Two Articles

There is a reason why I haven’t blogged much lately. My mind is occupied with some troubling personal issues beyond my control, which is more frustrating than the actual problem itself. In any case, since there isn’t anything I can do about it, I might as well function normally as best as I can.

For now, I’d like to draw your attention to two articles on the Web. The first is my own article published on the The Atlasphere–an online magazine for Ayn Rand enthusiasts. The article is a slightly edited version of my post on free markets in a cultural context. After you read the article, you can also rate it to your liking. So far, my article enjoys a reasonably high rating.

The second article is by Harriet Rubin published in the New York Times on Ayn Rand’s widespread influence in corporate America.

[John P. Stack] created an “open book” company in which employees were transparently working in their own interest.

Mr. Stack says that he assigned every job a bottom line value and that every salary, including his own, was posted on a company ticker daily. Workplaces, he said, are notoriously undemocratic, emotionally charged and political.

Mr. Stack says his free market replaced all that with rational behavior. A machinist knew exactly what his working hour contributed to the bottom line, and therefore the cost of slacking off. This, Mr. Stack said, was a manifestation of the philosophy of objectivism in “Atlas”: people guided by reason and self-interest.

The important fact to note from the article is the very real and practical influence of philosophy in everyone’s life. Corporations and the people who lead them have great impact on the employees, stakeholders, traders, vendors, politicians, and the culture in general; the imperative need for a rational philosophy guiding these businessmen and women is to ensure that the impact they create is a positive and desirable one.

[Happy update: The “troubling personal issue” that I referred to in my post while writing this about two hours ago has now been resolved! 🙂 I just learned of it a few minutes ago. I am immensely relieved.]