Author: Heather Wagenhals

Ayn Rand in NY Times: Howard Roark at Ground Zero

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

An article in today’s New York Times (“‘Sixteen Acres’: Rebuilding Ground Zero“) starts with a nod to Ayn Rand’s Howard Roark, and an unsubstantiated claim about the validity of her philosophy:

AYN RAND may be long discredited as a philosopher, but her ideas about architecture are still very much alive. Howard Roark, the protagonist of her objectivist fantasia ”The Fountainhead,” is the archetypal artist-hero, rendering society’s soul in concrete and steel. Since the 1940’s, his image has shaped our appreciation of everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry, defining even the competition to rebuild the World Trade Center site: the struggle between Daniel Libeskind and Larry Silverstein was seen as a veritable ”Fountainhead Redux” in which a valiant architect armed only with his dreams takes on a mega-developer.

The article contains this prediction for Ground Zero:

Flashy architecture became the smoke screen behind which the real deals were made. ”Though the process would churn on in search of a master plan,” Nobel writes, ”the only politically acceptable solution was already apparent in the summer of 2002. The site would be rebuilt as a crowded, mixed-use, shopping-intensive corporate development surrounding a large but compromised memorial. It was all over but the shouting.”

Just what Howard Roark would have recommended… Not!
The article ends with:

Still, if the selection process has so far produced a poor excuse for a monumental rebuilding, it is nonetheless a tribute to New York — messy, money-soaked, dominated by too many egos and too few level heads. ”When the politicians line up to cut their ribbons,” Nobel writes, ”whatever shades the dais that day will be at once stranger and more fitting than anything they had imagined when they set about to govern its birth. In a way it will be perfect.” Clearly, Nobel wishes things were otherwise. But he also recognizes that in New York, even Howard Roark couldn’t make it so.

See the full article for further information.

Request for Ayn Rand Citations in the Media

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

From the Objectivist Center:
Ayn Rand is often mentioned in newspapers, magazines, books, and other publications, but writers don’t always seem to understand her ideas. The Objectivist Center is researching an article on the ways in which Rand and/or Objectivism are misunderstood, misrepresented, or misquoted. We would appreciate any examples you have seen. We’re also interested in examples where the ideas are accurately presented. In either case, what we’re looking for is not simply a reference to her, to her novels and characters, or the name of her philosophy, but a characterization of the ideas. If you would like to contribute an example, please email David Kelley (at dkelley at objectivistcenter.org) — and thanks in advance.

Ayn Rand Centenary in The OC Register

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

I just had a long and pleasant chat with Orange County Register Staff Writer Valerie Takahama, who is writing an article about the Ayn Rand Centenary for publication in the next couple weeks. Keep your eyes open for that if you read the Register. We’ll post an announcement here on the meta-blog as well, as soon as we receive notice of its publication.

Putin Demotes Economic Advisor Andrei Illarionov

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

We’ve noted previously that Putin economic advisor Andrei N. Illarionov has been a vocal admirer of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged. It sounds like Putin has suddenly noticed that the principles in Atlas are, uh, incompatible with dictatorship.
From an article in the New York Times:

President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday abruptly reduced the responsibilities of a senior adviser who last week issued a sweeping criticism of the Kremlin’s leadership and expressed deep misgivings about the direction in which Russia was headed.
In a presidential decree released without further comment, Mr. Putin relieved the adviser, Andrei N. Illarionov, of his duties as Russia’s envoy to the Group of 8, comprising the world’s major industrialized nations and Russia. Mr. Putin reassigned those duties to a presidential aide who is seemingly a more loyal Kremlin insider, Igor I. Shuvalov.
Mr. Illarionov, 43, has been an economics adviser to Mr. Putin since 2000, and at times a vocal critic of the Kremlin’s course. Both the Kremlin and Mr. Illarionov’s spokeswoman said that for the moment he would retain his principal post. But his sudden removal as envoy to the Group of 8 carried an implicit rebuke.
In a long news conference here last week and then in an interview on an independent radio station, Mr. Illarionov issued a searing and comprehensive assessment of the state of affairs in Russia, saying the country had sharply shifted direction for the worse, and risked becoming a third world state.

