If Ayn Rand never existed Bitcoin might actually be bearable.

[ElectricMucus]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

[CaptainHerpDerp]

There will always be trolls. Don't feed them.

[Spendulus]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Trashing Ayn Rand has a long and illustrious history.

It's a curious one, because inevitably the trashers are ill informed of her ideas and concepts, and really are trashing some in-their-own mind fantasy creation of unworkable stupidity.  Postings like yours are more like feeble wails from the darkness, than actual logical assertions.

Just saying.

[Snail2]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Rand's objectivism actually describes the most natural human behaviour patterns and instincts, so I think nothing wrong with that. Her followers might concentrate exclusively on the economic aspects of her views and take it to the extremes. Probably that's why you can hear some "mind boggling" ideas. "I'm an objectivist." sounds better than "I'm a sefish greedy pig without moral and ethics." Isn't it?

[ElectricMucus]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Rand's objectivism actually describes the most natural human behaviour patterns and instincts, so I think nothing wrong with that. Her followers might concentrate exclusively on the economic aspects of her views and take it to the extremes. Probably that's why you can hear some "mind boggling" ideas. "I'm an objectivist." sounds better than "I'm a sefish greedy pig without moral and ethics." Isn't it?

It's not that, you can be an egotistical maniac all you like.
The problem I have is that you should stop trying to come up with a way where everybody else would have that attitude without society collapsing. Which gets me to my point: Without Rand you would just be considered oddly anti-social and not claim that your option is part of some greater scheme.

If Rand had realized it during her lifetime she could even had become some figure similar to L. Ron Hubbard and live of the followers of the cult, not social security.

[Buck Naked]

She was an awful sci-fi writer, boring, without any vision whatsoever, even L. Ron Hubbard was better than her.

[BADecker]

Probably one of Rand's best points had to do with getting the objective idea of selfishness out into the open.

Selfishness is something that we are (at least have been in the past) taught is wrong. Share, is the idea.

Community/commune/communism(?) and collectivism is part of what all governments are made of. We all help each other, as well as ourselves, of course. Rand brought it out into the open what it is (or might be?). It is selfishness.

Is there a difference between pure selflessness and pure selfishness? If there is, it is only in the spirit or soul of the person. On the outside they both look the same.

Selflessness gives and helps people out of the desire for the good of the other people.

Selfishness gives and helps people out so that the people will return in kind, so that the selfish person is benefited.

The results are the same. Only the spiritual feelings are different. Rand brought this out into the open, so that we can recognize that we may not be the philanthropists that we think that we are, or that the philanthropists of the world may not have been what we thought they were.

She did it to show that communist leaders - she was from Russia - were not there to divide everything evenly among the people, so that everyone would benefit, and so that nobody would be poor. They were there to control everything for said dividing, so that they could steal out of the pot and enrich themselves.

[TheButterZone]

"There is nothing new except what has been forgotten" was just as true when Ayn Rand 'thought up' her stuff, as when Marie Antoinette said it.

[Snail2]

It's not that, you can be an egotistical maniac all you like.
The problem I have is that you should stop trying to come up with a way where everybody else would have that attitude without society collapsing.

In smaller societies that attribute will be always balanced and counteracted by selfishness itself. I do a favour to you and expect that you will do the same when I need it. I think this is one of the most ancient and most basic human behaviour patterns. Those who break the circle will be soon outcasts, thus the circle will "repair" itself. Same thing applies to cooperation between these small communities. All of them are selfish but in many cases they overrule their selfishness for future gains. However generalizing this schema to bigger communities is IMO a mistake. That never worked very well.

Which gets me to my point: Without Rand you would just be considered oddly anti-social and not claim that your option is part of some greater scheme.

Well, IMO that's not Rand's fault. Without Marx many ppl would be would just be considered a thief .

[Beliathon]

Rand's objectivism actually describes the most natural human behaviour patterns and instincts, so I think nothing wrong with that.

Except that Ayn Rand knew fuck all about human nature, and neither do you. How the hell is Ayn Rand still a thing, anyway? If you want to learn about real human nature, read these three books:

[Spendulus]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Rand's objectivism actually describes the most natural human behaviour patterns and instincts, so I think nothing wrong with that. Her followers might concentrate exclusively on the economic aspects of her views and take it to the extremes. Probably that's why you can hear some "mind boggling" ideas. "I'm an objectivist." sounds better than "I'm a sefish greedy pig without moral and ethics." Isn't it?

