelfth graders showing exceptional aptitudes in the fields of science and mathematics. It has inspired the creation of eighteen other similar schools around the world and has become part of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST). This article represents a body of "lessons learned" for those young people considering attending NCSSM today. It examines general considerations, motives, benefits, detriments, and alternatives related to the NCSSM experience. It concludes with a suggested plan of action. These lessons remain general enough to apply to any young high school student considering any advanced, rigorous, residential high school program -- or even college. (Read more...)
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Experiencing Objectivism through Quicken
by Luke Setzer
Sadly, even primarily capitalistic nations like America suffer from socialized institutions that suppress mind, the source of economic power. Government schools in capitalistic nations neglect to teach students how to think like capitalists. As a result, most students graduate high school or even college utterly clueless about how to manage their own personal economics, i.e. the production, distribution, and consumption of the material values they need to live well as individuals. This appendix from the forthcoming book The Vision-Driven™ Individual seeks to accelerate the reader up to speed on this most crucial aspect of living well in a free society. (Read more...)
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Stifler of the Noble Soul
by Luke Setzer
Despite its rich content and often caustic analysis, Steve Salerno's SHAM fails in one fundamental respect. Objectivists will see this failure interspersed all through the book. What fully grounded, objective, integrated, rational moral code does Salerno advocate in place of the messages of these various gurus? Blank out. Rather, paleoconservative seems best to describe Salerno's working ethical philosophy as he snidely sneers at self-interest in favor of a number of supposedly "higher" values such as marriage and family. (Read more...)
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Rationality
by W Chase
Rationality. This word gets tossed around a lot. Throughout such semantic tug ‘o wars, it often gets twisted, stretched and misused. Many use it as if to refer to a mere social convention that arbitrates a vague, “proper” way to think and act. Consequently, we see many others that react to this sort of ambiguous misuse of the word and wail against their newly malformed concept of rationality; as some arbitrary, restrictive and often burdensome social custom. As a few amongst us may know, this is an irrational perspective of rationality.
So then, what is rationality? (Read more...)
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Eliminating the Altruistic Baggage
by Joseph Rowlands
Coming from an altruistic culture, there are mental habits and assumptions that get carried with you even when you decide to adopt an ethics of rational self-interest. Here is a discussion of how these implict ideas can affect your worldview. This speech was delivered at The Objectivist Center/ The Atlas Society summer seminar in July of 2006. (Read more...)
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Philosophy's Vertical Time-line: Absence of Paradigm-shift
by Ed Thompson
Science is often said to have undergone 'paradigm shifts.' A telling example would be the shift from the Ptolemaic (geocentric) view of the cosmos to the Copernicus-discovered, Galileo-confirmed, heliocentric model. The question can be asked whether philosophy has undergone -- or is even capable of undergoing -- such a paradigm shift. This essay seeks to answer that question. (Read more...)
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Drama Queen versus Ice Queen
by Luke Setzer
I contend that passion can exist across a wide spectrum of "emotional temperatures." My contention respects the context of an individual's unique character and situation to dictate what temperature proves "just right" to cause flourishing for that person. To illustrate this principle, I introduce two polarized archetypes of passion: the Drama Queen and the Ice Queen. (Read more...)
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Questions and Motives
by Luke Setzer
The vice of snooping has its roots in human tribalism. Such unbridled and uncivilized curiosity manifests itself in the form of questions that invade privacy. The best defense against such intrusiveness comes from the unyielding application of the virtue of self-assertiveness and the contextual application of the virtue of honesty. (Read more...)
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The "F" Word
by Fraser Stephen-Smith
If someone is offended by the phrase, “I don’t like it when people yell ‘fuck’ inappropriately,” then they are foolish. They are fools who adhere to a commandment, “Thou shall not swear,” without questioning the reasoning behind the commandment. These fools have allowed their behaviour to be governed, without question, by a word—they are subservient to a sound. (Read more...)
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The Non-Art of Objectivism
by Marcus Bachler
There has been much criticism, on this website and elsewhere over the years, of the moralizing and cultish behaviour of Objectivists who digest and regurgitate Ayn Rand’s opinions and her philosophical pronouncements. I always believed that this dogmatic adherence to Objectivist doctrine was quite a recent phenomenon, probably encouraged by Ayn Rand herself and continued by her protege Peikoff. However, I’ve had to revise that opinion, because in The Art of Non-Fiction, I found exactly the same type of Objectivist cultish behaviour being criticized by Ayn Rand herself. (Read more...)
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The Miracle of Breakfast
by Peter Cresswell
The 'miracle of breakfast' is that it is no miracle at all. It is the fruit of freedom. (Read more...)
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Benefactors versus Malefactors
by Luke Setzer
Assessing the character trait of benevolence in others provides the fastest way to size up those others as worthy of your time and effort in building productive relationships. This holds true regardless of how they may identify themselves. Other qualities, such as their capacity to reason effectively, certainly deserve attention. However, developing a large pool of benevolent network contacts with whom to form more concrete and productive relationships will best serve your life. Relationships with malefactors deserve swift terminations regardless of their sophisticated objections. (Read more...)
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Flying
by Michael E. Marotta
Flying an airplane requires the integration of complex knowledge and uncompromising virtues in order to perform an unequivocal task. Flying is a supremely intellectual challenge that earns complete emotional satisfaction -- but only after the fact, because emotions have no place in the process. (Read more...)
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Wednesday
November 24, 2004 |
Atheism: A Question of Conscience
by George W. Cordero
They say that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel; I tell you that atheism is his first refuge. (Read more...)
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Introverts, Extroverts, and Howard Roark
by Joseph Rowlands
[Editor's note, in his capacity as Founder & Principal - one of the chief values of SOLO was always going to be, & has been, its smashing of false dichotomies over & above those identified by Ayn Rand. I believe I have identified a couple of these myself, but I confess the extrovert-introvert one, so comprehensively busted in this article, is one that never occurred to me. Joe, I'm proud of you! Again! - Linz]
The introvert and extrovert concepts are supposed to deal with motivations and character traits. That's why shy people are considered to be introverts, while the party animals are considered extroverts. But there's one person who screws up this whole view of introvert vs. extrovert. His name is Howard Roark. (Read more...)
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Creating Political Pressure Groups
by Joseph Rowlands
When you make your choice on which candidate will do the most damage, keep in mind the wider context provided by this principle. A bad law that’s temporary is one thing. A bad law that’s permanent is quite another. (Read more...)
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The Steps to Attainment
by Joe Trusnik
Achieving your goals is always a fine prospect, but how is that done, and why is it that some people simply don't advocate the stance in word or deed? (Read more...)
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Rules of Engagement for Those Discussions Aimed at Progress (ie. Rational Discussions)
by Ed Thompson
Why write on this issue? Rand held that there are no fundamental conflicts among the interests of rational men. If this notion is indeed true, then great benefit would almost certainly await those who adopt a path toward this goal of dealing with others rationally. Giving this issue the time and energy it deserves... (Read more...)
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Bogeyman Be Gone: Reflections on Nyctophobia and Child-Rearing
by Barry Kayton
Imagine you're six years old. Imagine it's late at night. (Read more...)
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Why I Plan to Homeschool
by Betty Kayton
When I tell people that I intend home-schooling my children, should I have any one day, I am met with shock and horror. Even the most open-minded of my friends and colleagues are stunned that I could even consider such an option. (Read more...)
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