In 200 years, Ayn Rand's Objectivism will be taught in schools

I dunno, I have it on good authority that America Will Collapse.

And we will water our fields with Brawndo, which plants crave.

... all of which schools will be in China, while the US lies in ruins due to rampant outsourcing.

No, not really. Her ideas are second rate at best.

Her ideas are correct and are judged as incorrect by people who use conventional ideas as a metric.

I thought the world was ending in 2012?

Her ideas are nonsense, based on entirely false suppositions.

In 200 years, there may not even BE schools, or anything.

Keynes Killer wrote:

Her ideas are correct and are judged as incorrect by people who use conventional ideas as a metric.

Her ideas are about as sophisticated as those of Karl Marx - just coming at it from the opposite side.

They are both sophomoric. Any reasonably intelligent adult cannot take them seriously.

Rand writes about socialism the way an ex-girlfriend writes about the boyfriend that cheated on her with her best friend. Yeah, the guys probably a douche, but that doesn't mean you should base national policies on her opinions.

But first Gozer the Traveler will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the Traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

Are you the Keymaster?

Zuul wrote:

Are you the Keymaster?

Actually I'm a friend of his, he asked me to meet him here.

Keynes Killer wrote:

Her ideas are correct and are judged as incorrect by people who use conventional ideas as a metric.

please explain how randians would deal with the tragedy of the commons.

In the year 2525, if man is still alive, if woman can survive, they may find that they aren't going to need to tell the truth and will tell no lies because everything you think, do, or say is in the pill you took today.

Simply put, they can't. I admire Rand's message and foresight in Atlas Shrugged, however objectivism is flawed in much the same way that communism is. Both cannot work when applied with human nature. If every person had the qualities of John Galt, the tragedy of the commons would not exist. The smartest person would ethically control the coveted resource and the rest would diligently work under him without complaint. Rand's problem is that her philosophy only holds when incorruptible geniuses control the means of production. In addition, those on the bottom also need to accept that they belong there. Obviously, humans do not fit into this mold (or any other really, hence political shifts through history).

In fact, in 200 years, the Earth will be threatened by shortages of Illudium Phosdex, the shaving cream atom, because the only remaining supply of it will be on Planet X.

200 Years? Let's Party like it's 2199!

wellidunno wrote:

Her ideas are about as sophisticated as those of Karl Marx - just coming at it from the opposite side.

They are both sophomoric. Any reasonably intelligent adult cannot take them seriously.

One of the common misconceptions about Marx was that he invented socialism or communism. The 2 million or so word that Marx wrote were mostly the criticism of capitalism, and almost all of that was accurate. He did not offer much in the way of an alternative.

I think the world in 200 years will be much different than most people can imagine. I think there will be a convergence between artificial life and natural life. Artificial life will be far more intelligent than current humans, but will also exhibit many of the same emotional traits, especially empathy. Humans will become equally intelligent either by expanding their bodies with nanotechnology or by uploading themselves into computer worlds. It will probably be more like the Matrix except happier and no war and the planet will probably return to a more natural state without people. Also, people will be nearly immortal and many people on these boards will probably still be alive. Economics in general will not be relevant.