It's not that she's evil, just that her "philosophy" is what you said: one person's view (i.e. opinion). She couldn't reconcile many critiques of Objectivism and didn't do much self-analysis on it. So despite how good many of her individual ideas sound, together they're thin and don't really make up a coherent theory that many people can take seriously. Unless you're a jerk using her name to justify being self-centered :) (just kidding)
I have heard several working philosophers describe her work as "incoherent" in a philosophical sense -- inconsistent in ways that are unreconcilable.
These are people with no particular horse in any race; there isn't a lot of money in rejecting one 20th century pop philosopher.
I haven't read enough of her stuff to develop my own opinions, so I'm happy to defer to them on the philosophy. I have read enough of her stuff to say that I find it turgid to the point of unreadability; a very dated style. Reminds me of L Ron Hubbard's stuff, which is also just about unreadable (dianetics or otherwise).
Yep, nailed it. For those of us who still read despite all that, here's the browser extension you've been looking for (Make Medium Readable Again): https://github.com/thebaer/MMRA
> Mr. Trump, who is known to watch Fox News while he is tweeting, posted his tweet shortly after a Fox News legal analyst appealed directly to the president during a Thursday morning segment about the coming House vote. The analyst, Andrew Napolitano, turned to television cameras and said, “Mr. President, this is not the way to go.” He added that Mr. Trump’s “woes” began with surveillance.
lol.
But seriously we need someone in the oval office who feels strongly about protecting the privacy of Americans (and everyone else!). Trump is just another one in the line to rubber-stamp this. Not holding my breath though...
Nope. A lot revolves around them, but there are plenty of ultra-rich ideologues pushing their agenda this way. You can find some good investigative research on this in "Dark Money" by Jane Mayer, which details a lot of the history behind dark money influencing politics, and the ideals these guys are trying to advance.
The Mercers are another influential family she's written about [0]
The formula works! If it can get that guy in the White House, it can sell anything.
Also, I think it's kind of delicious when a variant like this is used to actually describe a previously "Y/Great" thing (Medium was readable at some point). Kinda hijacks the meaning from the original phrase and makes it less shitty.
> society at large is unquestionably a cesspit of low consciousness, and self-centered thinking
That's a heck of a personal projection :)
And pg disagrees with that last sentiment in the footnotes:
> Many think successful startup founders are driven by money. In fact the secret weapon of the most successful founders is that they aren't. If they were, they'd have taken one of the acquisition offers that every fast-growing startup gets on the way up. What drives the most successful founders is the same thing that drives most people who make things: the company is their project.
When someone characterizes someone else as being "driven by money", I think that in their mind they are seeing the other person as being interested in nothing but having as much money as possible for no apparent reason.
But to me and I think probably to most people who have an interest in creating a successful product or service, we the hackers and the makers don't want money just because we want money. We also don't want the money just so that we can have a private jet, ridiculously big mansion or other forms of luxury.
No doubt I would afford myself a higher living standard and some luxury on top if I had a lot of money but it's not my primary motivation, and again I think this is true of most of those who wish to create something.
I want my product to succeed because I believe in it. I believe that I can bring value to my customers. I believe that my solutions have properties that the products of my competitors don't. I believe that I can improve the lives of others, even if not in drastically new ways.
Now since I believe this it only makes sense that I want "unlimited" funds (i.e. there is no upper bound to the amount of money I would like for my business to have), so that I can grow a business that can reach as many people as possible and produce as many products as possible. I need money so that I can hire people, good people. I need money for everything that my business needs to do because without money I can't do it.
Yeah, of course it's a seriously debunked conspiracy.
It was merely a coincidence that, 5 days after a large number of files were copied from DNC computers, DNC employee Seth Rich winds up with a couple of bullets in his back, "and yet they never took anything".
That's the point -- the CIA, FBI, and NSA determined with "high confidence" [0] that Russia worked to influence us through (among other outlets) the media -- especially social media. It worked, and because of it our votes weren't free.
> Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence operations—such as cyber activity—with overt efforts by Russian Government agencies, state-funded media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social media users or “trolls.”
