Elsewhere on SOLOHQ is recorded the departure of New Zealand tennis ace Chris Lewis for the United States. Actually, this is not yet the final move—he and his American wife are currently deciding where in the States they and their three children will settle pending a final farewell to Kiwi shores. As a close friend, I'm saddened to think one of my real-life heroes will now be thousands rather than hundreds of miles away; as a soulmate, I couldn't be more pleased for Chris. This move is as overdue as it will be efficacious. Can-do America, much more than mediocrity-worshipping New Zealand, is Tall Poppy Chris' spiritual home.

I'm delighted to report, following a communication I received this morning, that I'll almost certainly be speaking at this year's TOC Summer Seminar after all. I look forward to seeing lotsa SOLOists there (as well as at SOLOC 5, of course!). I promise a memorable presentation. This is a wonderful development, and a tribute to TOC's commitment to the SOLO/TOC cross-fertilisation that began with Will Thomas' attendance at SOLOC 3 & mine at TOC-Vancouver. Thank you Sir Edward, Will, et al!

Linz

Only a short post but...

Given that capitalism is about acheiving your own ends through the means of your own body and skill, and the standard response of capitalists being "The poor can get richer under capitalism" when asked about the less fortunate, do advances in genetics that prove that certain things as inherent (IQ, ability to withstand addiction, the so called "criminal gene") which affect a person's ability to be a free and productive person challenge objectivism (and capitalism) when the above factors contribute a great deal to whether an individual can make a living for themselves through their own merits?

Click here to read the article, "East Versus West: One Sees Big Picture, Other Is Focused."
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/news/department/news/?id=77

The article contains some good observations and stimulates thought. But it does makes some errors. There's confusion on perception and our interpretation of the perception.   There is also confusion between a mental setting for context as opposed to a separate form of cognition. If an Englishman hears 'paddle your own canoe,' he will interpret it one way, while if a Frenchman hears 'pas de leur on connu,' he will interpret it differently. It's a no-brainer that cultures can influence the way we interpret data. But that doesn't add up to a difference in the way man engages in concept formation, quantitative reasoning, induction, deduction, causality, etc.   This article is an example of today's "gather-lots-of-data" science without sound philosophical guidance and interpretation.

When Joe asked me to speak, I was concerned about choosing a topic I would feel comfortable speaking about while standing amidst giants. Given that we are in New York City today, one topic seemed appropriate. It has been burned into my head for almost a year now, and when I heard that our conference would be held here it became clear, as it has personal significance.

I have always been enthralled by the vision of an airplane making its way across the sky. Whether in an office or home, walking on the sidewalk or riding in my car, the flash of sunlight on steel was enough to make me take pause-a moment to dream, to imagine something enormous, as big as the sky itself. This feeling has stayed with me from childhood. Perhaps it has contributed to my love for travel; even the fact that I sometimes fly several times per month for work never diminished my fascination with planes and airports.

Given their proximity to the international date line, Linz and the other kiwis are the first to welcome in 2006. Let's continue to work for a world of reason, individualism, achievement and freedom -- with passion, of course!

Happy New Year to all!

Multiculturalism sounds like a great idea, right? Let's learn from all cultures. After all, all cultures have some good attributes. American Indians made beautiful blankets—and didn't waste any part of the buffalo, as the cliché goes. African tribes lived together in harmony. Ancient Chinese built the Great Wall and gave us tea and silk. The Mayans had a good calendar, and so forth. So let's not be ethnocentric—a term reserved almost exclusively for Westerners who think their culture of reason, liberty, the free market, and science is superior to, say, New Guinea head hunters, Taliban zealots, Indian tribes with witch doctors, and totalitarian governments of the twentieth century.

Back in the mid-80s I lived a while in Lugano, Switzerland but I had
traveled in the country and through it several times before. And while
there are innumerable desirable features of the place—the great Alps, the
brilliant lakes, the clean neighborhoods everywhere, the efficiency of the
train system and the general abundance rarely found elsewhere in Europe
even back then—one runs across a few irritants as well. One of them I used
to find comical was that in Swiss restaurants one had to pay for
everything—well, maybe not the use of the napkins. But if you wanted
water, you had to pay for it. The same thing for bread, then butter, and

Strike up a few more lives to the death toll reaped by religion this century. Another 40,000 plus, whose philosophy of "God will protect us" failed, dismally, despite an all-pervading religious state, temples pointing in the right direction, week-long sessions of chanting, fasting, self-flagellation. One can safely assume that in Iran, that haven of Islamic correctness, whatever the wise script-readers interpreted as being his Almighty's preferred form of suffering has been preached, tested, implemented. And yet ... still, he chose to direct the full brunt of his anger at the very source of his most fervent faithful.

