peter@ficc.ferranti.com (peter da silva) (07/02/90)
John Galt is a sort of Buckminster Fuller on cocaine: an eccentric engineer who mixes philosophy and engineering in equal doses ... but instead of a sort of proto new-age without the flakiness, Galt's philosophy is a aggressive mix of social darwinism and sociobiology. Oh yes, he's also only a character in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", a political statement thinly disguised as fiction.
erik@naggum.uu.no (Erik Naggum) (07/04/90)
In TELECOM Digest V10 #465, peter da silva <peter@ficc.ferranti.com>, writes: > John Galt is a sort of Buckminster Fuller on cocaine: an eccentric > engineer who mixes philosophy and engineering in equal doses ... but > instead of a sort of proto new-age without the flakiness, Galt's > philosophy is a aggressive mix of social darwinism and sociobiology. To be fair, the philosophy has a polarizing effect on people. Some hate it, some love it. Those who have seen it, seldom choose anything in between. The above description is typical of the way people will describe it. Keep the intensity and change the attitude, and you have the other camp. > Oh yes, he's also only a character in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", a > political statement thinly disguised as fiction. Atlas Shrugged was first published in 1957, and still sells briskly. Many people enjoy it for its fictional qualities. A huge number of people have heard about it, but only second-hand like the above from Peter, or second-hand from someone who loves it, but that usually results in reading it. Beware of the followers. There is a strong religious element in the "official" following, almost cult-like. There are also reasonable people who hold this philosophy, but they're much less likely to be missionaries. There are also some professional philosophers working with it. [Erik Naggum] [Moderator's Note: I'd like you to know that in 1957, when I was a second year student in high school, our debate class invited Ayn Rand to speak at a school assembly about her new book, and she accepted our invitation. Atlas Shrugged had just gone into print, and she was on the circuit promoting it. I introduced her, and afterward, our debate teacher Arthur Erickson and I took her to dinner before taking her back to the airport. I remember to this day sitting in the restaurant across from her, with her long cigarette holder as she seemed to stare straight through me. I smoked cigarettes also, since it was glamorous, and a sign of sophistication. Arthur praised me as the teacher's (his) pet, and Ms. Rand said, "You are such a smart young man! You are too smart to believe in Gott ..." She autographed my copy of her books (I also had a copy of The Fountainhead with me). PT]
John_David_Galt@uunet.uu.net (07/08/90)
You guessed right about where I got the name, but I am a real person and am not quite the same as either Rand's character or da Silva's description. I invite philosophical discussions under alt.individualism -- this is not the place for them. For the record, John David Galt is my real name, which I took in 1981.