We the Living

I'm super-excited by the recent announcement from the Ayn Rand Bookstore that the audiobook of Ayn Rand's We the Living will be available on CD in October. Until now, it's only been sold on cassette. It'll be available on both regular CD and MP3 CD. The MP3 CD is just $45, whereas the regular CD is $120.

I love We the Living intensely: Kira is the Randian hero/heroine with whom I most strongly identify -- by a long shot. So I'm really looking forward to listening to it.

(I wonder if it will also be available for download via Audible. I hope so!)

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Dog Logic Flowchart

This flowchart pretty much speaks for itself. (Click for a larger version.)



(Via Neatorama.)

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Good Press

Two positive articles on Objectivism were published today:

Atlas Shrugs Again: Two marketing guys from Forbes discuss the influence of Objectivism give advice on marketing the philosophy. (It's a fun read.)

Ayn Rand fans mark the 50th anniversary of 'Atlas Shrugged': Orange County Register publishes an article on the appeal of the novel, including some lengthy comments by Onkar Ghate and some critical (but non-horrible) comments from an English professor.

Lovely!

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NYU Education

Overheard at NYU:

Professor: What words do we get from the name Aphrodite?

Student #1: Hermaphrodite.

Professor: Yes -- from the union of Aphrodite and Hermes. What else?

Student #2: Aphrodisiac!

Professor: Good! And what is an aphrodisiac?

Students: [Silence.]

Professor: Are you all Victorians? Come on... What's it called when one uses something to arouse sexual appetite?

Student #3: Necrophiliac! [Class laughs.]

Professor: I have to advise you to invest in a dictionary, as it's simply prudent to know the difference between a necrophiliac and an aphrodisiac. Hopefully, you won't ever need to thank me for that.

Ah yes, true higher education in action! (I shouldn't snark: In my Intro Phil class yesterday, the Paris Hilton South Park episode somehow came up while discussing various informal fallacies.) Here's some more:

Political philosophy professor after oral surgery: I had a choice to make: I could have stayed home like a happy clam on Percocet, or I could teach class... I miss the Percocet.

--Hunter College

Professor: Don't get too excited -- I'm not putting you into groups. Yeah, I saw you all sitting there, looking around, thinking 'Which of these fuckers is going to do all of the work?'

--Fordham University

Wow, I soooooo want an "Overheard on Campus."

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The Infidel

I find comic books and graphic novels too difficult to read: I just can't mange to alternate between looking at the pictures and reading the text without feeling overstrained. That's a lamentable deficiency on my part, as I really like the comic-superhero genre.

However, for those in possession of this elementary cognitive ability, the forthcoming graphic novel by ex-Muslim Bosch Fawstin might be of interest. It's titled "The Infidel." He describes the basic story as follows: "The Infidel is about American twin brothers from a Muslim background who have absolute opposite responses to 9/11: One becomes a counter-jihad cartoonist and the other becomes a born-again Muslim who goes jihad, and their choices force them to come head to head with one another after their break on 9/11."

That sounds promising! His blog has more information.

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Cooking Again

For a while, probably about a year and a half, I wasn't doing much cooking. Mostly, I was feeling too busy. This summer, as I got into the habit of finishing all my work during the day rather than putting it off until the evening, I resumed cooking regularly. I've continued, even though my schedule has gotten busier.

I enjoy the process of cooking and the pleasure of eating even more than I remember doing in the past. Also, I've found that cooking basically eliminates my desire to eat out at restaurants. That's not surprising, as my cooking is usually as good if not better than what I can order. Happily, that saves us time, money, and calories. (I almost always overeat when I eat out. Plus restaurant food is chock full of calories.)

As usual, I cook from Cook's Illustrated (a.k.a. America's Test Kitchen). Last night, I made their Carbonnade a la Flamande (i.e. Belgian beef, beer, and onion stew) served over Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes. It was fantastic!

Thank goodness for leftovers!

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Nephrocalcinosis

My dog Kate recent had a thorough work-up at the vet due to a bunch of unusual and worrisome symptoms, most notably refusal to eat and excessive peeing and drinking. The exam and lab work showed an infected anal gland (totally gross) and a urinary tract infection (probably caused by the nearby grossness). She was clearly feeling better with a few days of antiobiotics. She's now feeling even better since she finished them. (Antiobiotics always upset her stomach. The vet-recommended Pepcid helped tremendously though.)

However, her x-rays also showed calcification of the kidneys, i.e. nephrocalcinosis. That's not the same as kidney stones: the calcification is in the meat of the kidney itself. If you look at the image below, you can see the brighter white dots in the kidneys. Those are the calcium deposits. From the front, they look like stripes.

Happily, the x-ray helped us catch this problem in good time, as her lab work isn't showing any decline in kidney function yet, just elevated calcium levels. So we've put her on a new kidney-friendly diet.

So my poor darling Kate has officially hit the decline of old age. She's always had terrible orthopedic problems, but now she's showing her age -- whatever that is. Her actual age is unknown to us. We adopted her from an animal shelter nearly 8 years ago. She was full grown then, physically and mentally, probably at least three years old. So she must be pretty ancient for a German Shepherd by now.

Happily, she's super-enthused to accompany me on my twice-a-week trips to Boulder. I'll take her around campus as I run errands. She won't go inside buildings, as she's wary of stairs and hates slippery floors. However, she's well-behaved off-leash, including in crowds of students on campus. She also seems willing to be tied outside buildings for a time -- not a usual activity for her -- when I need to go inside.

