Dr Andrew Bernstein speaks on UNC Campus (cont.)

In a previous post I featured the first video from the Q & A session from Dr Andrew Bernstein's lecture, "Religion vs Morality" on Dec. 2, on the UNC Chapel Hill campus.
Featured here are videos 2, 3 and 4 from the Q & A session. Dr Bernstein's responses to each of the questions are brilliant.
One of the questions posed is from Dr Richard Salsman: To what extent is religion based on a fear of death? And if so, then what is the rational response to that?
Dr Bernstein finished the Q & A session memorably with the Bernstein wager in the final three minutes or so of Part 4.

Dr Andrew Bernstein, UNC, Dec. 2 Q & A Part 2


Dr Andrew Bernstein, UNC, Dec. 2 Q & A Part 3


Dr Andrew Bernstein, UNC, Dec. 2 Q & A Part 4


Enjoy!

CO2 Education: Watch Excellent Short Videos

I received an important email this morning alerting me to an excellent website with a treasure of important videos on the science and politics behind CO2. Here is the important information contained in the email:

Dear Friends:
As representatives of the nations of the world meet in Copenhagen to attempt to restrict the use of energy produced from coal, gas and oil in the guise of fighting global warming, many scientists and scholars are expressing grave concerns about what they are trying to do. Recognizing these concerns, we have posted a series of YouTube video vignettes in which such scientists and scholars present the reasons behind them.
We invite you to view the videos and do all you can to inform the public about their presence. Each of the videos can be accessed from the CO2 Science Website; from the CO2Science YouTube channel; and other locations across the Internet, such as http://speakoutforamerica.com/. A categorized-list of the videos we have posted is presented below.
Wise decisions are made only when all pertinent aspects of an issue are examined. It is our sincere hope that the information presented in these videos will elucidate important truths that are presently ignored.
With kind regards,
Craig Idso, Ph.D.
Chairman
Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change

A quick click on the link to the above CO2 Science Website will take you to the categorized list of videos that Dr Idso mentions above. I did not post the entire list here to economize on space.

I will be viewing the videos over the course of the next few days. The few that I did view all had excellent content. I made a beeline for the section that was of the most interest to me - morality. I perhaps wanted to judge the underlying fundamental ethical and philosophical premises of the videos and the website, before I decided to delve any further, and not set myself up for disappointment later. I did not expect the videos to espouse Objectivist ethics -and the understanding of what morality means is confused here, but I will take general benevolence towards one's fellow beings that comes from a rational man and life loving, sense of life.

I feature here Dr Robert Lindzen, scientist and professor at MIT, on one of the three videos from the Morality section, all three of which I found to be excellent. Check out the website and find out for yourself.

CO2 Regulation: The Essence of Immorality: Climate alarmists turn morality on its head by coming down on the wrong side of truth.

Dr Andrew Bernstein speaks on UNC Campus

On the evening of December 2, last week, I took the 45 minute drive to the UNC Chapel Hill campus in pouring, blinding rain. Dr Andrew Bernstein's lecture on "Religion versus Morality" was well worth venturing out in that nasty weather. The friend I dragged along, who had never heard an Objectivist speaker before, hopefully thinks it was worthwhile as well, and of course I got her introduced to the only rational philosophy for living on earth!
I had the honor of giving Dr Bernstein a ride back to his hotel after the lecture. In the conversation (that incidentally covered "biblical rains"{it was literally pouring that hard!}), Dr Bernstein said that he was visiting two local public schools and talking to high school kids there. If I had known earlier I might have tried to get permission to attend one of those events to see first hand the bright, curious, interested, eyes & faces of local high school kids hungry for ideas!

The campus Objectivist club organizer was kind enough to get me permission from ARI to upload the videos online. So far I have attempted to only upload the Q & A session at the end of the talk, divided in four videos to comply with youtube requirements.
I am posting Part 1 today that has two questions from the audience. I have transcribed the question as summarized by Dr Bernstein and highlighted what I thought to be illuminating from Dr Bernstein's reply. Any errors in transcription are strictly mine.

Q.1. Is the purpose of Objectivist ethics to increase the number of human beings and maximize their number?
Dr Bernstein: No, definitely not. The purpose of the Objectivist ethics is for any human being, alive at any given time, to maximize his fulfillment and happiness -is the ultimate goal.
Q.2. How does egoism reconcile with the fact that we live in a universe of finite resources?
Dr Bernstein: The ultimate resource is the human mind, operating in a capitalist system, operating on the conditions of individual rights, political and economic freedom.

