Utopic Dreams - is an excellent title for a book dragon. Let’s publish!

Meanwhile, Ayn Rand would argue the opposite: it’s man’s ego and selfishness that has powered progress for society over the years. And the reason for humanity’s decline is that society has sought to stifle that ego in favor of the “greater good”.

Man’s ego would have made fossil fuels obsolete by now, if governments have not been suppressing breakthrough research into alternative energy/solar/etc.

On the other than the “greater good” have been the reasons why countries have gone to war and terrorism. “Greater good” is the reason western developed countries keep emerging countries always wanting for technology or resources.

It isn’t selfishness that’s the problem. It’s too much “sacrifice” for the wrong causes.

Well, according to Ayn Rand anyway.

thats right, progress for society if measured by material means. roads, highways and infra granted as being progress to make travelling easier for man, had it not been tainted by man’s greed to bid, outbid, get kickbacks from bidding, overcharge for ore used in the construction, etc.

i bet ayn rand is a capitalist. well, i am also a capitalist, but not by choice. by birth into society. i could choose to buy a farmland and cultivate crops, get generator for a self suffient area, but to ensure a flow to that mindset, one must still have capital to get things going, right? such is the society we have embraced when we came out of the barter system. though, i dont know any alternatives

Naku, not only is Ayn Rand a capitalist, but a die-hard believer in free markets. A lot of finance folks are “Randians” including Alan Greenspan.

She thinks unfair intervention of any kind is what makes markets and society inefficient. Intervention creates monopolies, imbalances, corruption, etc.

Societies were free open competition, not only will the best quality prevail, but at the best cost. She’s a believer that man working for his own sake, benefits everyone. But when man covers up for fellow man, this leads to favoritism, nepotism, and corruption. This then leads to disbalances, crashes, and recessions.

Like the Philippine economy is totally not capitalist–because favors are granted by the government to privileged groups. True capitalism that Ayn Rand espouses is that the best businessman earns the right to make the most money.

Funny thing because some government intervention is meant to “level the playing field” amongst capitalists.

then this argument with her on the definition of who or what a capitalist is, is like the ages old argument of who has the right religion and right God.

For even if finance Guru greenspan’s actions are measured in Rand’s definition of free markets, Greenspan himself violated this by twitching rates to address economic needs.

i think we should get her to write for our utopic world series, because even in the first of worlds, there are nepotism, corruption, favoritism.

That could be a problem since she’s long been dead.

Rand’s philosophy was called objectivism. Objectivism, she said: “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” Greenspan was one of the first members of a group which promoted Rand’s philosophy. While she rejected the libertarian label her philosophy is very similar to libertarianism.

errr…. what’s libertarianism?

Funny thing is libertarians don’t agree what the definition is. Broad sense is it’s the opposite of authoritarianism. Root word is liberty.