Often, we stop by the dog park on the way home. At the dog park, she doesn't run around or play with the other dogs; she's too aware of her own frailty for that. However, she is keen for a slow tour around the small pond, occasionally saying hello (in the usual doggie way) to the other, younger dogs.

She still looks pretty good for an old lady. This is a picture of her I took this summer with my iPhone.

Oh, one more funny tidbit: Kate is not a morning dog. Without Abby to help rouse her, she doesn't like to get up right away in the morning. She'll usually lay in bed until I make the usual noises for feeding, then she'll ask to go outside. That way she gets fed the moment she comes back inside, just the way she likes it. She'll often ignore me if I try to rouse her just by calling to ask if she wants to go outside. She's waiting to hear the clang of the kitty dishes. Then she knows that breakfast is at hand.

In fact, I'm writing the final bits of this post from bed this morning. Kate is still happily conked out, without a care for the fact that Paul got up, showered, and left, that my alarm clock went off three times, and that I'm now awake. Why care about that when you've got a nice warm bed in which to sleep?!?

Kate is undoubtedly the easiest dog to live with that I've ever known. She aims to fit into the life of the pack without a fuss. She does that exceptionally well.

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Nonlethal Pain Generator

Journalist Michael Hanlon describes what it's like to be on the wrong end of the US Army's new nonlethal pain generator:

...It is a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only the sensation of heat. There is no burn mark or blister.

...When turned on, it emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation -- similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker -- that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings. It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile.

Because the beam penetrates skin only to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, it cannot, says Raytheon, cause visible, permanent injury. But anyone in the beam's path will feel, over their entire body, the agonising sensation I've just felt on my fingertip. The prospect doesn't bear thinking about.

"I have been in front of the full-sized system and, believe me, you just run. You don't have time to think about it -- you just run," says George Svitak, a Raytheon executive.

For those who are science fiction fans, this sounds like a real-life version of the neural pain stimulator from Dune. And of course, there's one more obvious application:

Perhaps the most alarming prospect is that such machines would make efficient torture instruments. They are quick, clean, cheap, easy to use and, most importantly, leave no marks. What would happen if they fell into the hands of unscrupulous nations where torture is not unknown?

The agony the Raytheon gun inflicts is probably equal to anything in a torture chamber -- these waves are tuned to a frequency exactly designed to stimulate the pain nerves. I couldn't hold my finger next to the device for more than a fraction of a second. I could make the pain stop, but what if my finger had been strapped to the machine?

The article includes a picture. (Via Boing Boing.)

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How to Prepare for Deployment to Iraq

Funny, in a terrible kind of way:

How to Prepare for a Deployment to Iraq

1. Sleep on a cot in the garage.

2. Replace the garage door with a curtain.

3. Six hours after you go to sleep, have your wife or girlfriend whip open the curtain, shine a flashlight in your eyes and mumble, "Sorry, wrong cot."

4. Renovate your bathroom. Hang a green plastic sheet down from the middle of your bathtub and move the showerhead down to chest level. Keep four inches of soapy cold water on the floor. Stop cleaning the toilet and pee everywhere but in the toilet itself. Leave two to three sheets of toilet paper. Or for best effect, remove it altogether. For a more realistic deployed bathroom experience, stop using your bathroom and use a neighbor's. Choose a neighbor who lives at least a quarter mile away.

5. When you take showers, wear flip-flops and keep the lights off.

6. Every time there is a thunderstorm, go sit in a wobbly rocking chair and dump dirt on your head.

7. Put lube oil in your humidifier instead of water and set it on "HIGH" for that tactical generator smell.

8. Don't watch TV except for movies in the middle of the night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch and then show a different one.

9. Leave a lawnmower running in your living room 24 hours a day for proper noise level.

10. Have the paperboy give you a haircut.

11. Once a week, blow compressed air up through your chimney making sure the wind carries the soot across and on to your neighbor's house. Laugh at him when he curses you.

12. Buy a trash compactor and only use it once a week. Store up garbage in the other side of your bathtub.

13. Wake up every night at midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a saltine cracker.

14. Make up your family menu a week ahead of time without looking in your food cabinets or refrigerator. Then serve some kind of meat in an unidentifiable sauce poured over noodles. Do this for every meal.

15. Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. When it goes off, jump out of bed and get to the shower as fast as you can. Simulate there is no hot water by running out into your yard and breaking out the garden hose.

16. Once a month, take every major appliance completely apart and put it back together again.

17. Use 18 scoops of coffee per pot and allow it to sit for five or six hours before drinking.

18. Invite at least 185 people you don't really like because of their strange hygiene habits to come and visit for a couple of months. Exchange clothes with them.

19. Have a fluorescent lamp installed on the bottom of your coffee table and lie under it to read books.

20. Raise the thresholds and lower the top sills of your front and back doors so that you either trip over the threshold or hit your head on the sill every time you pass through one of them.

21. Keep a roll of toilet paper on your night stand and bring it to the bathroom with you. And bring your gun and a flashlight.

22. Go to the bathroom when you just have to pass gas, "just in case." Every time.

23. Announce to your family that they have mail, have them report to you as you stand outside your open garage door after supper and then say, "Sorry, it's for the other Smith."