Dr Andrew Bernstein, UNC, Dec. 2 Q & A Part 1

Summer Internship Opportunity at Ayn Rand Institute

Voices For Reason posted the following important announcement yesterday. This is an excellent opportunity for students to study and learn about Ayn Rand's works and her philosophical system of Objectivism while working at this paid internship position in Irvine, California. I highly recommned interested and serious students to pursue this incredible opportunity. There are several other informative links in the posting for students to take advantage of other opportunities to get familiar with Ayn Rand's ideas.

2010 Summer Internship Program at ARI
December 4, 2009 by Debi Ghate
Here’s an item of potential interest for college students who’d like to study Ayn Rand’s corpus and philosophical system. The Ayn Rand Institute is accepting applications for its 2010 Summer Internship Program. The program runs in June and July 2010 in Irvine, CA. This is a paid internship for bright students planning on an intellectual career and who are interested in studying the philosophical foundations of liberty, among other topics. The internship is one among several programs for college students including essay contests, a comprehensive educational program in Objectivism, and campus club support.

"Protection & Advocacy of Individual Rights"?!

I enjoy getting my hands on budgets and accounting books and pulling them apart to glean important and revealing information. This evening I went on the Department of Education (ED) website and was browsing the budget file for the State Tables by Program for the U.S. Department of Education compiled and posted by the Budget Service on November 5, 2009.

Most of us may not know that ED has a program titled "Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights" (check page 38 of the PDF file) which had a federal budget for the various states of $17.1 million in 2009 and has a similar amount allocated for 2010. The existence of such a program is like adding insult to injury -after denying any rights to an individual and taxing him to oblivion, the government chooses to spend this loot money on a program with a name such as that!

Readers will find other interesting and ironical (but not surprising) bits of information in this particular entitlement like the fact that California, the highest recipient in 2009-10 from the "Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights" program at 1.716 million, not surprisingly is the state that after taxing and chaining with regulations the individuals living there, is bankrupt and in the hole billions of dollars -obviously the program has not helped anyone in that state understand the moral and political concept of individual rights!

Lest anyone think this is a new program just started -no that is not the case and it has actually been around for several years at least. I next plan to figure out what the difference in the budget for the states and the President's budget is. If anyone has any knowledge please leave a comment.

A Rand Occasion

Front Page with Allen Barton at pjtv talks with Yaron Brook of The Ayn Rand Center and Terry Jones of Investors Business Daily about Thanksgiving as it might be seen from the perspectives of Ayn Rand, the Pilgrims, and today's consumers.

A Rand Occasion: On Thanksgiving & Black Friday, Be Thankful For the Producers is a power packed 12 minute video from PJTV, that is enlighterning and educating in the discussion of a) The meaning of thanksgiving, b) Should Selfishness be celebrated c)Black Friday.

As you become "consumers"(!) and shop till you drop this Black Friday,



I highly recommend that you spare a few minutes over this weekend to watch this video.

I have taken the liberty of copying a comment posted at PJTV, capturing quite well the message to take away from the discussion.

It's so refreshing to have reinforced the idea that consumer choice is a bounty and blessing we should enjoy and celebrate with participation, as our budgets allow. Is everything in the market place necessary and terrific? Gosh no, but having the choice to decide what is right for us is what the free market is all about.

The telling of the real story of the first Thanksgiving needs to be told and heard a bunch more-Bottom Line: capitalism saved them from their socialist ways and death. Proving the point that responsible selfishness is a positive force.(bold added)

Special Offer from The Objective Standard

Craig Biddle, the Editor of The Objectivist Standard is promoting the fabulous online offer below for the quarterly magazine.

Dear Subscribers and Friends of The Objective Standard,
Now through November 30, online-only subscriptions to TOS are 60% off the regular rate. An online subscription, which includes instant access to all current and past content, is only $19!
If you know anyone who might be interested in trying the journal, please let him know about this special offer. And if you’ve considered subscribing to TOS yourself but haven’t yet done so, this is a great time to subscribe.
You can subscribe online or by calling 800-423-6151.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Sincerely,
Craig Biddle, Editor
The Objective Standard
www.theobjectivestandard.com
Phone: 804-747-1776
Fax: 804-273-0500

The magazine is currently in its fourth glorious year of publication. Introducing the magazine in the Spring 2006, Premier issue, in an article titled Introducing The Objective Standard, editor Craig Biddle wrote:

It is widely believed today that our cultural and political alternatives are limited either to the ideas of the secular, relativistic left—or to those of the religious, absolutist right—or to some compromised mixture of the two. In other words, one’s ideas are supposedly either extremely liberal or extremely conservative or somewhere in-between. We at The Objective Standard reject this false alternative and embrace an entirely different view of the world.