1) That wisdom resides in Academia.

2) That modern "intellectuals" are not Lenin's "useful idiots," driven by vanity and besotted by flattery.

3) That an MBA graduate has a brain; that an MBA degree has something to do with entrepreneurialism.

4) That flow charts and spread sheets are a substitute for kicking ass.

5) That pedantic, nit-picking clever-dick smart-asses who ejaculate to arcane masturbations about the meaning of the word "meaning" are authentic philosophers.

6) That wisdom's face cannot be joyous, or angry, or anything other than impassive.

7) That the world owes one - and pedantic, nit-picking clever-dick smart-asses - a living.

Man, I'm on a roll. I picked both Nebraska & Oklahoma to win and despite not being favorites, they did.

Nebraska really kicked Michigan's ass coming back like they did & the Sooners held Oregon out despite a hammered Rhett Bomar. Great games. Shit, the NFL looks ponderous compared to college football. Don't you think?

I'm really looking forward to the big games next week.

[Listen to this interview] Prodos (an Australian radio presenter & Objectivist radical) interviews Lindsay Perigo ...

Hi...

I need an appropraite suggestions to understand Philosophy and also refer me some basic books as i can be able to improve my knowledge in this subject and i want also be expert because i got more intrest in this field..

I am studying Philosophy as my major subject in the university. So do fever me

As my farewell too you all for the year (now, now, don't cry), I've posted links below to some of my own favourite and more reflective posts from the past year so you don't get 'PC withdrawal' over the holiday season. I've tried over the year to be pithy, thought-proving and entertaining -- I've enjoyed writing these pieces, and I'd like to thank all of you who've visited my blog, who enjoyed what you found there, and who left me feedback about what you read.

Feel free to print off a few copies of these pieces and take them with you to the beach.

Most of us who champion a certain political system concern ourselves mainly with showing why its full implementation would be best. Few people argue for a halfway house—socialists, libertarians, welfare statists, and so forth all tend to find their system of political economy to be sound when it is in full bloom.

Yet hardly anyone expects a full blown actualization of the theory he or she has conceived as the best. This is because we are all aware that millions of people make up a society and there is a great deal of disagreement among them as to what is the best kind of human community. Although whatever system one defends, one will make the case that it is indeed right for everyone, that will not suffice since many will no be convinced and will continue to support others.

Monday December 26 I begin a 6-week stint on the Radio Live network in NZ. Mainly I'll be doing 10am-2pm/9am-noon, but in the last two weeks I'll be hosting the breakfast show, 6-9 am. Kiwi SOLOists, spread the word, and feel free to call in. Reason & freedom are back on the air!

I am writing this at lunch-time, Friday December 23 in New Zealand. A preposterously dark sky is being lit up by lightning flashes. Thunderclaps rend the air, and it's raining at a rate that would startle even Noah.

It's been that kind of year for SOLO!

The sun came out for SOLOC 4. Galt, did it blaze! Then, thunder and lightning, rain and more rain ... and weather-weary dejection.

I'm not going to look back on the year and pretend that it was not a great one!

Painful, yes ... excruciatingly so. But great.

How so?

The Credo speaks of sincerity, of the rejection of mind-games, of saying what one means and meaning what one says. It speaks to the "rationally exuberant and exuberantly rational." It disdains the reason/passion dichotomy. It is my provisional assessment that the floods have cleansed SOLO of those who embrace such a dichotomy. In particular, the especially pernicious notion that evil substance may be overlooked if the style is "good" (meaning "tempered") has been purged. Vileness can no longer expect to be applauded just because it is expressed politely.

Happy Holidays!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales

I wonder why on the English version of wikipedia it is not mentioned that Wales is an objectivist,while on the italian version it is  mentioned that he is an objectivist, and also that he was the moderator of an objectivist mailing-list forum.

He has a daugther named Kira!

Are people afraid to say that are onjectivists once they become famous?

CD

Let's have a discussion about New Zealand's latest great export, after Linz, of course! By the way, which role did he play in the new Kong movie? -- Ed Hudgins

Link from TOC/TAS website
http://www.objectivistcenter.o...

