Common Misinterpretations of Ayn Rand's Writings
Or: what you always thought Ayn Rand has said, and guess what - she hasn't.
"Rand reasoned that it's illogical to do something that fulfills anything but one's immediate, material self-interest".
Wrong! It's amazing how many people think she said that, while what she and her protagonists believed is pretty much the opposite. I suspect that the thing that unites all people who assign this belief to Ayn Rand is: they never actually read her books. Some examples:
And that is a big problem, actually! It is interesting that Ayn Rand laughs at the communists for proposing a social mechanism that, in order to work, requires people to forego their best interests; but then she does nearly the same! Her own mechanism doesn't work for pretty much the same reasons -- very few real people are such extreme idealists about their work. And it just bothers me as a game theorist. In game theory, if you say "I have this cool mechanism, but it has the incentives wrong" we say "Your mechanism doesn't work". You can't say "Oh, or it will work, all we need is different people!" Unless you're joking, that is :-) But that's a topic for a different post.
[To be continued...]
"Rand reasoned that it's illogical to do something that fulfills anything but one's immediate, material self-interest".
Wrong! It's amazing how many people think she said that, while what she and her protagonists believed is pretty much the opposite. I suspect that the thing that unites all people who assign this belief to Ayn Rand is: they never actually read her books. Some examples:
- In "The Fountainhead" her protagonist, Howard Roark, an architect, is broke and looking for work, but refuses to build a lucrative mansion for one lady, because her stylistic preferences don't match his own. She offers him a lot of money for the job! He turns it down, preferring to work in a mine instead. Notice how he gives up not only the immediate material gain, but also the joy of doing his beloved art, and for what? For such a vague thing as artistic integrity - the ability to express himself through his art…
- In "Atlas Shrugged" Hank Rearden invents a new kind of metal. The government offers him a huge amount of money for his idea - more than he would be able to make of it on his own. He refuses, because he knows that the government plans to bury his idea (it doesn't matter here why they do it). So he prefers to lose money, in order to follow through with his invention!
And that is a big problem, actually! It is interesting that Ayn Rand laughs at the communists for proposing a social mechanism that, in order to work, requires people to forego their best interests; but then she does nearly the same! Her own mechanism doesn't work for pretty much the same reasons -- very few real people are such extreme idealists about their work. And it just bothers me as a game theorist. In game theory, if you say "I have this cool mechanism, but it has the incentives wrong" we say "Your mechanism doesn't work". You can't say "Oh, or it will work, all we need is different people!" Unless you're joking, that is :-) But that's a topic for a different post.
[To be continued...]