See the full article for additional information. (Via Drudge)

Centennial Editions of Ayn Rand's Novels

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

An announcement via the Ayn Rand Bookstore:
Marking the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand’s birth, the publisher of her works has issued centennial editions of Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead and Anthem, featuring newly designed cover illustrations. The covers of the centennial trade paperbacks (softcovers) are slightly modified replicas of the original artwork from the first editions of each book, and will be printed on high quality paper with rough edges. The covers of the standard paperbacks are the work of the publisher’s staff designers.
Availability: Expected shipment date from the publisher is January 2005.

TOC Moves to DC, Names Hudgins Executive Director

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

An announcement from The Objectivist Center Founder David Kelley:
Next February will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ayn Rand, the writer and thinker who gave us Objectivism, and the 15th anniversary of the Objectivist Center, which I created to promote that philosophy through independent thought and open debate?a promise we have carried through our seminars, conferences and publications, thanks to our dedicated staff and supporters.
In this anniversary year, we will take our organization to a new level of impact in the marketplace of ideas by making major changes in the Center?s location and management.
First, we will move our headquarters to Washington, D.C. Washington is the center of the think-tank world, where cultural as well as political issues are actively debated?and covered in the media. The Center is already well known?and well respected?within the network of pro-freedom organizations in the capital, which can help us leverage our efforts. With several major universities, Washington is an academic center as well. This move will also allow us to explore new fundraising sources.
Second, the current Washington director, Edward Hudgins, will assume the responsibilities of executive director. I will continue at the Center as ?chief intellectual officer? as well as a member of the board. With Ed as executive director, I will able to devote most of my time to my strengths ­ writing, research, and working with students and other scholars. Ed shares my commitment to Objectivism, and as a veteran of Capitol Hill, the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute, he knows what it takes to succeed as an intellectual advocate. In the past two years he has shown tremendous energy and entrepreneurial vision in promoting our ideas through his writing, TV and radio appearances, and the conferences he?s organized.
With these changes, the Center will be better able to integrate its scholarly, academic and advocacy functions and focus on its strong comparative advantages in today?s intellectual battles.
One program focus will be the defense of capitalism as a moral ideal, not merely an economic one. Ed has received a good response using unique Objectivist arguments in defense of capitalism: the moral right of individuals to their own lives; entrepreneurs as creators who should take pride in their creations; the moral virtues manifested by entrepreneurs; and the need for them to stop apologizing for creating the richest country on Earth.
A second focus will be the culture wars over religion, values, and the clash of civilizations. We will continue to expose the false dichotomies between the religious values of cultural conservatives and the secular but socialistic values of the left. We will promote our distinctive cultural values?reason, individualism, and achievement?by applying to them to the issues of public debate.
We will continue the programs that have served our members well over the years, including publications and the Summer Seminar. We have also strengthened our student-training programs during the past year, and we?ll continue to make that investment in talent.
With our move and management changes we will be able to promote Objectivism more aggressively in the larger marketplace of ideas.

Why We Want to Make Money

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

Writing for the business section of London’s Telegraph, Luke Johnson provides an even-handed discussion of the need for an intellectual framework to guide one’s business endeavors:

It seems odd that there are so few intellectual works that deal with the philosophy of capitalism. Millions of words are written annually on the mechanics of business, but virtually none on the ultimate purpose of it all.
Where is the true justification for the sacrifice and effort? Is the rat race an exercise in futility? In the past 100 years, the profit motive has become the dominant creed, replacing religion, Marxism and the like ? yet there are almost no texts that rationalise why man strives so hard to build enterprises.
Why is it important for those engaged in accumulating wealth to think about the deeper principles underlying their daily work? I believe an understanding of their motivations, and the meaning of our economic and social systems, helps expand the mind and gives a sense of moral value.

