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Category: The Atlasphere
All things Atlasphere can be found here, columns, podcasts, interesting anecdotes, and more.
International Ayn Rand Meetup Day
Meetup.com provides a new way for people of common interests to gather for mutual benefit. Admirers of Ayn Rand’s novels may be particularly interested in aynrand.meetup.com, which enables participants to:
Meetup with other local fans of author Ayn Rand and her philosophy, Objectivism ? a philosophy of Reason, Purpose and Self-Esteem that holds human life on this Earth as the standard of all values and your life as an end in itself.
From the ?About Meetup? page on the Meetup web site:
Meetup helps people get together with a group of neighbors that share a common interest. We power global, monthly “Meetup Days” for almost any interest group. Meetup is an advanced technology platform and global network of local venues that helps people self-organize local group gatherings on the same day everywhere. Meetups take place in up to 612 cities in 51 countries at local cafés, restaurants, bookstores, and other local establishments.
Meetup earns its money from:
- Establishments that pay to be listed as possible Meetup venues (MVPs)
- Users that sign up for Meetup+
- Organizations that want special services to help strengthen their community
- Sponsors that have relevant messages for Meetup chapters (text ads only)
We believe that it’s possible to be profitable while doing great things for people.
For more info, see messages from people that have gone
to a Meetup and press reports about Meetup.
Visit aynrand.meetup.com to register, or to host an Ayn Rand Meetup near you. [Thanks to Luke Setzer for this news tip.]
Garmong on the Spirit of Columbia
Bob Garmong has written a moving tribute to last year’s Columbia disaster for the ARI MediaLink:
The space program is the condensed essence of this American soul. While most cultures through history have gazed with uncomprehending awe at the vast mysteries of space, NASA brings one mystery after another into the realm of human understanding. While others see only an impossibly long list of insurmountable problems, NASA solves them, one by one. While others dwell in humility at man’s smallness in the face of the universe, NASA proudly extends our command of that universe. While others see heavens filled with jealous gods, NASA sees a source of solutions to earthly problems.
What was lost over the southwestern skies a year ago was more than a single vehicle and its crew, more than a handful of scientific experiments. It was the grandest visible expression of the best within us: the intensely purposeful, heroically disciplined application of the rational mind in the service of man’s life.
To appreciate the deepest meaning of the space program, one need not support any particular approach to space exploration?such as the choice of manned versus unmanned flights, nor even the existence of NASA itself: one can argue, as I do, that space exploration should be run by private companies. But the memory of the fallen astronauts requires of us to remember, and revere, the spirit of Columbia, which is the essence of human greatness.
Read the whole article.
Two New Objectivist Seminars
The Objectivist Center has announced plans for two new seminars. The first is the Graduate Seminar in Objectivist Philosophy and Method to be held at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, July 31- Aug 7, 2004. Free of charge to qualified participants and lead by TOC’s David Kelley, the Graduate Seminar is a special week of lectures, discussions, and workshops designed for graduate students, junior faculty, and post-doctoral scholars of philosophy and related fields.
The second is the Distance-Learning Seminar in Objectivism to be offered Fall 2004. Taught by William Thomas and meeting by teleconference, the distance-learning seminar will teach a systematic understanding of Objectivism and will be open to students, scholars, teachers, speakers, activists, and club leaders who want to deepen their grasp of the key elements of the philosophy.
For more information on these seminars and other scholarship programs at TOC, visit TOC’s Objectivist Studies web site. Applications will be posted soon.
2004 TOC Summer Internship
The Objectivist Center is offering a paid 10-12 week internship at its offices. The internship is intended to provide training in writing on Objectivist themes. In addition, unpaid internship applications and fellowship project ideas will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
More information along with the application is available on the internship and fellowship page of the TOC web site.The application deadline is April 9, 2004.
TOC Graduate Scholarships
The Objectivist Center has announced plans to offer up to a maximum of $12,000 annually in living expenses and tuition and fees to support qualified graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in philosophy and closely related fields such as psychology and cognitive science. The application Deadline for Fall 2004 is March 1st.
More information and application forms are available on the graduate scholarship page of the TOC web site.
New 'We the Living' Movie Site
Duncan Scott Productions has launched a new web site for the We the Living movie, which includes historical information about the movie as well as a link to purchase the video via PayPal.
The Atlasphere recently published a two-part interview with Duncan Scott, wherein he talks extensively about his experiences releasing the movie in America, with Ayn Rand’s approval and guidance.
…Stay tuned for developing news about the big screen re-release of We the Living in San Francisco next month.
IHS Summer Seminars
Interested in receiving training to help advance the cause of liberty? The Institute for Humane Studies is offering a variety of free seminars targeted towards students and recent graduates who want to bolster their understanding of the economic, political, and cultural foundations of liberty.
From their seminar overview:
If you’re like many students, you’re not quite satisfied with standard answers to social and political issues. You like to think for yourself, and you often come up with answers that don’t fit neatly into “left” or “right” pigeonholes.
In the face of new global challenges, IHS seminars provide an opportunity to re-examine society and politics from outside the usual boundaries. They open a window on the classical liberal or libertarian perspective – a perspective that begins with individual liberty and explores where that leads for the individual, community, government, economy, culture…
The seminars are offered in a number of locations across the country. Visit the IHS summer seminars page for further details.
Lecture on Kay Nolte Smith in Washington, D.C.
Atlasphere columnist Michelle Fram-Cohen will be delivering a lecture entitled “A Tribute to Kay Nolte Smith” at the Washington Metro Objectivism Discussion (WMOD) group on Saturday, January 31st.
From her recent column for the Atlasphere on this same topic:
This year is the tenth anniversary of Kay Nolte Smith’s death. It is hard to believe that less than twenty years ago, her novels stirred up an audience of admirers of Rand’s work yearning for romantic writings, and were the topic of animated discussions, while today, all but one of her eight books are out of print. Yet Kay Nolte Smith was the most prolific, successful and original
novelist to come out of Ayn Rand’s inner circle.
For more information about her upcoming lecture, see the WMOD announcement on their web site.
Ed Hudgins on Bush's State of the Union
TOC Washington Director Ed Hudgins has written a response to George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech.
His primary criticism is that Bush and the Republicans in general act “based on sentiments or short-term pragmatism rather than on a consistent set of core principles.” Hudgins argues that this way of making policy and governing leads to limitations on individual liberty and autonomy.
Hudgins explains how the Republicans should govern:
If Bush and the Republicans lived up to their limited government reputation, they would hold to the principles of individual liberty on which America was founded. The purpose of government, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, was to protect the life, liberty and property of each citizen. The federal government, as established by the Constitution, had certain limited and enumerated powers, with all other powers reserved for the states and the people. A system of checks and balances was established and a Bill of Rights added to make certain that government didn?t get out of hand.
These principles in turn were based on the understanding that individuals are ends in themselves; that they own their own lives; that to survive and prosper they must be free to act; that they thus should be left alone and in turn should leave others to live as they see fit. Based on these principles it is generally easy to judge which functions of government are legitimate and which are not. Thus government welfare programs are seen as based on the altruist principle that individuals must take care of others and be forced by government to do so, which of course limits everyone?s personal autonomy.
His full response is available on the TOC web site.