24. Wash only 15 items of laundry per week. Roll up the semi-wet clean clothes in a ball. Place them in a cloth sack in the corner of the garage where the cat pees. After a week, unroll them and without ironing or removing the mildew, proudly wear them to professional meetings and family gatherings. Pretend you don't know what you look or smell like. Enthusiastically repeat the process for another week.

25. Go to the worst crime-infested place you can find, go heavily armed, wearing a flak jacket and a Kevlar helmet. Set up shop in a tent in a vacant lot. Announce to the residents that you are there to help them.

26. Eat a single M&M every Sunday and convince yourself it's for Malaria.

27. Demand each family member be limited to 10 minutes per week for a morale phone call. Enforce this with your teenage daughter.

28. Shoot a few bullet holes in the walls of your home for proper ambiance.

29. Sandbag the floor of your car to protect from mine blasts and fragmentation.

30. While traveling down roads in your car, stop at each overpass and culvert and inspect them for remotely detonated explosives before proceeding.

31. Fire off 50 cherry bombs simultaneously in your driveway at 3:00 a.m. When startled neighbors appear, tell them all is well, you are just registering mortars. Tell them plastic will make an acceptable substitute for their shattered windows.

32. Drink your milk and sodas warm.

33. Spread gravel throughout your house and yard.

34. Make your children clear their Super Soakers in a clearing barrel you placed outside the front door before they come in.

35. Make your family dig a survivability position with overhead cover in the backyard. Complain that the 4x4s are not 8 inches on center and make them rebuild it.

36. Continuously ask your spouse to allow you to go buy an M-Gator.

37. When your 5-year-old asks for a stick of gum, have him find the exact stick and flavor he wants on the Internet and print out the web page. Type up a Form 9 and staple the web page to the back. Submit the paperwork to your spouse for processing. After two weeks, give your son the gum.

38. Announce to your family that the dog is a vector for disease and shoot it. Throw the dog in a burn pit you dug in your neighbor's back yard.

39. Wait for the coldest/hottest day of the year and announce to your family that there will be no heat/air conditioning that day so you can perform much needed maintenance on the heater/air conditioner. Tell them you are doing this so they won't get cold/hot.

40. Just when you think you're ready to resume a normal life, order yourself to repeat this process for another six months to simulate the next deployment you've been ordered to support.

#25 is darn revealing, I think.

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Suicide Hotlines

In retrospect, it's not surprising that volunteer-manned suicide hotlines are plagued by scary levels of incompetence:

The person manning the suicide hot line should have asked a follow-up question about the gun. Yes, the caller had said, he was despondent, and, yes, he mentioned he had considered using a gun to end his life. But that's where that line of conversation ended - until the phone receiver exploded with the sound of a gunshot.

The caller had a rifle with a string tied to the trigger, rigged to point at his head. The bullet went wide, sparing the man, but a question or two more from the crisis-center representative - such as, do you have a gun with you now? - might have changed the course of events.

The journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior has published a remarkable series of articles on the effectiveness of suicide hot lines, opening a window into the world of desperate people and the volunteers who try to help them get through the night. Two of the unprecedented studies involved eavesdropping on suicide hot-line calls - in which the researchers heard things like that terrifying rifle shot - and two main conclusions came out of the work: One, many crisis-line callers are indeed in suicidal distress (and not just lonely or sad) and they are helped by talking to an empathetic fellow human being. And two, the call centers fail, with alarming regularity, to ask some very basic questions: Are you suicidal? Do you have a plan? Do you have the tools at hand to carry it off? Are you alone and drinking? ...

In 723 of 1,431 calls, for example, the helper never got around to asking whether the caller was feeling suicidal.

And when suicidal thoughts were identified, the helpers asked about available means less than half the time. There were more egregious lapses, too: in 72 cases a caller was actually put on hold until he or she hung up. Seventy-six times the helper screamed at, or was rude to, the caller. Four were told they might as well kill themselves. (In one such case, the caller had admitted to compulsively molesting a child.)

There were 33 evident on-line suicide attempts, yet only six rescue efforts, sometimes because the caller ended the communication. In one case, a caller who'd overdosed passed out, yet the helper hung up.

I guess the suicidally depressed could try calling again, in the hopes of hitting on one of the better volunteers. (Apparently, they do exist.) That's probably not going to happen though, horribly enough.

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Yaron Brook on the Morality of Moneylending

Yaron Brook's forthcoming article in The Objective Standard, entitled "The Morality of Moneylending: A Short History," is available for free on the web.

According to the web site, the article "presents an essentialized history of usury, showing that, just as moneylenders are being damned and blamed for today’s 'sub-prime mortgage crisis,' so they have been condemned and castigated for alleged wrongdoing from the beginning of Western civilization. Brook zeros in on the economic and moral premises that give rise to contempt for this profession; he identifies the moral-practical dichotomy inherent in these ideas; and he discusses a unified set of principles that must be understood and embraced if moneylending is to be seen as the noble business that it actually is."

I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I'm sure it'll be worth sending to friends and acquaintances in business. In the meantime, I'll aspire to Yaron's level of productivity.

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How To Hide Your Beer At Work

Who says American ingenuity is dead?

Just some office supplies.


No beer here, boss.


How about a cold one?...


(Via Dethroner.)

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God Sued, Refuses to Appear in Court

God is being sued. The lawsuit is apparently intended to highlight the problem of frivolous lawsuits, but I think it raises the problem of evil, albeit in an unorthodox way:

The lawsuit admits God goes by all sorts of alias, names, titles and designations and it also recognizes the fact that the defendant is "Omnipresent".

