Ask me anything
Recent Responses
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Objectivism is a system of ideas, so it may surprise you how inert it is by itself. So, the question you're more likely driving toward is: How can people share Objectivist ideas when there are so many fights between Objectivists?
That's a good question and it's one that I think is being answered well by people like Diana Hsieh with her Philosophy in Action radio show and groups like ATLOS. I don't think a person needs to thump a copy of Atlas Shrugged in people's faces to get Rand's ideas out there and in the hands of people who will use them for good.
I think it's also worthwhile to point out that Objectivism is not a movement and we don't really need a centrally-controlled organization in order to promote it. So, while infighting within various groups (formal and informal) may happen, I don't think that means that everyone, including those involved in the fights, are crippled against being able to share good ideas and information with others. -
I haven't read it. I did attend Dr. Peikoff's last OCON, though, wherein he delivered a couple of good lectures that summarized the content of the book and I was impressed by the scope and ambition of the task.
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I am of the mind that cosmetic circumcision should be punishable by law. The issue here is that the child does have a sacred right to his own body and it is a crime to violate that right simply upon the basis of his temporary incapacity to make the decision for himself.
I do not think religion should be regarded as a valid objection to such protections, either.
However, I do not know what the rationale was behind the German court's decision, so it may be that they did not come to their conclusion by rational thought and a desire to protect individual rights. So, even though I agree with the conclusion, I don't know that I agree with the decision. -
Between bad paintings and bad philosophy, I'm willing to take his word for it on the matter.
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It's a little odd that you would ask me how to pronounce someone else's last name, particularly when that person has a weekly webcast (http://www.philosophyinaction.com) in which they pronounce their name.
But in the interest of not being a total butthead, "Hsieh" is pronounced like "shay." -
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I am not familiar with all the particulars of that case, so I don't have a strong opinion on it, but I will say this much:
1) It is an obscene violation of trust, privacy, and good taste to film someone's intimate encounters without their knowledge. It's a mystery to me how someone could get to college and not already have a healthy respect for other people's rights and boundaries to at least that level.
2) If it is true that Dharun Ravi attempted to broadcast a video feed of Tyler Clementi's intimate encounters, then I do think he is guilty of a crime. I have reservations about the argument that his crime is made worse by the fact that this crime drove Clementi to commit suicide, but I am not an expert on such issues and have not spent a very long time thinking about it.
3) It is an awful, heart-breaking tragedy that Tyler Clementi was driven to suicide over this violation. I wish he had be aware of other outlets for dealing with the grief, fear, anger, and embarrassment he must have felt. My heart hurts for him and goes out to those close to him.
4) I vehemently oppose hate crime legislation. I fail to see how an individual's rights are more deeply violated when the criminal's acts are fueled by above-average stupidity. I think the argument that the community is somehow harmed is a collectivist view of the nature of rights that needs to be addressed in the general philosophy that people in our society accept. -
I decline to provide details of my personal grooming to the internet. On a related note, I only provide advice on personal grooming privately.
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In searching for my prints, I learned that it is actually common for companies to carry only three of a four painting series. I am not sure why, but that's what they do.
Anyway, I ended up getting three of mine from one company and then searching until I found another company that offered the fourth one in the correct dimensions.
I'm sorry to say that I don't have a particular supplier I could recommend to you. You might inquire at your local frame shops as well, but you're simply going to have to keep searching. -
If you shave your pubic hair, that is your business. I don't think personal grooming necessarily indicates that one expects to have sex.
Further, if you and your partner get to such a state of undress that they become aware of your grooming and are insulted by it, you should probably not go any farther with them anyway because they're an idiot. Wouldn't it be more insulting to be confronted with unkempt junk and an expectation
On any date, if you don't end up having sex, how would they know you shaved unless you exposed your genitals to them? Unless they requested it, THAT would be very presumptuous. -
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The movie Apollo 18. I watched it On Demand. It wasn't a terrible movie, but the "found footage" format was really annoying to me. I also would have appreciated more information about the moon critters.
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In The Song of Ice and Fire, the Seven is the collective proper noun for the gods of the primary religion of Westeros. They are The Father, The Mother, The Maiden, The Warrior, The Smith, The Crone, and The Stranger.
Seven is a very popular number, though, so it probably refers to a lot of other things, too. But the Seven of the Westerosi religion is the first thing I thought of. -
On both counts the answer is 'no.' I have a very low opinion of the Occupy protests.
Whatever valid points they had to make about the way our elected officials sell our freedoms and rights to the highest bidder, those were/are drown out by all their other demands to have our liberty further eroded.
I also question this practice of camping out for indefinite periods of time in parks in order to draw attention to your cause. It strikes me as really stupid. And that's ignoring the fact that they did this frequently in conjunction with violating the property rights of private individuals. -
At first, I was just going to say, "Meh," but I think this warrants a bit more explanation.
First of all, i don't think about those websites because you only just now told me about them and I hadn't seen them before. Although, I have seen the website "Tap that guy" where people take pictures of hot guys they see in public and post them for others to admire. I assume the premise is the same. What I think about such sites is, "Meh."
I mean, I totally approve of people looking sexy. But if you're wandering around out in public, people will see you. Some people might take your picture. That doesn't constitute creepy in itself. I mean, it's not like they're taking the picture from outside of your bedroom window... and you live in the fifth floor. THAT is creepy.
But I really think we are in the early stages of a fairly big societal shift, one in which our ideas about personal privacy are challenged at their core
Think about how much communication we engage in every single day that is written and EASILY share with others or made public. Email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, text messages, instant messaging, website comments, etc. Furthermore, think about what the internet really IS. (It is not a truck.) When you access a website, you are making requests for data and accepting said data from other computers. And in the process of getting to and from your computer information to and from those other computers, that information passes through other computers.
And yet people think it's "creepy" when other people know what they do on the internets.
If, in order to get to your friend's house, you had to pass through my living room, can you imagine being upset by me telling other people that you went through my house? That would be ridiculous. But when people on the internets, they get all upset when they learn that their activity is being watched by third parties.
User privacy is a big issue these days, but I think I change is coming in how we view both out real-life activity and our online activity.
Pretty much everyone has a camera phone that takes pictures and video. And by using cookies and tracking tags, site owners can keep track of what you do on their web properties. The internet experience is a bit abstract even if the analogy works. I think people are going to become less sensitive to the idea that they are being watched when they're out in public.
And if they aren't less sensitive to it already, they need to work on that. Because, seriously, you're being watched. It may not be Big Brother, but you're being watched. -
I'm actually not opposed to using cheat apps so long as the folks playing the game together agree that it is acceptable. But the more common convention is to assume that such tools are not being used. So, you have to get permission from your opponent first. And if you do that, I don't think you need to provide any rationalization for your desire to use such apps.
I am skeptical about the excuse that using such tools helps you improve your vocabulary since those tools frequently do not come with definitions next to the words they suggest and because unusual words are not valuable knowledge in themselves. They need to be useful in some way; I am not an advocate of just sitting around and trying to soak up new information for the sake of having information. But that's really your business if you want to do that. -
Yeah, I had to do a bit of searching and ended up getting three of the prints from one vendor and the fourth from a separate one. I am not sure why this happens, but it's pretty common to see series like this broken up.
Mucha is very popular, so I would recommend trying sites like:
Art.com
masterprints.com
allposters.com
You can even go to your local frame shops and ask if they have any catalogs for fine art prints. Tell them what you're looking for and they may be able to find it for you -- and they would be happy to frame it as well! -
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Trey Peden’s Bio
New York City, NY
Gay Objectivist Marketing Professional living in NYC. Don't step in my derring do.
