Rational Self-Interest
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sanctus@lemmy.worldreplied to yellow_matter_custard@sh.itjust.works last edited by
Too bad people began go worship her instead
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dagwood222@lemm.eereplied to yellow_matter_custard@sh.itjust.works last edited by
Ayn Rand didn’t stop smoking after she’d been warned about the risks.
Because her books weren’t selling, she ended up on welfare.
To her admirers she is a model of the power of intellect and the glory of self reliance and independence
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"The only moral use of [thing I disapprove of] is my use of [thing I disapprove of]."
A quote that may have originally been about abortion, but applies to most things that serial disapprovers disapprove of.
See also: "Do as I say, not as I do." or as it usually is these days: "Do as I say. I am also doing as I say and if think you see me doing otherwise, no you didn't."
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Arthur Bessereplied to yellow_matter_custard@sh.itjust.works last edited by
source: existentialcomics.com/comic/364 (it has mouseover text too…)
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WatDabneyreplied to yellow_matter_custard@sh.itjust.works last edited by
I'm still waiting for a critique of rational self-interest that doesn't fail right out of the gate by stipulating an irrational position or decision.
This one wasn't even vaguely close.
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Lady in red is presenting an extremely common series of steps that companies take for the owner/investor self interest in profit.
How is it critiquing an irrational position?
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Do unto others as you want done unto you. Basically all of game theory. The threat of a guillotine. These are all extremely basic and rational arguments that merely ask you not to be a dickhead.
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All of Ayn Rand’s own examples of rational self interest were irrational and against her interests. It’s such an easy philosophy to mock because it’s just really stupid. True rational self interest would involve creating cooperative structures that give a safety net if anything goes wrong just like how it’s rational to get home insurance even if you don’t expect to burn your house down. Anyone drawing Randian conclusions can’t have thought of rational self interest.
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majorhavoc@programming.devreplied to AnyOldName3 last edited by
True rational self interest would involve creating cooperative structures that give a safety net if anything goes wrong just like how it’s rational to get home insurance even if you don’t expect to burn your house down.
This is the part that drives me nuts. Plenty of today’s decision makers only survive later thanks to social nets. But they’re so sure that they won’t be, they’re willing to cut back social benefits to make a quick buck.
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She’s not worth spending time on. Any rational person would understand that.
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I genuinely hate to disagree but taking social security when you need it is acting in your natural self interest. It’s not hypocritical. Ironic yes but not “do as I say not as I do”. Also doesn’t make it a good philosophy to govern by
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I will never get tired of linking to this: The Only Moral Abortion Is My Abortion
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That series of steps, common or not, is bludgeoningly irrational, and for multiple reasons.
In fact, the introductory part of the comic, showing her rejecting the entirely rational option of working half as long to produce the same amount clearly communicates the point that it's irrational, as does the last frame, illustrating the consequences of her self-evidently irrational choice.
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happycampernz@lemmy.worldreplied to avincentinspace@pawb.social last edited by
Can I be tired of how relevant it still is?
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All of Ayn Rand's own examples of rational self interest were irrational and against her interests.
Yes, they were. She was a shallow, ego-driven, willfully ignorant egotist.
But that has nothing really to do with rational self-interest as an idea.
It's such an easy philosophy to mock because it's just really stupid.
Except that it's not.
What's stupid is the plainly irrational choices that are made and ascribed to "rational" self-interest.
True rational self interest would involve creating cooperative structures that give a safety net if anything goes wrong.
Exactly.
So the simple fact of the matter is that when someone argues against those safety nets, they aren't actually arguing from a position of rational self-interest.
The philosophy hasn't failed - they have.
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avincentinspace@pawb.socialreplied to WatDabney last edited by
She is, however, acting in her own rational self-interest by keeping all the value of the new machine for herself and not passing it on to her workers. If she were acting in the group’s rational self-interest, she would allow them to work half as long. Since she is acting in her own rational self-interest, she threatens to fire her workers if they do not work the same hours as before and pass the value on to her.
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It is rational self interest, not rational group interest. Hence why she doesn’t act in a way that would benefit others, because they can now do twice the output in the same amount of time because of the machine!
‘Rational self interest’ is just being selfish.
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WatDabneyreplied to shiggles@sh.itjust.works last edited by
Or more pointedly, they are all things that illustrate ways in which it's in your rational self-interest to not be a dickhead.
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mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksreplied to WatDabney last edited by
Yes, they were. She was a shallow, ego-driven, willfully ignorant egotist.
While I agree that she’s had an overall negatice effect on society, I wonder if her world view more came from trauma of living in the Soviet Union and (falsely) assuming that the exact opposite had to be good