In the lawsuit Chambers says he's tried to contact God numerous times, "Plaintiff, despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant ("Come out, come out, wherever you are") has been unable to do so."

The suit also requests that the court given the "peculiar circumstances" of this case waive personal service. It says being Omniscient, the plaintiff assumes God will have actual knowledge of the action.

The lawsuit accuses God "of making and continuing to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons, including constituents of Plaintiff who Plaintiff has the duty to represent."

It says God has caused, "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like."

The suit also says God has caused, "calamitous catastrophes resulting in the wide-spread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction."

Chambers also says God "has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant "will laugh" when calamity comes.

Chambers asks for the court to grant him a summary judgment. He says as an alternative, he wants the judge to set a date for a hearing as "expeditiously" as possible and enter a permanent injunction enjoining God from engaging in the types of deleterious actions and the making of terroristic threats described in the lawsuit.

Heh.

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Objectivist Carnival

Ergo just posted the latest installment of The Objectivist Round Up. I submitted my post on Colin McGinn's attempted refutation of egoism. Since that's old news to my readers, you'll have to go check out what else the carnival has to offer!

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Funny Bits

A bit crude, but damn funny:

I have 2 dogs & I was buying a large bag of Pal at Big W and standing inline at the check out.

A woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Pal Diet again although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Pal nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is nutritionally complete so I was going to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind her.

Horrified, she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition because I had been poisoned. I told her no; it was because I'd been sitting in the street licking my balls and a car hit me.

I thought one guy was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard as he staggered out the door.

Stupid b*tch...why else would I buy dog food??

More goodies from the Best of Craig's List:

Note to the dogs

Advice from an ER doctor to drug seekers

You're not looking for them, but I found your two dogs.

Package Deal - Free Husband and Audi

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Onkar Ghate in New Statesman

Yesterday, Onkar Ghate published a short article on Objectivism in New Statesman: Objectivism. A philosophy for living? It's an intriguing summary of Ayn Rand's ethics. From what I understand, it's the first of of four parts. In fact, here's part two, published today: The Selfish Life.

(The title of the regular feature -- "The Faith Column" -- makes my skin crawl, but at least it's described so as to allow for non-faith-based views: "Every week a different believer gives the inside track on their religion or philosophy.")

Update: Part 3 is The Roots of Objectivism. Part 4 is Objectivism’s Appeal and its Demands.

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"Single-Payer" Health Care Is Anything but Free

My very own Paul Hsieh just published an op-ed on health care through the Ayn Rand Institute: "Single-Payer" Health Care Is Anything but Free. Here it is, in full.

"Single-Payer" Health Care Is Anything but Free
By Paul Hsieh

Michael Moore's latest movie "SiCKO" sings the praises of the Canadian "single-payer" socialized medical system. Some Americans want a similar system implemented in the United States. Defenders of the Canadian system frequently claim that patients don't have to worry about money when they're sick--the health care is free. But is this really true?

No.

First, it is ludicrous to think the system is free. Each citizen is forced to pay for his neighbors' medical care in the form of high taxes. (As a percentage of GDP, total taxation is 28 percent higher in Canada than in the United States.) The government, rather than individuals, then decides how that money is spent.

Even worse, in the name of "equal access" the government generally forbids patients from purchasing medical services outside of its system. Canadian law makes it difficult or impossible for citizens to spend their own honestly earned money on medically necessary care for themselves or their loved ones, even when both the doctor and the patient are willing.

To control costs, the government restricts access to crucial medical services via infamous waiting lists. This imposes a second, hidden, cost on patients: their time.

According to the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, "Canadian doctors say patients wait almost twice as long for treatment than is clinically reasonable, . . . almost 18 weeks between the time they see their family physician and the time they receive treatment from a specialist."

Because of the waiting lists, mortality rates for treatable conditions such as breast cancer and prostate cancer are significantly higher in Canada than in the U.S. A Canadian woman who discovers a lump in her breast might wait for months before she receives the surgery and chemotherapy she needs, with the cancer cells multiplying rapidly as each week goes by. If she lived in the United States, she could receive treatment within days.

This tax on time is especially cruel because the burden falls hardest on the sickest patients, i.e., those with the least time to spare.

Consequently, Canadian patients routinely suffer and die while waiting for their "free" health care. The National Center for Policy Analysis notes, "During one 12-month period in Ontario, ... 71 patients died waiting for coronary bypass surgery while 121 patients were removed from the list because they had become too sick to undergo surgery."

To guarantee "free" health care, a government must force the individual to pay for everyone else's medical care and limit his freedom to pay voluntarily for his own. With bureaucrats deciding who receives what, the individual is therefore forbidden from spending his money according to his own rational judgment (and the advice of his doctors) as to what's best for his health. When a government forces people to act against their own interests, it's no surprise that the results are misery and death.

Fortunately, Canadians are starting to recognize the problems inherent in "single-payer" health care and are taking very small steps towards limited private medicine. America must not repeat Canada's mistakes. As P. J. O'Rourke said, "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free."

Paul Hsieh, MD, guest writer, is a practicing physician in the south Denver metro area. He is a founding member of the Colorado group Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (www.WeStandFIRM.org). His e-mail address is: paulhsiehmd@gmail.com.

