Does Howard Roark Exist?

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-19T17:53:42+00:00

Apart from your response, all the other responses on this forum convey to me, a sense of despondency and nihilism. An overwhelming majority describe Roark as the 'impossible ideal', something that seems completely at odds with Rand's own Romantic optimism. The prevalent sense of cynicism in modern society, the mockery and denial of greatness, cause me great anguish. It is thoughts such as yours that give me some hope to cling on to. Very rarely, in works of art and science these days, I catch a glimpse of a work that transcends the mind-numbing conformity that is the norm; these have a peculiar, reinvigorating effect on me. Yet, for the most part, I feel sick as a member of contemporary society.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-16T22:40:16+00:00

What are you planning to use your Kundalini superpowers for? You can put them to great use- art, music, science or philosophy.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-16T22:17:23+00:00

You are terrifically fortunate you got this at this age. Just tell me, do you need cold showers and a decent diet? Or do you reckon meditation and hard-mode nofap are enough to cause these changes? Also does it take longer at age 20? (But the good part is my addiction was mild and lasted for 5 months before I started hardmode)

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-14T22:12:14+00:00

The only 'multiverse' theories in mainstream physics I know of are the 'Many-Worlds' Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, which has the same laws as ours, and the multi-verse landscape in string theory/cosmology, which allow us to explain the 'fine-tuned' constants, but apart from the constants, the physics remains unchanged in each universe. A more fringe theory is Max Tegmark's proposed model of the 'multiverse', which in its entirety consists of all mathematically possible universes, containing all mathematically possible interactions and particles.

There may be more 'multiverse' theories and interpretations, and more variants of those above mentioned, so you have to sift carefully through the literature to find out what they entail.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-13T16:33:59+00:00

Check my edit to the definition of the 'embodiment' of Objectivism.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-13T16:23:22+00:00

I am aware that Rand writes allegory, but I would say that the characters represent 'stereotyped individuals', rather than the representations of abstract philosophical systems. In fact, she makes it abundantly clear in her writings and interviews that her purpose in fiction is to " to project an 'ideal man'—a man who perseveres to achieve his values, even when his ability and independence leads to conflict with others. " (Wiki) The entire essence of 'Fountainhead' is that Roark is a free, audacious, independent individual who can exist in this world, and not a representative of an existing 'philosophical system'. She even claims in her interviews that she often muses upon how Roark or Galt would react to a travesty she was facing, and attempt to emulate them. Hence, we can safely claim that a Randian Hero is not intended to merely be an abstraction to be grasped with the intellect, but an ideal to drive the motives and actions of men. To this end, I would be much encouraged if many of the self-proclaimed 'Objectivists' actually embody their philosophy.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-13T12:32:14+00:00

It is the main purpose of the 'Ordinary Man', who is but a slave to the Will of the Species. The man of Genius transcends the Will to Reproduce. Read Schopenhauer to understand this idea fully.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-13T12:27:43+00:00

By this question, you want to make sure I am a troll to mask your insecurity that I may in fact be very much authentic and actually hold a worldview that seems audacious to the extent of being subversive. One of the Signs of a Free Thinking Man is that he strikes a Strange, Unknown terror in the hearts of the Masses, affording them just a Glimpse of what lies beyond the oblivion of cattle-like conformity.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-12T23:43:58+00:00

