From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Jun 03 2002 - 18:03:05 MDT
On Mon, 3 Jun 2002, Samantha Atkins wrote, regarding Rand:
> She was a great rarity, an integrator of human philosphy who
> attempted to create a unified metaphysics, epistemology, ethics
> (and thus politics) and aesthetics. And she did this in order
> to capture, project and hopefully enable the type of human
> beings and human interactions she envisioned. Whatever you may
> think of her efforts and results, this is greatness of a type
> rarely seen. She certainly belongs on the list of recommended
> authors in my view.
The right and honorable Mr. Bradbury stands up in the background
(as you sometimes see in those oh so very strange TV broadcasts
of the British parliment) and shouts loudly "Here, Here!!".
(or whatever it is they say to convey "Well spoken".)
Whether or not one likes her politics, her writing style, her
history, her agenda, etc. -- her works signify, at least for me, an
attempt to alter personal perspectives from one of being acted upon by
the scene to one of composing it yourself (that is one of the fundamental
shifts required for attaining 'enlightenment' -- a topic best left for
another day). In short, she promotes a perspective that is very empowering
for an individual -- the ability to form and hold ones own opinion/agenda.
IMO, that must be an extropic vector.
Whether or not her work as a whole (or her 'cult' following?) is
"extropic" (I'm moderately clueless here), at least some of her
ideas seem to be "personally" liberating. That alone is valuable
enough to suggest the works should be on an extropian reading list
(perhaps with caveats) precisely because they function effectively
to fold, spindle and mutilate, the meme set that so many *billions*
of people have been indoctrinated with (without 'informed' consent).
As En Vogue so aptly put it:
"Free the mind -- the rest will follow"
Robert
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