I jumped on the offer right away and got a two year online subscription at that amazing price of $19 a year for four issues. I gathered that I better take advantage while it is still available. Even amazing in my calculation is the fact that it only cost me the price of a cup of my favorite Starbucks coffee once a quarter! The intellectual material that each issue that TOS comes packed with, will make my enjoyment of the coffee that much better!

Couple of other things that I would like to bring to readers attention. Firstly, there are several articles available for you to read for free on The Objective Standard website if you would like to peruse the type of articles you will be reading in every issue. Secondly for Amazon Kindle fans, you can now purchase and download copies of single issues on to your Kindle for even better access.

Glorious Heights

We humans look for real life heroes.

I depart from the focus of this blog to plug for an artist whose singing brings me great pleasure and her first album is releasing this coming Tuesday. The pre-order sales numbers are a well deserved, record breaking!

The most incredible, soul moving voice of Susan Boyle, the British singer who came to the attention of the world only recently, comes in the form of her first album "I Dreamed a Dream". The album has a total of 12 amazing songs and includes my favorites "Wild Horses" and "Cry Me A River". The CD can be pre-purchased to arrive on November 23, the day of the album's release from Amazon (click on link below)at a discounted price of only $9.99. It is a great addition to any music lover's collection.

Watch this most stunning video, if you haven't already from Britain's Got Talent. The video embedding feature has been disabled, perhaps because of the large number of hits -over 32 million and growing!

Here is the exquisite music sampler from amazon.com
Appreciate your purchasing from the link below and helping support this blog.

Events of Note At A Campus Near You

Following are some of the events with Objectivist speakers taking place this week (Nov. 16 - Nov. 19, 2009) at different campuses around the country that would be valuable for students to attend. All campus events are free and open to the public. No RSVP is required unless noted otherwise below.Spread the word to friends on the following campuses:

November 17, 2009
In Defense of Oil: Celebrating Oil's 150th Birthday
By Alex Epstein
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Mosse Humanities, Room 2650
7:00pm
Contact: Jim Allard, jeallard@mac.com

The Real Goal of the Climate Crusade
By Keith Lockitch
University of Texas, Austin
Mezes Hall, Room 1.306
6:00pm
Contact: Alan McKendree, utobjectivism@gmail.com

The Jihad Still Threatens America
A Panel Discussion with Elan Journo and Robert Spencer
New York University
Cantor Film Center
7:00pm
Contact: Ryan Puzycki, aynrand.nyu@gmail.com
Please RSVP for the NYU event through the event's official registration page.

November 18, 2009
In Defense of Oil: Celebrating Oil's 150th Birthday
By Alex Epstein
Carnegie Mellon University
Porter Hall (Building 2B), Room 100
7:00pm
Contact: Paul Kennedy, paul.kennedy124@gmail.com

The Real Goal of the Climate Crusade
By Keith Lockitch
University of Colorado, Denver
Tivoli Student Union, Room 250
6:30pm
Contact: Kirk Barbera, johngalt.ucd@gmail.com

November 19, 2009
In Defense of Oil: Celebrating Oil's 150th Birthday
By Alex Epstein
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Smith Hall, Room 100
7:30pm
Contact: Melanie Hoffman, aynrandstudygroup@gmail.com

The Morality of Capitalism
By Eric Daniels
University of Georgia, Athens
Zell B. Miller Learning Center (MLC), Room 171
7:00pm
Contact: McKinley Vitale, mckinleyav@gmail.com

Videos (Cont.): Dr John Lewis debates Dr Byrns on UNC Campus

These final two sections of video are questions from the student audience to the speakers Dr John Lewis and Dr Ralph Byrns at the debate, "Is It Moral for the Government to Intervene in Free Markets?", hosted by Carolina Review on the UNC Chapel Hill campus on November 4, 2009.