Actually in the book, Atlas Shrugged, it is the collectivsts whose behavior causes society to collapse, and those who look after their own interests who save it in the end.  You see, the greedy selfish pigs without morality or ethics simply ran out of other peoples' money - and the objectivists had gone on strike, and could not be found.

It's not that, you can be an egotistical maniac all you like.
The problem I have is that you should stop trying to come up with a way where everybody else would have that attitude without society collapsing. Which gets me to my point: Without Rand you would just be considered oddly anti-social and not claim that your option is part of some greater scheme.

If Rand had realized it during her lifetime she could even had become some figure similar to L. Ron Hubbard and live of the followers of the cult, not social security.

[Wilikon]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Isn't more idiotic to spend close to 60% of your posting time in the speculation sub to make bitcoin more bearable? Some of the things I've been reading over there are mind boggling...


 

[Spendulus]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Isn't more idiotic to spend close to 60% of your posting time in the speculation sub to make bitcoin more bearable? Some of the things I've been reading over there are mind boggling...

Actually, there is a direct relation between bitcoin and some of Rand's germinal ideas.

Micropayments, through bitcoin, can make things like paying for green lights and the free market handling traffic, roads, etc, totally plausible.

The other two opinions...
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

Have little or nothing to do with Rand's ideas.  Rand accepted and encouraged a minimal degree of State responsibilities.  And people in Africa have done a lot for us, so that statement doesn't even make sense.

[BADecker]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Isn't more idiotic to spend close to 60% of your posting time in the speculation sub to make bitcoin more bearable? Some of the things I've been reading over there are mind boggling...

Actually, there is a direct relation between bitcoin and some of Rand's germinal ideas.

Micropayments, through bitcoin, can make things like paying for green lights and the free market handling traffic, roads, etc, totally plausible.

The other two opinions...
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

Have little or nothing to do with Rand's ideas.  Rand accepted and encouraged a minimal degree of State responsibilities.  And people in Africa have done a lot for us, so that statement doesn't even make sense.

Most of anything the people of Africa did for us came about by various business people - some from the U.S. - extracting it out of Africa, often to the harm of the African people.

Rand was the same way. Most of what she did was useless, and would have been detrimental if it had been applied. Among her best ideals was the idea of almost no state involvement in the lives of the people.

In honor of the little good that Ayn Rand did, should we rename Bitcoin to Bitchcoin?

[Spendulus]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Isn't more idiotic to spend close to 60% of your posting time in the speculation sub to make bitcoin more bearable? Some of the things I've been reading over there are mind boggling...

Actually, there is a direct relation between bitcoin and some of Rand's germinal ideas.

Micropayments, through bitcoin, can make things like paying for green lights and the free market handling traffic, roads, etc, totally plausible.

The other two opinions...
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

Have little or nothing to do with Rand's ideas.  Rand accepted and encouraged a minimal degree of State responsibilities.  And people in Africa have done a lot for us, so that statement doesn't even make sense.

Most of anything the people of Africa did for us came about by various business people - some from the U.S. - extracting it out of Africa, often to the harm of the African people.

Rand was the same way. Most of what she did was useless, and would have been detrimental if it had been applied. Among her best ideals was the idea of almost no state involvement in the lives of the people.

In honor of the little good that Ayn Rand did, should we rename Bitcoin to Bitchcoin?

You have obviously never personally been to various places in Africa.  Neither have you read or understood Rand's work.  Troll on.

[BADecker]

I'm flabbergasted by the amount of political extremism associated with Atlas Shrugged here. Some of the things I've been reading here are mind boggling:
Ideas like: People paying for green lights and the "free market" handling traffic.
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

But let's pretend for a minute Ayn Rand never existed, I think people would have a hard time coming up with such idiocy without that kind of idealistic support.

Isn't more idiotic to spend close to 60% of your posting time in the speculation sub to make bitcoin more bearable? Some of the things I've been reading over there are mind boggling...

Actually, there is a direct relation between bitcoin and some of Rand's germinal ideas.

Micropayments, through bitcoin, can make things like paying for green lights and the free market handling traffic, roads, etc, totally plausible.

The other two opinions...
Opinions like: If you can't pay for a private security service yt ou deserve to die.
Statements like: What have the people in Africa ever done for us?

Have little or nothing to do with Rand's ideas.  Rand accepted and encouraged a minimal degree of State responsibilities.  And people in Africa have done a lot for us, so that statement doesn't even make sense.

