From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Mon Jul 12 1999 - 23:59:15 MDT
On Saturday, July 10, 1999 11:44 AM E. Shaun Russell <e_shaun@uniserve.com>
wrote:
> Nathaniel Branden has recently revised his biography of
>philosopher- novelist, Ayn Rand. While not explicitly extropic, Rand's
>books and overall perspective of life have been a major influence on many
>extropians. Though the essence of her philosophy espoused rational thought
>and the application of moral reason in all areas of one's life, Branden
>subtly shows that her own life had many areas of irrationality, paranoia
>and contradictory ethics. Though it does nothing to dampen the objective
>reality of her own philosophy, _My Years With Ayn Rand_ is definitely an
>eye-opener into the way Rand truly lived her life. Well worth reading.
I don't want to defend Rand as a person -- I've heard enough horror stories
about her atrocious behavior -- but one should be aware when reading Branden
that he does have an axe to grind AND he also seems to have a tendency to
white wash his own actions. At least, this is my impression. (I wasn't
there, so maybe he's 100% correct, but I doubt it.)
As for Objectivism and Extropianism, well, my goals is more to know what is
true, though looking for relationships between things -- including belief
systems -- is one way of getting closer to that. And I'm definitely
influence by both Objectivism and Extropianism.
Cheers!
Daniel Ust
http://mars.superlink.net/neptune/
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