Truth, Justice, and the American Way

There is an excellent three-hour interview with technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil available on C-SPAN. Watch now.

This rare three-hour long interview allowed him to discuss his ideas in depth and take calls from the public. The show profiles his many inventions (starting with a videotape of his 1965 appearance at age 17 on “I’ve Got A Secret” with Steve Allen).

It also covers his career, ideas, and recent books, “The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology” and “Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough To Live Forever.”

From the Daily Mail: a photo of North and South Korea with commentary from Donald Rumsfeld.

“It says it all. There’s the south, the same people as the north, the same resources north and south, and the big difference is in the south it’s a free political system and a free economic system.

“The people in the north are starving, their growth is stunted. It’s a shame, a tragedy.”

An aide added: “This oppressive regime is too busy trying to make war to make life comfortable for its people.”

Some people have asked me about the city in my blog’s header. It’s Hong Kong. I didn’t pick the image at random – the shining skyline represents one of the newly-created engines driving the world forward. My inner optimist wonders about the progress that economic freedom can bring, while my pessimist wonders at how far New York City has sunk in the mire of statism to lose that honor to Communist China. The trends are not evident to everyone yet – but will it be as clear as North and South Korea in 20 or 30 years?

Edit: there is a discussion on this post here.

The Objectivist Club Association (OCA), a new organization dedicated to assisting Objectivist campus and community clubs, has launched a new forum – forums.objectivistclubs.org – for all those involved in a club or interested in founding one.

Discussions about recruitment and advertising stategies, speaking events, club meetings, and other sundry club-related topics are already ongoing, and you’re welcome to start new threads of your own.

By registering for free, you can ask questions of fellow club leaders, share your experiences, discuss possibilities for collaboration, suggest services and materials you’d like the OCA to provide, and participate in a dialogue with other Objectivists who take ideas and cultural change as seriously as you do.

To learn more about the OCA, you can visit the main website at http://www.ObjectivistClubs.org.

Hope to see you on the forum soon!

Regards,

—OCA Staff

The first page of A Short History of the World by H.G. Wells, published in 1922:

Over a large part of the civilized world it was believed and taught that the world had been created suddenly in 4004 B.C., though authorities differed as to whether this had occurred in the spring or autumn of that year. This fantastically precise misconception was based upon a too literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, and upon rather arbitrary theological assumptions connected therewith. Such ideas have long since been abandoned by religious teachers, and it is universally recognized that the universe in which we live has to all appearances existed for an enormous period of time and possibly for endless time. Of course there may be deception in these appearances, as a room may be made to seem endless by putting mirrors facing each other at either end. But that the universe in which we live has existed only for six or seven thousand years may be regarded as an altogether exploded idea.

In 1922, such a preface to the age of the universe was probably necessary. What I wonder is how many American history books, especially history textbooks would make the radical claim that a “literal interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, and … rather arbitrary theological assumptions connected therewith [have] long since been abandoned by religious teachers”? Is world history even part of the required curriculum today? I took a single (very badly-abbreviated) course in high school, and not a single world history course during college in the process of getting a political science degree. (!!!) Is world history too politicized to be even be taught in public primary and secondary school anymore?
For an updated no-nonsense course on world history, I recommend J.M. Robert’s The New History of the World. I’ve also heard good things about A First History for Adults.