Part 7


Part 8

Videos (Cont.): Dr John Lewis debates Dr Byrns on UNC Campus

This section of video is the closing arguments from Dr John Lewis and Dr Ralph Byrns at the debate, "Is It Moral for the Government to Intervene in Free Markets?", hosted by Carolina Review on the UNC Chapel Hill campus on November 4, 2009.
Part 6

Videos Cont.: Dr John Lewis debates Dr Byrns on UNC Campus

The following three sections of video cover the questions asked by the Carolina Review panel of each of the speakers at the debate. The debate was held on the UNC Chapel Hill campus on November 4, 2009.


Video 3 Panel Questions


Video 4 Panel Questions (cont.)


Video 5 Panel Questions (cont.)

Myths: Behind the Govt. Jobs Numbers

Can the government "create jobs" in the economy? The question is quite apart from the jobs that are legitimate for a government to do to protect our individual life, liberty and property.

John Stossel, recently joined Fox Business Network, discusses with his hosts the premise of government creating or saving jobs with the stimulus funds. (Fox Business Network, 8 min.).

Video- "Policy Peril: Straight Talk About Global Warming"

In this 39 minute movie, Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis explains why we have more to fear from global warming policies than from global warming itself. The movie refutes a number of assertions made by Al Gore in "The Inconvenient Truth". While thousands of students all over the country were made to view Gore's movie, will students be viewing this and similar other movies, to give them another viewpoint and perspective? In the name of academic freedom and giving the opposite side a fair chance to present their case, that is the least one would expect, right?!

Parents do not wait for schools to do the job. The amount of nonsense the kids (and adults) are daily being barraged with from the religious zealots called environmentalists, it is important to inform and educate yourself and your kids, creating the intellectual armor of facts and evidence. In my opinion the push for CO2 emission controls will become a concentrated effort in the next month or so on the part of several special interest groups, using multiple means to assault reason. It is up to us to be well prepared for the battle of the mind.

The embed link from the website is not working, and I am contacting the website to find a solution to the problem. Meanwhile click on the movie name to take you to the site Policy Peril: Straight Talk About Global Warming

Video Part 1: Dr John Lewis debates Dr Byrns on UNC Campus

I have uploaded the first section of the debate. The very beginning of Dr Byrns presentation is missing and it starts a few minutes into his opening statements. Again the quality of the video is not the best.



I will continue to post the remaining four parts of the debate. I am currently encountering difficulties with upload time, and am working on figuring out if there is a more efficient method of uploading.

Video Part 2: Dr John Lewis debates Dr Byrns on UNC Campus

Dr John Lewis in this section (part 2) builds and presents his case for the morality of free markets and against government intervention in the markets. Dr Lewis was speaker at a debate on the topic of "Is it moral for the government to intervene in the free market?", hosted by Carolina Review, and held at the UNC, Chapel Hill campus on November 4, 2009. Dr Ralph Byrns, professor of economics at UNC Chapel Hill was the other speaker.

The audio & video quality of the taping is amateur (!), but the intellectual content is superlative.




The video was created on Flip Ultra HD Mini camcorder.

The Battle for Control Over Others

Rational Education Recommends:
ARC -TV features this compelling discussion on the The Battle for Climate Control.
Yaron Brook, President of ARI analyzes the motives behind measures proposed in the name of combating climate change. (Pajamas TV interview; 9 min.)

Upcoming Events of Interest at UNC Chapel Hill

If you live in the area or will be visiting on these dates, mark your calendars to attend these exciting events on the UNC, Chapel Hill campus.

Ask an Expert on Objectivism
Hosted by Carolina Objectivist Forum
When: Tuesday, Tuesday, November 3, 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Where: Bingham Hall, Room 306 - Chapel Hill
The Carolina Objectivist Forum is an organization dedicated to the continuing study of Objectivism, the philosophy developed by Ayn Rand. This organization will seek to provide for the students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill access to literature, activities, and information concerning the philosophy of Objectivism. It will serve as an information bureau and a center for educational activities, such as discussion groups, and guest speakers. The club meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m at Bingham Hall, room 306.
A Q&A session with special guests Dr.'s Harry Binswanger and Gregory Salmieri, experts on Ayn Rand's philosophy, Objectivism.
Harry Binswanger, a longtime associate of Ayn Rand, received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University. He taught philosophy at Hunter College (City University of New York) from 1972 to 1979, and at the University of Texas, Austin, Spring 2002.
During the 1980s, he was editor of The Objectivist Forum, a bimonthly journal devoted to Ayn Rand's philosophy. Since 1994, he has been professor of philosophy at the Objectivist Academic Center of the Ayn Rand Institute.
He is the author of The Biological Basis of Teleological Concepts and editor of The Ayn Rand Lexicon and of the second edition of Ayn Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology. A regular speaker at universities, he has given more than 70 talks at some 40 universities on a wide variety of topics in philosophy and politics. Dr. Binswanger is currently writing a book on the causal nature of consciousness.
Gregory Salmieri is a lecturer in the UNC philosophy department, where he holds a Fellowship in Objectivity and Values. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008.
His research focuses on ancient philosophy and on the role played by theories of concepts or universals in epistemology, philosophical methodology, and the foundations of ethics. Much of his current work addresses this nexus of issues as it arises in the works of Aristotle and (to a lesser extent) Plato. He is also interested in these same topics as they arise in the contemporary literature, in the work of Ayn Rand, and in the main lines of the history of philosophy.

