[ExI] Attacking Rand

[Stefano Vaj]

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 6:12 AM, Fred C. Moulton<moulton at moulton.com> wrote:
> Since the question was asked about why Rand keeps being mentioned, I
> thought I would write up a few notes about Rand and Objectivism.

Wow, an extensive review of the subject.

In two words, Ayn Rand consistently presents a form of Nietzschean
prometheism and rebellion to mediocrity and stagnation -. which she
sees equally incarnated by totalitarism and mass domination in western
societies - especially palatable for Americans for its
individualistic, free-marketist, "atechnical" features (which also
played well in the Cold War effort to make capitalism a little more
exciting than balance sheets analyses and brutal exploitment of the
working class).

Little surprise that this has always raised more than an echo in
transhumanist circles, which share by definition the same
dissatisfaction with the state of things, and fight resistance to
dramatically innovative ideas brought forward by creative minorities
and individuals in their struggle against conformism and social norms.

That the works of Rand may be naive from a literary or philosophical
point of view does not detract much from the possible appeal of the
general atmosphere expressed therein to a large number of people who
may in fact find her radical frankness refreshing and illuminating in
comparison with other more circumspect statements of the same values.

-- 
Stefano Vaj