The Institute promotes Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand--author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."

Copyright (c) 2007 Ayn Rand(R) Institute. All rights reserved.

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Colin McGinn on Egoism

Well-respected philosopher Colin McGinn claims to have "dispatched" egoism with the following argument:

The topic this week was ethical egoism. What a terrible theory it is! An action is right if and only if it's in your own self interest. That means that helping others, with no benefit to self, is immoral. Rubbish. Particularly pathetic is the argument that apparently atruistic actions are really egoistic, since you get pleasure from doing good. This just conflates the object of a want with its consequences. You might as well argue that economic actions, like buying a television, are really altruistic, because someone else benefits, namely the people you buy it from. Motives are of several kinds: egoistic, altruistic, malicious, and self-destructive.

Note that the bulk of the paragraph is concerned with psychological egoism. That's not surprising: I've noticed that philosophers often conflate ethical with psychological egoism. They persuasively argue that altruistic action is possible, then take that as an adequate refutation of egoism generally. Well, it's not. That only refutes psychological egoism, not ethical egoism. Refuting ethical egoism would require showing that altruistic action is morally obligatory, not merely possible.

However, McGinn does offer an argument against egoism. He claims:

P1. Ethical egoism implies that helping others, with no benefit to self, is immoral.
P2. That's rubbish.
C. Ethical egoism is false.

Is that seriously supposed to be any kind of refutation of egoism? P2 is nothing but a colorful assertion of the truth of altruism. Obviously, you don't refute theory X simply by asserting that contrary theory Y is true. That's blatant question-begging. What's needed is a proof of the morality of altruism. Why is it morally right -- or rather, morally obligatory -- to sacrifice oneself to others? No, I won't accept the standard claim that altruism just seems obviously true. That's not an argument: it's a confession of faith.

Alternatively, McGinn might attempt to refute the best available argument for egoism, namely that found in Ayn Rand's essay "The Objectivist Ethics" in The Virtue of Selfishness. That's a dense essay, so for the academic philosopher, I'd also recommend Tara Smith's development of the same argument in Viable Values.

I'd like to see the academic critics of egoism engage those arguments. Right now, the standard arguments against egoism found in introductory ethical texts are egregious strawmen. Those texts claim that the egoist would be obliged to cheat, steal, and murder for personal gain, that the egoist couldn't have friends or care about others, that the egoist cannot coherently advocate his ethics since he should want others to be altruists, and so on. Such criticisms radically misunderstand the nature and demands of egoism. Most commonly, they confuse egoism with hedonism, even though the pursuit the objective requirements of a lifetime of robust flourishing would be quite different in character from the pursuit of maximal pleasure or the attempt to satisfy as many random desires as possible.

Philosophers should be able to do better in their criticisms -- if egoism is as absurd as often claimed.

Update #1: I posted the above remarks in the comments of Colin McGinn's post. So you can find some responses to it, plus further comments by me, on his web site.

Update #2: Colin McGinn decided to delete two polite comments of mine critical of his claims. So I'm done with the debate: I can't argue if I can't criticize that which I find objectionable. I've posted my two deleted comments in the NoodleFood comments.

Update #3: The debate on McGinn's blog has gotten completely out of control. I'm particularly disgusted with the ad hominem charges of "cultism" from McGinn and his supporters. As anyone can see for themselves, the Objectivists in the debate have argued their side by appeal to reasons, not appeal to authority. Whether you find those arguments persuasive or not, and I do think some of them wrong, mere tenacity in debate is not cultism! (If it is, then most Americans are cultists of some variety or other, e.g. for denying that the earth is flat.) Moreover, I notice that McGinn has yet to admit that his original argument against egoism is rubbish, yet he's now tossing off general (and unsupported) remarks about the poor argumentation of his opponents. That's not cool. When I originally wrote this post, I hoped for a civil and friendly debate with McGinn. Oh well.

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More and Better on Ayn Rand

Amazingly, the New York Times published a fairly reasonable article on Ayn Rand's influence on business leaders today: Ayn Rand's Literature of Capitalism by Harriet Rubin.

If you're looking to jump into the fray of discussions, you might try the Volokh Conspiracy and the Technorati Trackbacks. (For some reasons, the Google Blog search is completely useless these days. It returns a single link to the article, while Technorati lists 105 trackbacks. Phooey!)

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Pigs!

Well, I just had a far more exciting ride on my mare Tara this morning than I would have liked.

My friend Melissa (also known as my fabulous house-and-beast-sitter) and I were enjoying a quiet cross-country ride on two well-behaved horses. Until we encountered pigs, that is.

They were in a pen about 50 feet away from our path. Melissa's horse was as quiet as usual, but Tara was highly disturbed by the first pig, and then another appeared in the pen, and then another, and then more. Although I'd gotten off, she was growing ever-more agitated. She even broke away from me and trotted around the nearby field in alarm for a few minutes until I caught her again.

Unfortunately, removing ourselves from the vicinity of the pigs required walking down a tricky set of switchbacks. That was a dangerous undertaking in and of itself given Tara's mental state. Yet even once we were down that hill and out of sight of the pigs, Tara was still bonkers. She would wheel around rapidly, half-rear, leap into bushes, and whatnot. It definitely wasn't safe to be on her back, but I wasn't exactly safe on the ground either. Attempting to walk along side her on the narrow, winding, hilly, and wooded path would have been foolish in the extreme. She was just too freaked out to pay much attention to me -- or to her own safety.