The article:
-------------

We Three Kongs.
By Edward Hudgins

If art holds a mirror to reality, the original 1933 King Kong, the 1976 remake and the latest version by Peter Jackson, show a culture that swung from a romantic optimism to cynicism and now perhaps is returning to a healthier sense of life.

The original Kong very much reflected the values of its maker, Merian C. Cooper.

Since there has been recent interest here in beer, and since I'm the leader of SOLO Thrust, I decided to search out some internet information about beer. I did not get far when I stumbled upon this we

A Christmas message from plain-talking Australian ad-man Sam Kikovich, a man whose ads have sold "shitloads of Australian lamb."

"Frankly," he says, "bad ads are un-Australian."

Watch Quicktime here.

This is a cut & paste job from the forum of the world's greatest tenor (Mario Lanza Forum), but I'm sure the poster in question won't mind this festive indulgence!:

Here you have it, the result of government education: Academic freedom is dead—a federal judge decided what Pennsylvania teachers may teach in biology classes.

As MSNBC reports, “The Dover [PA] Area School Board violated the Constitution when it ordered that its biology curriculum must include ‘intelligent design,’ the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled.” No, I do not believe Intelligent Design makes sense—you need to have a brain to design anything intelligently or otherwise, and since Intelligent Design is supposed to have created brains, the idea is viciously circular.

“Ayn Rand: My Fiction-Writing Teacher,” by Erika Holzer. Madison Press, 2005, 303 pages.

Reviewed by Stephen Cox

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was her generation’s largest influence on libertarian thought. She was also a powerful novelist and a king-sized American personality. In this year of Rand’s centennial, many of her friends and acquaintances are communicating their memories of her. I think it’s especially fitting that Erika Holzer, herself a novelist (“Double Crossing,” 1983, and “Eye for an Eye,” 1994), has contributed a memoir of Rand as a writing teacher. To tell the truth, I am on record as one of the many people who urged Holzer to do it.

What an odd mix is Eric Clapton. A reserved, almost donnish Englishman, and still one of the world's great guitar heroes. Born and raised far from Mississippi or Chicago, yet he wields unquestionably one of the finest blues guitars the world has heard.

And he understands the psychology of creativity too, about which more below.

So I watched this movie last night entitled "In Good Company" and honestly I can only remember one portion of it. At the climax of the movie, the father character stood against the CEO known as Teddy K. and gave an empassioned speech regarding the treatment of people as people and not as objects. He continued to comment on 'bottom-line' thinking and how that affects morale.

I have often heard commentary from my own employees, although rarely so passionate. And honestly, I can't say that I disagree. But I suspect that my motivation is slightly different.

In my company, and I suspect many others, I'm often faced with the decision between how to keep people happy and satisfied in their job and my own responsibility to complete projects within the designated budget. I of course work for me, but as a result I produce for the company and that is why they keep me employed.

I received the following e-mail about twenty minutes ago:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear friends,

I am grieved to tell you that R.W. Bradford, founder of "Liberty," died
on Thursday, December 8, at his home in Port Townsend, Washington. He
was 58 and had fought heroically against cancer for many months.

Bill was surrounded by friends and family, and by the good wishes of his
many friends throughout the world.

An upcoming issue of "Liberty" will feature a commemoration of Bill's
life. His work will continue.

Stephen Cox
For "Liberty"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stephen Cox, professor of English at the University of California at San

I'm growing a beard.

The first comment I received about this personal statement was from my girlfriend. It went something like this, "You look great either way, but you look better with it trimmed."

Well I'll be damned. You see, I don't understand where this began, but I'm pretty sure where it will end. This sort of social convention is completely baffling to me. Do people think that my unwillingness to shave makes me a lazy person? Or maybe having my face hidden (naturally, I might add) makes me dishonest?

Well I say screw that. Shaving is a serious pain in the neck. And if anyone can disagree with this, then I invite them to step up. I won't even limit this to men since women have just as much of a difficult time shaving their legs (although they may argue this point).

Well it seems that there is either no one in Maryland except myself -or- no one wants to go bowling. I can't imagine that it's the latter , so until someone steps up to coordinate for other areas, I would like to invite the Washingtonians and Virginians to speak up! I know you're out there.... If there is just one, then I will immediately set a recurring meeting date.

And I promise that bowling will not be involved.

Idoni