It’s tragic when people die prematurely from any cause, be it heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s, asthma, pneumonia, flu, or COVID-19. Now, illnesses and deaths from COVID-19 have special celebrity (with some justification, but not much—flu is just as deadly, and sometimes more so). The number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 undoubtedly is inflated by the…
Category: Objectivism
This section of my blog is for Objectivists and those interested in Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. You may repost and/or translate anything found here, provided you do so a) without editing the content in any way and b) link back to the original source.
Victims of the Virus—or of Sacrifice?
Young people are constantly told to go to college and study hard, and that they’ll get a good, high-paying job if they do. Someone owes these young people an apology. They are faced with the worst job market ever, competing with 33 million unemployed (and counting). All this from a virus that young people statistically…
Dr. Leonard Peikoff’s Courses and Lectures
When I studied Dr. Peikoff’s courses almost 40 years ago, I was thrilled by the knowledge and delighted with the clarity, certitude, and wit of his delivery. I had taken hundreds of courses during my life, but none that compared to his. It is through them that I became an Objectivist. They changed my life….
COVID-19: Stupidity, Incompetence, Dishonesty, Evasion
Let me start with three honest, competent, and smart experts—true experts. Dr. Peter Attia, a physician who specializes in the study of longevity, wrote on April 20, “The good news is that [COVID-19] doesn’t look nearly as catastrophic as it seemed in mid-March. . . . The numbers of new cases and new deaths seem…
The COVID-19 Catastrophe Is the Result of Monumental Mismanagement.
The first act of management is planning. No planning? There can be no management. Planning is thinking, identifying facts, and projecting courses of action. There was little credible, thoughtful planning for the management of COVID-19. Instead, we got reactiveness and political posturing, just as we did in the November elections. Above all, planning requires reliable,…
Richard Salsman’s (Ayn) Rand Camp
I was delighted to host Richard Salsman and his wife, Lisa, at my home last weekend. Richard is a professor of the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Department at Duke University. We had lovely meals together, and one evening we were joined by Alex Epstein. I’m happy to announce that Prometheus Foundation will be sponsoring an…
COVID-19 Symptoms
The attached table (from the Australian Government Department of Health) compares the symptoms of COVID-19 against those of the cold and the flu; it may be helpful to you. There are more differences between a cold and COVID-19 than there are between COVID-19 and the flu. The flu and COVID-19 share very similar symptoms and…
COVID-19: Damage, Destruction, Depression, and Disaster
No, I have not joined the mad media mob that is prophesying the end of the world. I am only evaluating the grossly irresponsible and irrational edicts of politicians such as Governor Newsom in California, President Trump, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer.. They are shutting down the motor of the world. Governments are causing untold…
COVID-19 Update: Keep Calm and Carry On
This message brought some comfort to the English during the height of World War II as England was being bombed by the Nazis every day and night. The Queen, hereby, is granting America the rights to use this message to help Americans deal with the virus. May it bring us, too, some small measure of comfort…
COVID-19 and Other Viruses
Information viruses—i.e., misinformation, false information, and incomplete information—are being spread far and wide. See, for instance, the Wall Street Journal article, Infodemic: When Unreliable Information Spreads Far and Wide by Ben Zimmer. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned of: “A massive ‘infodemic’, an overabundance of information—some accurate and some not—that makes it hard for people…