Most of anything the people of Africa did for us came about by various business people - some from the U.S. - extracting it out of Africa, often to the harm of the African people.

Rand was the same way. Most of what she did was useless, and would have been detrimental if it had been applied. Among her best ideals was the idea of almost no state involvement in the lives of the people.

In honor of the little good that Ayn Rand did, should we rename Bitcoin to Bitchcoin?

You have obviously never personally been to various places in Africa.  Neither have you read or understood Rand's work.  Troll on.

I have never been to Africa.

For example, Lagos, Nigeria, probably the largest metropolitan "city" in Africa, and one of the 10 largest in the world, was named by the Portuguese for their city of Lagos. Throughout its recent history, say 500 years, if there hadn't been Europeans (and later Americans) virtually "raping" Africa through the Lagos "lakes," Lagos wouldn't have anything at all. As it is, they are black European, just like all the other major industrial cities in Africa.

Ayn Rand is a little like all the rest of us. We complain about the way things should be because of our oppression. But if we were dropped into the control seat, except for the very few of us, we would become just like our oppressors.

Rand was the same. Because of her oppression, and because there was no way for her to get into the control seat, she continued a finely detailed examination of all the things wherein she had been oppressed. What other than the things she examined could she become if she took over? It was her life. She didn't know how to implement the "cures" for her oppression.

Nothing new. Only a slightly different way of saying what she said.

[Spendulus]

I have never been to Africa.

Then STFU about it.

Ayn Rand is a little like all the rest of us. We complain about the way things should be because of our oppression. But if we were dropped into the control seat, except for the very few of us, we would become just like our oppressors.

Rand was the same. Because of her oppression, and because there was no way for her to get into the control seat, she continued a finely detailed examination of all the things wherein she had been oppressed. What other than the things she examined could she become if she took over? It was her life. She didn't know how to implement the "cures" for her oppression.

You clearly do not know anything about Rand.  There is no need to try to throw comments out about her.  Hell, they might be right every now and then (stopped clocks are).  But why bother?

Rand was a philosopher.  Same as Marx, Engles, Adam Smith.

[Snail2]

Except that Ayn Rand knew fuck all about human nature, and neither do you. How the hell is Ayn Rand still a thing, anyway? If you want to learn about real human nature, read these three books:

Maybe you are right, but I'd be grateful if you could point out my mistakes. I haven't read the first one but I've read the Guns Germs and Steel and it's  actually full of factual errors and misinterpretations. From Rifkin I've read The Hydrogen Economy. After that book I can't take him seriously. As I heard his newer books are more likely environmentalist and commie propaganda then anything about real human nature .

[BADecker]

I have never been to Africa.

Then STFU about it.

What's the matter? Obviously you know about the Internet. Or does somebody else do your posting for you?

Information abounds all over the place. Never heard of libraries?

Ayn Rand is a little like all the rest of us. We complain about the way things should be because of our oppression. But if we were dropped into the control seat, except for the very few of us, we would become just like our oppressors.

Rand was the same. Because of her oppression, and because there was no way for her to get into the control seat, she continued a finely detailed examination of all the things wherein she had been oppressed. What other than the things she examined could she become if she took over? It was her life. She didn't know how to implement the "cures" for her oppression.

You clearly do not know anything about Rand.  There is no need to try to throw comments out about her.  Hell, they might be right every now and then (stopped clocks are).  But why bother?

Rand was a philosopher.  Same as Marx, Engles, Adam Smith.

That's right. And the Russian implementation of the things she examined, the things that oppressed her, collapsed. Neither she nor many others who philosophized about the stuff that should correct the oppression, knew how to implement that stuff. Russia failed on account of not knowing how to make those philosophies work. What it is really called is human nature.

The only reason that Russia is working now is because it adopted the freedom of the United States (at least on the practical outside). The only reason the United States is failing now is that they are throwing away the freedom.

The only reason that Rand talked about it was that she was a talker. Many have talked way better. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson implemented philosophy that worked. Rand couldn't implement anything.

[Lethn]

As an Anarchist I have no objections to you gathering people together to solve any of these problems, if people think they have a solution then they should go and do it, the problem is the majority of the time whenever I hear people talk about how to solve our greatest challenges in society it always involves shooting somebody or throwing them in jail.

When you find a solution to one of these problems you care about so much that doesn't involve exortion or emotional blackmail feel free to post it and I'd be happy to support you.