So we were in something of a pickle. She was only growing more upset where we were, as she could still hear the pigs snorting. Yet I couldn't safely move her forward on the trail, either on her back or walking by her side. Obviously, I didn't want to endanger Melissa or her horse.

Tara solved that dilemma for us by suddenly jerking the reins out of my hands and trotting off down the trail. It was only about a half mile to home, but she did have to cross the main road in our neighborhood. So I was a bit worried for her safety.

I trudged home with Melissa. It's the only time I recall, in all my years of riding, being reasonably happy about the necessity to walk home from a ride. (I really hate to do that, even when I have the ill-behaved horse in tow.)

Happily, I found Tara exactly where I expected: near the barn, as close to her buddy Jackson as possible. The reins were still over her neck -- and, amazingly enough, still intact. Since she was reasonably calm, I climbed on her again, took her for a few turns around the ring at the walk and trot, then called it a day. She was clearly emotionally exhausted. I'm a bit worn out myself, I must admit!

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Candidacy

As of today, I am officially a Ph.D candidate in the Philosophy Department of the University of Colorado at Boulder. (In other words, the faculty has determined that I've completed all the requirements of the Ph.D except the dissertation.)

WOOO HOOO!

Mark your calendars, as graduation is scheduled for May 2009, come hell or high water!

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NetFlix Free Trial

While it seems like everyone must have NetFlix these days, that may not actually be true. So if you'd like a 30 day free trial, you can give Paul and me an extra movie rental via this link.

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Homer on Rhetoric

Heh: Yes, you too can learn rhetoric from the master, Homer Simpson. My favorite, on rhetorical questions:

Mother Simpson: [singing] How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?
Homer: Seven.
Lisa: No, dad, it's a rhetorical question.
Homer: OK, eight.
Lisa: Dad, do you even know what "rhetorical" means?
Homer: Do I know what "rhetorical" means?

I have a strict policy on rhetorical questions in student papers: I categorically forbid them. Otherwise, students tend to write long sequences of rhetorical questions that hint at some objection without ever clearly stating it. And really, who wouldn't find that aggravating?

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OpinionJournal on AR

Right now, I'm so pressed by a looming dissertation deadline that I can't even afford the time to read this OpinionJournal article on Freedom Fetishists: The cultural contradictions of libertarianism by Kay Hymowitz. As you might expect, however, Ayn Rand is discussed throughout -- and not in a favorable way. So if you have a few minutes, I'd very much love to see some good Objectivist comments on it in OpinionJournal's reader responses or in posts and comments around the blogosphere. (You're welcome to repost those comments on NoodleFood, but to simply post something in the NoodleFood comments is totally pointless, so please don't bother.) The article is already being discussed in the blogosphere, e.g. at the Volokh Conspiracy and elsewhere. So get to it! (I'll be able to get to it later today, I think.)

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Apple on iPhone/iTouch Hacks

This strikes me as a reasonable policy on the part of Apple. Plus, I'm highly amused by the prospect of iPhones turning into rutabagas.

I asked [Apple marketing honcho Greg Joswiak] about independent, native software development for the iPhone. He said Apple doesn't oppose native application development, which was new to me. Rather, Apple takes a neutral stance - they're not going to stop anyone from writing apps, and they're not going to maliciously design software updates to break the native apps, but they're not going to care if their software updates accidentally break the native apps either. He very carefully left the door open to a further change in this policy, too, saying that Apple is always re-examining its perspective on these sorts of things.
...
So to summarize: Apple will neither forbid nor support native code on the iPhone/Touch. They will not design software updates specifically to break native apps, but if the updates happen to break native apps or your native apps turn your iPhone into a rutabaga, don't go crying to Apple, 'cause it ain't their problem.

Heh.

I'm not doing any hacking with my iPhone at present, but I might be interested in doing that once it's easier and safer to do, particularly since Apple isn't hostile to it. Most of all, I want a @!#% task application on my iPhone. (Seriously, iCal has tasks, so why aren't those ported to the iPhone?!?) Paul and I have been using web-based Ta-da Lists for out-on-the-town tasks. So if I have various stuff I need to do while at Boulder, I just add them to my "@Boulder" list before I leave the house. I'd rather have my full task list on my iPhone, but that's workable.

Paul and I also now use Ta-da to keep a single integrated online grocery list, rather than random scraps of paper around the kitchen. That way, if Paul happens to stop by the store for something for himself, he can just check the Ta-da "Groceries" list to see if I also need anything -- and vice versa. Since I'm cooking regularly again, my shopping lists can get long, so it's important that the Ta-da list (unlike a plain old e-mail list) allows the shopper to check off items as they go into the cart. The only drawback is that the web access can be rather slow on Edge. Still, it's way better than the old paper-based method.

However, maybe it's time for me to see if any better options are available, since I found Ta-da right after the iPhone was released. Suggestions are welcome, if you have them!

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Women in Art

Klaus Nordby pointed me to this video. As he says, "This short movie, a 'morphing' of female faces throughout the history of painting, is utterly fascinating!"

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Action Movies

In general, I'm a fan of action movies. I particularly love watching action movies while I exercise. If the action is gripping, I not only speed up my pace but also totally forget that I'm exercising. It's perfect!

Hence, I totally endorse the sentiments in this comic strip. More pow and boom, less blah blah blah!

(No, I'm not being serious, although I do prefer action movies.)

