From: "stan pikul" <stan.pikul@canrem.com>
Subject: mindwalking buddhists, oh
Reply-To: "stan pikul" <stan.pikul@canrem.com>
Organization: Canada Remote Systems
Distribution: sci
Date: 1 Jan 93 00:32:53 EST

pmsc13sg@umassd.edu


In article <BZqu40.9FK@umassd.edu>, pmsc13.sg@Umassd.edu (Stephen
Grossman) writes:
------------>8 snip 8<-------------
->   The refusal to connect mind (ie, reason) to reality results in MTV,
-> game
-> shows, Madonna, drug addiction, hangovers, and Nehru jackets. Another
-> result is Buddhism or any mysticism. I do note, however, that
-> sticking your finger in- to an electric outlet might mystically
-> connect one to all the electrons in the Universe.

        Gee, and everybody I talk to wrt Objectivism complains that
Objectivists lack a sense of humor! I've _got_ to remember this one...

        Just out of morbid curiosity, what's a Nehru jacket? Is this
some horror of the 60's (before my time), or am I that far out of tuch
with eMpTV culture?

        On a somewhat more serious note, is there anybody out there in
the philisophical (or any other) "community" who actually takes Ayn &
co. seriously?  I've been looking...and looking...and looking... for
good pooks on philosophy, economics, history, etc. that don't have a
highly existentialist/postmodern/PC bent to them.  Do you have any
suggestions in this regards? (Besides Ayn, of course...)

---------->8 snip 8<-----------
-> privilege! Mysticism will yield certain results but the knowledge to
-> provide food, shelter, clothing, political rights, and self-esteem
-> will not be among them. See the history of India. Western physics may
-> not permit transcendental masterbation but you can build machines to
-> lighten our daily load and extend our health and longevity.
-------->8 snip 8<----------

        Too true.  Nobody in sci.philosophy.meta, a place where one
would expect some token degree of respect for rational philosophy, seems
to accept this.  For real belly laughs, I could insert bits of a post
from rec.martial.arts, in which some computer consultant/martial artiste
complains that Evyl Western Science does not provide prepackaged
answers to his questions about Life, nor does it have any personal
relevance to him, even as he blurts this out on a computer terminal...


-------->8 snip 8<-----------
->   Western philosophy has dis-integrated into postmodernism and so
-> many seek
-> wholeness in a teeny, tiny part of their consciousness of existence.
-> They are ready for drugs, disco, Democrats, and THE DEVIL. (Once
-> again, I'm sorry)

        Look! An alliterative pun!  And people say the alliterative pun
is a dying form of humor...
8)
        Has any Objectivist written a concise essay on what
postmodernism is about?  Do the postmodernists know what postmodernism
is about?

        I remember being in introductory microeconomics last term, and
listening to the "artsies" talk postmodernist jargon, but even amongst
*themselves* they couldn't agree *what* postmodernism was, let alone
convince the comp. sci. students (like me :) ) and the engineering
students why we should listen to them and take them seriously.
(By the way, the top 10% of the class was solidly sewn up by the comp.
sci. and electrical engineering students--there were NO comp. sci. or e.
eng. students in the "bottom" 90% ;), nor were there any "artsies" or
management students (!!) in the top 10%.  Seems that we "ignorant
rationalist" types were the only ones who have ever *seen* a graph
before, and could figure out that the funny squiggles on the blackboard
had some kind of "real" meaning...)

->   Try Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism before permanently
-> surrendering
-> your mind to the harsh joys of mysticism and bathing in the Ganges.
->
-> =============================================================================== > "In that world, you'll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit
 > "In that world, you'll be able to rise in the morning with the spirit
-> you had known in your childhood: that spirit of eagerness, adventure
-> and cer- tainty which comes from dealing with a rational universe."
->                                                             AYN RAND
-> ============================================================================= =-> Stephen Grossman <PMSC13SG@UMASS.EDU>
-> Stephen Grossman <PMSC13SG@UMASS.EDU>
-> ===============================================================================Amen to that.
Amen to that.
Jeffrey Pikul (ACPS7204@RyeVm.Ryerson.ca)
Posting from my father's CRS account, as the Ryerson mainframe is shut
down for the holidays. :(

P. S. Do you know anything about a publication called the _Intellectual
Activist_?
--
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