[OT] RE: [plug] Open Source and Communism

[Chris Caston]

Ayn Rand also believed that everything should be privatised. But if you
look at former Brittish collonies for example where they set up a good
public service with everything from deep sewerage to school systems
those countries are much better off today then they otherwise would have
been.

Or even the old Telecom as much as we liked/like to diss them the job of
getting POTS setup all over Australia (including the enormous lengths
through rural areas) was quite impressive.
 

On Sun, 2002-11-17 at 17:55, Peter J. Nicol wrote:
> 
> >  It basically describes software as a form of wealth and a product of
> >  mans mind. According to Ayne Rands theory Lassie Farez (sp) Capitalism
> >  man or (woman) can do whatever they like with their wealth.
> 
> Ayn Rand was an interesting person, but her ideas don't amount to much more
> than a pseudo-philosophy.  For a long time, philosophers didn't bother with
> her, it being obvious that 'Objectivism' was not worth much.  Unfortunately,
> like many cultic ideas, the fact that it was nonsense was no impediment to
> it's appeal, and her fame and that of so-called 'Objectivism' grew.
> 
> This is an excellent refutation of her ideas:
> 
> http://home.att.net/~sandgryan/essays_on_objectivism/ocr/
> 
> A page of other criticism is here, but some of the links are borked:
> 
> http://world.std.com/~mhuben/critobj.html
> 
> "Ayn Rand was a truculent, domineering cult-leader, whose Objectivist
> pseudo-philosophy attempts to ensnare adolescents with heroic fiction about
> righteous capitalists." - I could not have said it better myself.
> 
> Randroids (as we call them) will never admit to inherent irrationalities of
> their cult, and infest the internet, and unfortunately, many, many
> politicians and extreme apologists of capitalism still believe in
> 'Objectivism' and that it is a valid philosophy.
> 
>