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Think! Lecture on the Search for Extraterrestrials

Once again, I'm helping to promote the lectures in our Philosophy Department's "Think!" series. Our first event is approaching fast, so here's the announcement:

The possibility of discovering life on other planets has fascinated and excited generations of people. Yet that scientific quest faces practical difficulties. In particular, if we do encounter alien forms of life, they may not be sufficiently similar to Earth's living creatures to be easily recognizable as such. So what must we understand about the nature of life to know it when we see it?

What: Lecture on "The Search for Extraterrestrials: What is Life?" with Carol Cleland (CU Boulder)

When: Thursday, September 13th, 2007, from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m.

Where: Old Main Chapel, University of Colorado at Boulder

Abstract: Many scientists and lay persons assume that the search for extraterrestrial life requires a definition of "life." I argue that this is a mistake. What is needed to answer the scientific question "what is life?" is not a definition but a general theory of living systems, which we currently lack. In the absence of such a theory, we are in a position analogous to someone from the seventeenth century trying to define "water" before the advent of molecular theory. No analysis of the seventeenth century concept of water could have revealed that water is H20. Yet this is what is required to answer the question "what is water?" The upshot is that it is a mistake to design instrument packages for detecting extraterrestrial life around a specific definition of "life." But this seems to result in a dilemma: If we don't have a definition of "life" to guide the design of biological instrument packages, how will we recognize truly alien life if we find it? I discuss a strategy for circumventing this problem.

Dr. Carol Cleland is a Professor of Philosophy at CU Boulder specializing in philosophy of science and astrobiology. She is also a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute and CU's Institute for Cognitive Science.

All "Think!" events are free and intended for the public. Members of the media are welcome to attend. For more information, please visit http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/center/think.shtml.

For further information on the series, please contact Dr. Robert Pasnau at Robert.Pasnaucolorado.edu or (303) 492-4837. For announcements of upcoming "Think!" events, e-mail Diana.Hsiehcolorado.edu with that request.

Upcoming "Think!" events:

Thursday, October 11th: Claudia Mills: "Honor Thy Mother and Father. But Why?" (8:00-9:30 pm, Old Main Chapel)

Thursday, November 8th: Simon Sparks: "What Counts As Art?" (8:00-9:30 pm, Old Main Chapel)

These lectures are sponsored by the Center for Values and Social Policy in the Philosophy Department of the University of Colorado at Boulder. They are funded through the generosity of The Collins Foundation.

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Tidbits

A few nights ago, Paul sent me these three fun tidbits:

The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks (Augh, the use of scare quotes for "emphasis" makes my hair curl!)

A silly bumper sticker for atheists

20 worst Engrish signs

Plus, Flibbert recently wrote a lengthy post on a book that I recommended a while back, namely Robert Mayhew's Ayn Rand and Song of Russia: Communism and Anti-Communism in 1940s Hollywood. (For the record, I disagree with Flibbert's comments about the equal threat of religion versus communism. The fact that both yield statism in politics doesn't show that one ideology isn't more dangerous -- i.e. more durable, totalistic, and inspirational of fervent belief -- than the other. That more dangerous threat is religion. Then again, I might not be understanding Flibbert correctly, as his comments were a tad rambling.)

Update: Flibbert posts a clarificatory post.

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Two Bits of Advice

Bit of Advice #1: Paul and I recently began watching the first season of Prison Break. Admittedly, we were both a bit skeptical after the first episode, but now we're totally hooked. We've watched eight episodes so far. Michael Scofield is my new favorite dark, brooding, and determined-come-what-may hero. So those of you who like 24 and The Unit might really enjoy Prison Break. (Please don't post any spoilers in the comments.)

Bit of Advice #2: If your normally friendly cat suddenly transforms into a fiend and attempts to murder your other cat (now petrified, in desperate flight, and howling in pain), do not -- and I repeat, do not -- attempt to pick up the fiend cat in order to prevent him from further attacking his victim. He will not be calmed by your mere touch! I learned that lesson last night. My right forearm is no longer bloody, but it is swollen and bruised from the ferocious 1.2 second attack by his claws. (Not to worry the fiend cat is back to his normal self: he was freaked out by something outside in the dark after a traumatic day in the scary wilds outside the house.)

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Book Recommendation

Lin Zinser recently posted this book recommendation on the FRODO e-mailing list. I thought it worthy of reposting on NoodleFood, and Lin was kind enough to give me permission to do so. She wrote:

I am currently reading one of the most significant books about political activism that I have ever read. Many of you may have picked up copies at OCON this summer. For those of you who have not, I urge you to buy this book and read it.

The book contains a series of essays, written by various authors about the proper methods, strategies and tactics of political action on a specific topic. It is a book with the most consistently good moral arguments that I remember reading outside of Ayn Rand. (Although some use religious arguments, they are perfunctory, almost add-ons, rather than central theses.)

These authors understand moral arguments and their importance. They are deeply ideological. They are passionate. They are rational. They debate the important political topics relevant to achieving a political purpose, such as, what are the proper considerations in voting for a party or a political candidate; should one form a separate political party or infiltrate existing parties; is it ever proper to use force to achieve political ends, particularly when force is being used against you; is it more profitable to advocate gradual change or to hold out for absolute and complete perfection; what is the moral and the practical, and do they ever conflict; and other interesting crucial matters pertaining to political action used to achieve a particular goal.

