intellect
Insightful post about reason, abstract thinking, and science, highlighting gifted science fiction influencers.
In Defense of the Objectivist
The date is February 25, 1959. In a studio with famed American journalist, Mike Wallace, stood across from him one Ayn Rand. Born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum in Russia, she immigrated to the United States following her witnessing of the instability & tumultousness of the Russian Revolution & the rise of the Soviet Union. Over the course of living in America for more than 30 years she developed her skills in writing (mainly novels and screenplays). Such effort was often accomponied by intensive independent research into the philosophical writings of Aristotle; as well as the literary works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Edmond Rostand, and Friedrich Schiller. At the time of this interview before the television cameras & Mr. Wallace, she had become most prominant for her political activism in testifying before the H.U.A.C (House Un-American Activities Commitee) and her publishing of two novels which would cement her as one of the most relevant, yet controversial, philsophers in modern times; The Fountainhead & Atlas Shrugged. During the televised interview, Mike Wallace read aloud to Rand a review of Atlas Shrugged from Newsweek. According to the article, Rand was deliberatley out to destroy almost every edifice in the contemporary American way of life, Judeo-Christian religion, modified & government-regulated capitalism, & rule by the majority will. Furthermore, Wallace went on to say that other reviewers accused her of scorning churches & the concept of God with the mere stroking of the pen onto paper. When asked if such criticisms were accurate. She almost nonchalantly replied "Uhh, yes."
By Jacob Herr5 years ago in Futurism
Parmenides of Elea
"All sense perceptions, says Parmenides, yield but illusions. And their main illusoriness lies in their pretense that the non-existent coexists with the existent, that Becoming, too, has being. All the manifold colorful world known to experience, all the transformations of its qualities, all the orderliness of its ups and downs, are cast aside mercilessly as mere semblance and illusion. Nothing may be learned from them." ~ Nietzsche
By Satyarth Pandita5 years ago in Futurism
Why are we here?
Why are we here? That is the big question. Our purpose here has to have a meaning, right? As a daughter I am here to make my parent happy. As a woman I am here to make myself happy. Am I here because at some point in my life I will have an impact on this world? Each person has their belief that leads them to an answer to this question. My answer is, do we need to know?
By Karen Galindo5 years ago in Futurism
The Nuclear War
As a delegate to Melecon IEEE, the world's foremost engineering organization who attributed me to the sole founder of Integrity Intrigue Innovation Inc., the title Doctor of Engineering and Philosophy. I wrote to the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation about a theory of reversing Albert Einstein's nuclear weaponry. The universe was made from gases and has been developed through gases overtime. Human beings were not the first to harness the power of gases and explosions, it is what this earth was made of and what the Heavens are still doing for thousands of years and billions of times. As stars and planets fade away or become into being. Our existence consists of gases and balancing their reaction within our system and the earth. Gravity is a chemical force that pulls those reactions toward each other and in respective. If we are to survive the present chemical evolution brought by human innovations and explorations then we must learn how to react the way our universe reacts to become a balancer and stabilizer. All the planets and stars use gases and feed off of them and build off of them. We can't leave earth empty-handed and continue to destroy as its growth has slowed down. We must be the keepers of our future and learn to do what is impossible to preserve this universe with our knowledge.
By Distinguished Honorary Alumni Dr. Matthew Primous5 years ago in Futurism
Feel-osophy
Facts or truths will never be able to be proven or tested by our emotions or feelings. Facts, truths, plumbline, gospel were words that carried weight and significance with them. These words are associated with statements that are determined to be absolute, static, immutable, and stable. It did not matter how one felt about such descriptions, they were true or false regardless of how anyone felt about it. With the recent events that have unfolded in politics, the transparent look into the thought lives of Americans through Facebook. We have seen the evidence that a complete and entire generation or generations have no idea how to determine fact or Truth.
By Jellyfish Lab5 years ago in Futurism
LIVING WITH SOCIETY
There is absolutely no inevitable, so long as there is a willingness to contemplate what happening....humans are not meant to exist in an economically stratified society. Humans adapt to their environment! We are built to survive, so yes we do need social structure because if we didn't the world would be total chaos.
By Latasha Smith5 years ago in Futurism
What if
With so many different people living here on earth its seems only right that groups form. Each person expressing their thoughts, their personal views and opinions that once expressed are a light house to those of like minds. As new ideas are born as these groups of similar thoughts spend time together there are communities born providing a banding of support for each other inevitably leading to the vindication of each individuals self belief.
By True Story5 years ago in Futurism
Have I learned anything yet?
Why? Let me begin by asking a question. Can you be yourself if you feel that someone is looking over your shoulder all the time? When you are certain over many years, that the one looking over your shoulder, doesn't like the way you think.
By Howard Titman5 years ago in Futurism
Discomfort & Intolerance
To paraphrase a line from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, science is the study of fact; not truth. If it’s truth that one is interested in, there are numerous podcasts pertaining philosophy and theology on Spotify. However, what does a scientist do when the person who writes their checks is looking for only a certain kind of fact? Let’s say, for example, that there is a man named Joe. Joe is a learned archeologist during a time of renewed public interest in Joe’s particular field of research. New university chairs are being endowed, new museums are being opened, the older museums are receiving an increase of funding, archeological sites are becoming popular tourist attractions, multiple books and documentaries are being released to raise awareness about important local history. Yet, all that Joe has to do in order to partake in this paradise of higher learning, is to put his soul up for sale. This fictitious conundrum was exactly what the German academic community was faced with during the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. It’s efforts created a Frankenstien-esc monstrosity of pseudoacademia and was used to justify their political agenda of ignorance, bigotry, racism, ethnic superiority, and genocide; only to have it’s methods continue on into the modern day (in a way which may be difficult to recognize at first glance).
By Jacob Herr6 years ago in Futurism