After exploring a few other intellectual justifications for the pursuit of success (including those from Christian traditions), he notes Ayn Rand’s contributions:

Ayn Rand, the author of The Fountainhead and inventor of objectivism, was perhaps the foremost exponent of the unfettered philosophy of laissez-faire capitalism. She originated “the concept of man as a heroic being” with “productive achievement as his noblest activity”. Her books and beliefs remain popular today. Eddie Lampert, the Wunderkind behind the recent merger of retailers Sears and Kmart, is apparently an advocate.

See the full article for additional commentary.

Michael Milken, Privatizing Medical Research

Posted on by Heather Wagenhals

Michael Milken, whose prosecution for violation of insider trading laws in the early 90s was condemned by many Objectivist commentators, is featured in a terrific cover article in this month’s Fortune magazine.
The article (available to subscribers of that magazine) begins:

The image on the oversized screen behind the podium was of a giant malignant tumor. The discussion was about prognostic indicators?doctorspeak for how much longer people with such tumors had to live. The prognosis wasn’t good, with life expectancy measured in months, not years. The presenter’s manner was cold, but it didn’t matter: This was no hospital bedside but a roomful of physicians, gathered for a seminar on prostate cancer at Houston’s prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In the third row sat a tall, slight, unimposing man. The top of his middle-aged head no longer had hair; his eyebrows were thin. His nametag read dr. robert hackel, and all he could think about was how enormous the tumor looked onscreen. A tumor just like his own.
When the speaker, Donald Coffey, an esteemed prostate cancer expert from Johns Hopkins, was finished, Hackel made his way to the front. For 25 minutes he grilled Coffey on his presentation, asking technical questions about the research and its therapeutic implications. At what should have been the end of a friendly exchange between colleagues, Hackel turned to Coffey and said, “I am Mike Milken. I want to be cured.”
Coffey knew the name. It was 1993, and Michael Milken, the once-highflying junk-bond wizard had, a few years earlier, been a familiar face in the newspapers because of his high-profile indictment on securities violations. Only two weeks before, in fact, Milken?now wearing a phony ID badge with his middle name and father-in-law’s surname?had been released from prison, having served 22 months. Coffey was surprised not just by who his questioner was, but by the fact that he wasn’t a doctor. His toupee gone and his toothy grin somewhat modulated, Milken seemed more like a veteran lab scientist than a desperate patient. He knew much about the biology of cancer.
It was only when Milken began to speak rapturously about turning prostate cancer research on its head and starting “a Manhattan Project for cancer” that the financier sounded a bit naive. A real physician would have known better, thought Coffey. “The truth was, at the time, there was so little research?or anything else?going on in the field [of prostate cancer], it was as if Milken was speaking in tongues,” he says. Still, the good doctor listened politely.
Eleven years later many others are listening too. That’s because Milken has, in fact, turned the cancer establishment upside down.

How did he do this? In a word: privatization. Together with other high-profile entrepreneurs such as Intel’s Andy Grove, Milken started a private foundation to aggressively fund innovative research to cure prostate cancer. (Not to “understand” or “promote awareness” of prostate cancer ? to cure it.)
At first, establishment researchers were wary of the funding requirements, which include sharing the results of their research with other researchers before it goes through the lengthy process of getting published in peer-reviewed journals. But prostate cancer research had been mired in bureaucratic red tape for many years, and the prospect of receiving $100,000 in funding within 90 days ? rather than the 2-3 years required for government-funded research ? eventually won the researchers over to the merits of private funding.
Today Milken’s institution has funded so many new treatments and drug therapies that, had it sought to retain ownership of such treatments, it would be the world’s third-largest biotechnology company. (I’m paraphrasing from memory, here; I read the full story this morning but don’t have it handy.)
The result? Deaths from prostate cancer are declining steeply, and Milken himself is in seemingly full remission.
See the full story in Fortune for additional information.

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