Friday, November 12, 2010

NoodleFood

NoodleFood

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Reminder: Rationally Selfish Webcast

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 05:16 PM PST

Come join my next "Rationally Selfish" webcast! It's on Sunday morning at 8 am PT / 9 am MT / 10 am CT / 11 am ET. You can watch the webcast and join in the chat below.

The questions were set on Google Moderator. They are, so far:
  • "What is the proper etiquette in regards to dealing with a deeply irrational person you have to deal with temporarily? Especially when his irrationality interferes with your value pursuits to some extent."
  • "My father and his side of the family are very religious while I am not. Is it moral for me to jeopardize my relationship with them to share the countless fallacies and inhumanities that is religion? If so, how does one go about this process?"
  • "What are your thoughts on using philosophy rather than psychology for therapy?"
  • "If you were physically abused as a child, but have grown up and "gotten over it," is it still reasonable to demand justice if only in the form of refusing to deal with the abuser?"
  • "Under what circumstances is it reasonable for a teacher to demand from his prospective students that his lessons be kept confidential?"
  • "A topic that has come up off and on over the past several months in the Objectivist blogosphere is the concept of "Value Density". Can you suggest how one would go about applying this concept to a specific event or area of life, such as a vacation?"
You have until noon on Saturday to submit and vote on questions.

Once the webcast is done, I'll post to NoodleCast as a podcast on Monday. You can find past episodes on Rationally Selfish. Also, please submit questions for next week! You can do that here: Google Moderator.

Last Last Chance: Pledge for a Webcast on Intellectual Property by Adam Mossoff

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 11:03 AM PST

The pledging for Adam Mossoff's webcast on intellectual property closes in 48 hours -- on Sunday, November 14th at 2 pm ET.

Once again, here's the basic information:

The webcast will be held -- and recorded -- on Monday, November 15th at 8 pm ET. It will be between 60 and 90 minutes. Those not attending live will be able to view it on Tuesday.

Everyone who pledges, whatever the amount, will be able to watch a video recording of the webcast. Otherwise, any pledge amount is welcome! However, if you pledge more than $40, you can attend the live event and participate in the chat. Our space for the live event is limited. But if you don't attend live, you'll be able to watch the video recording of the event starting on Tuesday. (You're also welcome to watch it again and again, even if you do attend live.)

Just remember, you must pledge by this Sunday, November 14th at 2 pm ET. You can do so with this form.



If you have any problems with that embedded form, try this one. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to post them in the comments.

Here's Professor Mossoff's proposal for this webcast:
Ayn Rand was the first to recognize that all property is at root intellectual property. The law and history support Rand's view that all property rights, whether in land, factories, consumer goods, securities, or inventions and books, are made possible by innovators who first conceived of these new values. Professor Mossoff will give a brief overview of the evidence supporting Rand's view and answer questions about the theory, history, and law of intellectual property.
You can find more on Professor Mossoff on his GMU faculty web page, and you can download many of his papers from his SSRN page.

A Note on Recent NoodleFood Comments

Posted: 12 Nov 2010 09:18 AM PST

I've been completely overwhelmed with the volume of comments on the posts on Dr. Peikoff's and ARI's statement over the past two days. I've deleted plenty of offensive and rude comments, but I'm sure that I've missed others. I was from home most of the day yesterday, and utterly exhausted when I got home. But to be honest, I'm sure that I've let some slide that I should not have due to my own frustrations. That's wrong, and I regret that.

So... if ever you see a comment that you regard as out-of-bounds, please hit the "flag" link at the bottom of the message. Then I'll review it as soon as I can. Please understand that I'm not at my computer 24/7, so that process might take a few hours.

To be clear, my general policy is that anyone is welcome to express their disagreement with or disapproval of Dr. Peikoff, Dr. McCaskey, Dr. Brook, the Drs. Hsieh, ARI, Craig Biddle, or The Man in the Moon. They're welcome to agree and praise too. Those judgments should be based on fact, not fiction. They should be explained, not merely asserted. They should be sober and respectful, not insulting.

At this point, however, I'd like to offer a stronger suggestion than basic civility and fairness. You should chill out for a few days, so as to give these matters some serious thought. That's what Paul and I are doing. If I can figure out how to shut down these comments for the next few days, I'll do that. (If I can't do that by technical means, I might do it by fiat.) Frankly, I need the break, as I feel like I've got 50 people talking to me at once.

Emotions are running high, and it's too easy to get caught up in them. That's not helpful to anyone. So I recommend that you take a few days -- alone with your own thoughts, and perhaps in serious conversation with someone you respect and trust -- to process what has been said in these two statements. In thinking about the mistakes that others made, you might also think about whether you might have acted better too, given what you knew at the time. Again, that's something that Paul and I are doing.

With these two statements, we have a new level of clarity about what has happened and what ARI's policies are. Let's not squander that opportunity to seriously think about these matters in a fresh light.

Update: For now, I've closed the comments on all of these posts, including this one. Now... how about that mosque in New York City? ;-)

Objectivist Roundup

Posted: 11 Nov 2010 09:39 PM PST
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