Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is sometimes seen as the bible of the far right, I think mostly by people who haven't read it :)
But it actually warns about exactly what is happening here, the sick relation between the rich and government. It's a mistake to plot Atlas Shrugged on the the one dimensional axes from left to right, liberal to conservative. But we should be thinking in higher dimensional terms. Where are the Libertarians? The Free-market proponents that project Musk and Bezos on Orren Boyle, although perhaps, they didn't start out that way.
It's one of the reasons why Atlas Shrugged becomes less and less satisfying the more you think about it, the more times I read it. The heros are just too idealistic, where as in reality people are always much more opportunistic, and those opportunists are the ones calling the shots ultimately.
In the end Atlas Shrugged is Fiction, not to mention no one cares about the environment, which is such an important political/human factor these days (in that light Galt's engine would have been even nicer :)). Atlas Shrugged does presents some interesting mental models to play with, but less and less so imho. We need a 2.0.
It's sad that the US is a two party system, with a huge dimension reduction and polarization as a consequence. The whole country is behaving as if in a Principal component analysis feedback loop, separating more and more.
A progressive right is not just missing in the US, it's also really missing in Europe (it really is in the Netherlands, it's why I voted very socialist, although as an entrepreneur I'd really like to receive some love).
_wire_•5mo ago
Jeff Bezos invited Trump to a freak-off?! Trump should seriously consider this as Bezos' dildo collection puts Pdiddy to shame... Have you seen his rocket?
teekert•5mo ago
But it actually warns about exactly what is happening here, the sick relation between the rich and government. It's a mistake to plot Atlas Shrugged on the the one dimensional axes from left to right, liberal to conservative. But we should be thinking in higher dimensional terms. Where are the Libertarians? The Free-market proponents that project Musk and Bezos on Orren Boyle, although perhaps, they didn't start out that way.
It's one of the reasons why Atlas Shrugged becomes less and less satisfying the more you think about it, the more times I read it. The heros are just too idealistic, where as in reality people are always much more opportunistic, and those opportunists are the ones calling the shots ultimately.
In the end Atlas Shrugged is Fiction, not to mention no one cares about the environment, which is such an important political/human factor these days (in that light Galt's engine would have been even nicer :)). Atlas Shrugged does presents some interesting mental models to play with, but less and less so imho. We need a 2.0.
It's sad that the US is a two party system, with a huge dimension reduction and polarization as a consequence. The whole country is behaving as if in a Principal component analysis feedback loop, separating more and more.
A progressive right is not just missing in the US, it's also really missing in Europe (it really is in the Netherlands, it's why I voted very socialist, although as an entrepreneur I'd really like to receive some love).