These essays were written by 19th century abolitionists. The book is Anti-Slavery Political Writings, 1833-1860, and is edited by C. Bradley Thompson (executive director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism).

All of these authors condemn slavery, are on the "same side" in the war against slavery, and yet their arguments with each other are sharp, clear, compelling and harsh. Passion and reason radiate throughout these essays. Brad Thompson's introductory essay and his comments on each selection are illuminating and distill the essence and fundamental nature of the issues involved. His choice of these selections is truly inspired because these particular essays focus one one the essence of the debate. This book emphasizes the practical nature of philosophy.

If you want to understand how abolitionists brought slavery to the forefront of American thought in less than 10 years; if you want to study how a good, moral political movement changed the world in 30 years; if you want to get involved in political action today, but you want to do it in a principled, moral way -- this is the book to read, understand and study. Whether your concern is foreign policy, health care, immigration, or education, this book is an excellent resource and tool.

I should add: Brad Thompson's course at OCON in June, American Slavery, American Freedom was not only stellar but also very relevant to politics today. I highly recommend buying it when it becomes available. The book and the course would make a great pair, I imagine.

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Should We Laugh or Cry?

Reuters reports that an "Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god":

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday. ...

The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

So now imagine being there, standing in front of one of the most staggering achievements of the reasoning mind, while people around you go through the motions of a primitive, mystical religious ritual to fix some technical hiccup.

You'd think there be at least a little cognitive dissonance in the air there.

(HT: Rootie)

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Movie Update

While I'm still skeptical that the current incarnation of the Atlas Shrugged movie will be brought to fruition, this news makes it seem more likely:

Lionsgate has brought on Vadim Perelman to rewrite "Atlas Shrugged" and direct Angelina Jolie in the starring role.

While Lionsgate needs to get a final script before formally committing to a start date with Perelman at the helm, the move puts the company in a strong position for an early 2008 production start, just a shade over 50 years after Ayn Rand's famed novel was first published in 1957.

Vadim Perelman hasn't done much, but he did direct the very compelling (in an awful kind of way) House of Sand and Fog.

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Two Reasons for Confidence

Even The Onion couldn't make up these kinds of absurdities:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sought to justify his confidence the United States will not attack Iran, saying the proof comes from his mathematical skills as an engineer and faith in God, the press reported on Monday.

Ahmadinejad told academics in a speech that elements inside Iran were pressing for compromise in the nuclear standoff with the West over fears the United States could launch a military strike.

"In some discussions I told them 'I am an engineer and I am examining the issue. They do not dare wage war against us and I base this on a double proof'," he said in the speech on Sunday, reported by the reformist Etemad Melli and Kargozaran newspapers.

"I tell them: 'I am an engineer and I am a master in calculation and tabulation.

"I draw up tables. For hours, I write out different hypotheses. I reject, I reason. I reason with planning and I make a conclusion. They cannot make problems for Iran.'"

Ahmadinejad has long expressed pride in his academic prowess. He holds a PhD on transport engineering and planning from Tehran's Science and Technology University and is the author several of scientific papers.

The deeply religious president said his second reason was: "I believe in what God says."

"God says that those who walk in the path of righteousness will be victorious. What reason can you have for believing God will not keep this promise."

Indeed, what country needs military defense when its president has calculation tables! And faith is always an excellent basis for foreign policy... if you wish to be surprised and crushed, that is.

What a small and pathetic enemy Iran is, yet the US is treating it as a great monster, as if equal to the threat of the Soviet Union. (Of course, we treated the Soviets as a bigger threat than they actually were too, but nevermind that. Or rather, we allowed them to become a much greater threat than the ever should have been by granting political concessions, engaging in often one-way trade, and allowing rampant theft of western technology.) Of course, if we allow Iran to develop those nukes, they will be a much more serious threat in rather short order.

However, Ahmadinejad is probably right: Bush is unlikely to attack Iran, not after the ongoing mess he's made of Iraq. At this point, Bush couldn't get the requisite support for another boondoggle of a war.

None of that is good. (Via Robert L.)

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Future Home As Envisioned in 1979

This conception of the "home of the future" from 1979 is both surprisingly accurate and humorously inaccurate in retrospect.



Click on the image to read the text.

(Via Cynical-C.)

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Joke Du Jour

Heh:

I was married 25 years ago, recently I took a look at my wife one day and said, "Honey, 25 years ago, we had a cheap apartment, a cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10 inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep every night with a hot 25 year old blonde."

"Now, we have a nice house, nice car, big bed, and 55" plasma screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 50 year old woman. It seems to me that you are not holding up your side of things."

My wife is a very reasonable woman. She told me to go out and find a hot 25 year old blonde and she would make sure that I would once again be living in a cheap apartment, driving a cheap car and sleeping on a sofa bed.

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Newsflash: US Not a Christian Nation

Article 11 of the US's Treaty with Tripoli reads:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

The treaty was "authored by American diplomat Joel Barlow in 1796, [then] sent to the floor of the Senate, June 7, 1797, where it was read aloud in its entirety and unanimously approved. John Adams, having seen the treaty, signed it and proudly proclaimed it to the Nation." Today, claims that the US is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles are common. In contrast, that statement was accepted without protest in 1797 according to this article. Since the US was actually not founded on any Christian principles whatsoever, that's just what I'd expect. Still, it's lovely to see it said explicitly by the Founders themselves.

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