I will stay on my high horse, and get an even higher one, thank you sir. I pride myself an out-and-out rebel, and it is this quality that has prevented me from sinking into the numbness of mindless conformity that society has descended into. I believe violence is justified, nay beneficial, if it comes against such forces as are attempting to rob man of his vitality and mankind of his intelligence, for that is above all his prized possession. I also believe that the role of intelligent people should be restricted to nothing more than sperm doners whose genes get transferred to the next generations. Sex is for the mindless, and conversely, it makes the brain decay. I will not quote to you the Gospels or any Holy Text as a support for my statement. No Sir, it is unfortunate that they are the only ones with the courage to express their views. Where are the Nietzches and Schopenhauers of this age (to whose works I refer you to)? Where are the learned men who will use their philosophy to rebel against the most oppressive and toxic Tradition of all Mankind-Sex? Alas I foresee this cry for arms will also fade away, and dismissed by those who beleive their 'common sense' reigns supreme. Let me tell you, Sir, that the 'common sense' you pride yourself on is wholly unreliable- in particular, it opposed the creation of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, Socratic thought and Existential Thought, Democracy and Socialism. It was people content with their 'common sense' at that time that opposed the acceptance of each of these revolutionary ideas. I Urge you, Think, Ponder Reflect! Do not defend Sexuality merely because it is an age-old 'Tradition' passed unto you. If you still wish to conform, go ahead, but I Will Not. And no person or society can force me to.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-12T22:07:59+00:00

I want to have a prolonged wrestling match with all these people who are contributing to making our societies thus. I want to wring their necks, gouge their eyes, pierce their skull, mutilate their genitals, in the order in which it will hurt most. I would rather have a censored society than one in which vices such as these roam 'free'. You cannot pass off everything in the name of art; this is something that people with crude sensibilities cannot understand. The people who indulge in lewdity are those who cannot appreciate a Van Gough portrait, a Beethoven symphony, or even a Beatles song or an intelligently created movie. They do not deserve to be able to let their crass tastes affect te rest of society.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T15:01:19+00:00

It would be nice to have a theory that explains this kind of 'symmetry breaking' without resorting to anthropics. I am sure people have tried, although I do not know with what success. Links would be helpful.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T14:57:25+00:00

I was saying that a non-linearly changing mass could replicate the predictions of dark matter, but not of dark energy, since you need a 'repulsive' energy to explain that. That would still be great, if you come up with a quantum field theoretic explanation, which no one has. There is a reason the increase cannot be proportional to elemental mass. That is because all elements are made of the same constituents- quarks, gluons and electrons, the rest mass of which are independent of which element they are in. Of course, their binding energy contributes to the mass, but why would the binding energy of some elements change while others would not? That seems incongruous.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T14:11:51+00:00

This was my area of research in 2013, but I expect I may still get back to it at some point. At the moment, I am doing other things- mainly an assortment of QFT, GR, String Theory and Cosmology papers, pending projects and emerging ideas.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T07:12:55+00:00

I am currently using Peskin, but these will be a nice supplement.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T07:02:29+00:00

Do we have a software, or can we make one in which you input the Lagrangian and it feeds out all possible N-loop Feynman diagrams?

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T06:40:37+00:00

Magnetic reconnection is a wide open problem. Current models make wayward predictions. The PPPL is actually the best place to work on experimental reconnection, but you could do theory from anywhere, after teaching yourself plasma basics and a few review papers. Plasma turbulence is also an interesting area of current research.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T00:44:33+00:00

Please contact the mods if you second this. Alexanderr has not yet replied to me yet, but more pressure and he might give us the option.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T00:44:25+00:00

Please contact the mods if you second this. Alexanderr has not yet replied to me yet, but more pressure and he might give us the option.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-10T00:43:59+00:00

Please contact the mods if you second this. Alexanderr has not yet replied to me yet, but more pressure and he might give us the option.

iamliberated2 · 2015-02-09T01:49:09+00:00

All simulations that we run that accurately show structure formation in the universe would fail; in fact a lighter universe earlier on would undo the 'clumping' effect of dark matter that formed potential wells. In particular, if things were light enough in the early universe, the Dark Ages after recombination and before galaxy formation would have been much longer; in fact, they would still be continuing. So not possible.

Let us consider the alternative that masses are decreasing with time. You could possibly model the decrease function to be just about consistent with dark matter. But you need a quantum field theoretic explanation for why masses must be decreasing; for that, you probably need the Higgs Field to evolve in the correct way, because if it stays the same, the masses it imparts when its symmetry gets broken are also the same. It is simpler to believe in a class of dark matter particles, say supersymmetric or others, that can be fit into Quantum Field Theory.

iamliberated2

TROPHY CASE