https://pinboard.in/u:grahams/public/ recent bookmarks from grahams 2019-08-14T20:07:21+00:00 https://newrepublic.com/article/154705/last-ayn-rand-acolytes grahams"This year's Objectivist Conference revealed that her cult of hyper-capitalism has a major recruiting problem: All the young people want to be socialists!"]]> objectivism activism cults boringchildren https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:grahams/b:500c4ea0bd0d/ 2012-10-25T13:21:07+00:00 http://pandodaily.com/2012/10/24/travis-shrugged/ grahamsWhen Uber was forced to shut down its yellow cab hailing service in New York last week, founder Travis Kalanick threw a fit that PandoDaily’s Nathaniel Mott described as “downright adolescent… just short of [Kalanick] stamping his feet.” In fact, as Mott explains (and as sources close to the negotiations have independently confirmed), there was precisely one reason why UberTaxi failed to take Manhattan: Travis Kalanick himself. For one thing, the TLC is bound by contracts with existing vendors not to allow any other credit card processing in NY cabs until next February. Likewise, changing laws on handheld devices and pre-booked pickups cannot happen overnight. But unlike in Washington and Boston, where the company has also fought with regulators, New York was more than amenable to the idea of innovation. A compromise was on the horizon. Uber, however, does not profit from compromise. Kalanick is a proud adherent to the Cult of Disruption: the faddish Silicon Valley concept which essentially boils down to “let us do whatever we want, otherwise we’ll bully you on the Internet until you do.” To proponents of Disruption, the free market is king, and regulation is always the enemy.]]> analysis business culture technology uber aynrand objectivism https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:grahams/b:8d06cfd38adb/ 2012-01-28T02:00:28+00:00 http://davidbrin.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/atlas-shrugged-the-hidden-context-of-the-book-and-film/ grahamsThere was nothing else even remotely interesting at Blockbuster — so we rented ATLAS SHRUGGED. Well, after all,  I often talk about Ayn Rand and her passionate followers, who have effectively taken over the U.S. Libertarian movement, influencing much of the rhetoric we hear from the American Right… though none of the policies have ever been actually enacted during Republican rule. I’ve published both scholarly papers and popular articles about Rand’s fiction and philosophy. So, I thought, why not give her acolytes one more shot at selling me on her biggest, most-central tale? An honest person does that. Whereupon, with a sigh, but opening my ears and mind, I slid the disk into the player…. ]]> aynrand libertarianism politics film movies books objectivism https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:grahams/b:d1cc5a870e44/ 2011-04-27T01:56:29+00:00 http://www.badassdigest.com/2011/04/26/why-critics-matter-they-killed-the-second-two-parts-of-atlas-shrugged grahamsAtlas Shrugged Part 1 played to the hardcore Ayn Rand audience only. And that’s especially tough because these people don’t even have friends or dates to bring with them to the theater to pad the grosses.]]> paste lol funny reviews movies film objectivism aynrand https://pinboard.in/u:grahams/b:b85c5cd347d6/