Atlas Shrugged Doc Outtakes: Harry Binswanger, Philosopher, Friend of Ayn Rand

[ImperatorZor]

There is a finite amount of matter in the universe. Ergo their is a finite amount of wealth.

Alone a Human is a Beast. It is in groups that people thrive, learn and pass their memes to others. Civilization is like a organism with multiple cells, some take material in, others process it into needed goods, distribute them, expell waste and see, here and guide. And it can not survive letting large sections of it starve and lobotomising it's guiding intellect. Cancer Cells are Objectivists.

[ChasingCharles]

@ImperatorZor Objectivists are the producers who keep the cannibals alive. Atlas Shrugged in one line: Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

[ImperatorZor]

Anarchy, lawlessness, starvation, lack of infrastructure and lack of education among all but the rich are all FAR more toxic to that metaphorical avian than making sure poor people don't starve to death, that lead does not get into our food and that the sucessful have to pay their fair share.

[kropotkinbeard1]

Will SOMEONE who knows something about Ayn Rand please watch the following short video and respond? If you find something wrong, please spell out what it is.

youtube.com/watch?v=tjQeeRn6kW­0

[HBinswanger]

Two responses to flug747: 1. You say "no wealth is created by the empty greed of one sole individual." All wealth is created by the "empty" greed of one individual. Wealth comes from applying knowledge, knowledge comes from thinking. Thinking is done only in the individual mind, not collectively. Concretely, Crusoe all alone--did he create wealth? Did he produce the means of his sustenance, by combining natural materials?

Cooperation is not a mergining into a collective but a meeting of minds.

[flug747]

@HBinswanger

That is just not true. All enterpreneurs, and god bless their good ideas (if they have them), rely on society, on government functions, to bring their ideas to fruit. Not just the police or the law, but schools, infrastructure (streets, trains, energy), safety regulations, patent guarantees, government guarantees for banks and insurances. And that is just the surface. If you don't use that system you're indeed not gonna surpass the level of Robinson's island.

[1957Atlas]

@flug747 Nothing in this clip implies an antipathy to western society, police, courts, etc. "All wealth is created" does not preclude "by the cooperation of individuals," or "under the protection of law."

Please note: This channel is for "Ayn Rand & the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged." We can't speak for Mr. Binswanger, who was interviewed for the documentary. If you'd like to learn more about his ideas, feel free to watch the documentary or read his works.

[flug747]

"All wealth is created" within the structure of society. "All wealth is created" by cooperation of individuals. "All wealth is created" under the protection of law. No wealth is created by the empty greed of one sole individual.

1957atlas, If you think you can survive even one minute without the cuddly protective environment of western society, its police, courts, army, insurances, streets, food distribution and money system - go to Somalia. Try it. There you have total libertarianism.

[jonathanaconway]

@flug747 Why do you mix legitimate government functions - police, courts and army - with illegitimate ones, such as welfare, etc? I see this argument a lot, but it simply is wrong. During America's most productive periods, the government stuck mostly to its legitimate functions, and left the rest free for individuals to organize. It might be valid to say that government protection of individual rights *enables* wealth, but it is individuals who actually *create* the wealth, not governments.

[flug747]

@jonathanaconway

Because you, and all you fantasy libertarians, use and live by these "illegitimate" goverment functions. Where did you drive today? On a road, on railtracks. What did you use today to wash yourself and drink? Water. What did you eat? Food. All that is kept save and healthy by government agencies. Where do you live? In a house, kept safe by government regulation. What about fire? What about your insurances and their re-insurance by government? What about medicare and medicaid?

[flug747]

@jonathanaconway

What about medicare, medicaid? And are you ready to not buy any products produced by workers kept save, insured, educated by "illegitimate" government functions? Where have you been schooled? Where will your kids be schooled? At home? What about internet? Who keeps "the tubes" save, down under earth and sea? The free market? And, yes, what about money? What about the fed? Do you barter?

You Ayn Rand libertarians are either hypocrits or freeloaders. If you don't go to Somalia.

[bsandler9]

That was damn good! Why the hell is it an outtake?  I'm hoping because everything that was included in the film was better than this clip, which would make the documentary better than "damn good."

[WarVideo]

@bsandler9 "If that's what they cut out, what they leave

in must be pure gold!"