Debate: 'Is Government Intervention in the Free Market Moral?'
This Wednesday, November 4, Dr John David Lewis will debate UNC Adjunct Professor of Economics Ralph Byrns on the question: "Is Government Intervention in the Free Market Moral?"
When: Wednesday, November 4, 7:00 PM
Where: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Murphy 116

Religion vs. Morality
Presented by philosopher, novelist Andrew Bernstein; http://andrewbernstein.net/
When: Wednesday, December 2, 2009,  7:00PM - 9:00PM
Where: Murphy Hall, 116
Conventionally, most people believe that morality can only be based in religious faith, that in a world without God no principles of right and wrong could exist. Related to this, philosophers have long held that no objective, fact-based, rational code of values is possible.
Regarding both points, this talk shows that the exact opposite is true. The purpose of morality is to guide human life on earth and religion is utterly incapable of it. Flourishing life requires a code of secularism, rationality, egoism and freedom. Religious faith clashes with every principle of a proper moral code, and, as such, has led, and can only lead to, hell on earth.

Separation of Education and State

A new website “PRINCIPLES OF A FREE SOCIETY” has been launched by the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.
The website states:

A free society requires a limited government that enacts and enforces objective laws for the sole purpose of protecting individual rights.

This, according to me, is the fundamental principle for a peaceful social co-existence among men.

If one were to follow, understand, apply and uphold this principle of individual rights with consistency to get an answer to what the role of the government should be in any given issue or policy matter, it would lead one to the formation of a free, just, peaceful, prosperous society based on rational principles of civilized society.

Based on a derivation from the fundamental principle of individual rights, the website further defines,

A free society is one where the government does not interfere (by penalty or reward) in thought, production or trade.

While most people have heard of separation of church and state achieved by western civilization as one of the great achievements that has enabled mankind’s progress to a more peaceful co-existence in society, few have grasped the underlying principle that is the exact same in a separation of science and state, economics and state and importantly to readers here to understand is the separation of education and state in every respect.

The Separation of Education and State section of the website has a lot of material –audio, video and writings –from Ayn Rand and several Obectivists, that can help you get familiar with the issues that need to be addressed in a free society pertaining to education.

Check out the website and avail the treasure trove of material to get yourself educated on the subject of education.

Exposing the SubText of Obama's Speech to Kids

I PROTEST

And WHY I chose to register my protest…

Dedicated To A Teacher

L.B. at 3 Ring Binder has written this beautiful poetry dedicated to Prof. John Lewis.

Dr John Lewis Speaks At The 4th of July Boston Tea Party

‘It Is Not Really About Science’

Parents Innoculate Yourself Intellectually First....

Many a times one has to make what seems to be the impossible effort of intellectually fighting that which seems so inconsequential and small in stature. But it is not this negative that one is fighting against but the protection and therefore the fighting for one's values. Such, then, is what is at stake in this posting.

The Story about Stuff, a 20 minute video by former Greeenpeace activist Annie Leonard, was recently brought to readers' attention with a cover page Monday morning story in New York Times by environment reporter Leslie Kaufman.

LB at 3-ring-binder (HT Gus Van Horn ) alerted parents to the content of the video in an excellent post:

If you have little kids in government school, or progressive private schools, perhaps you'll want to watch this 20 minute long video, Story of Stuff, on YouTube so you can prepare yourself for the onslaught of self-hatred and victimization your kids will come home feeling after they watch as part of their “education”..

She ended her post with:

My child’s education is not a social experiment for the apologists of modern technology. No one’s should be. Be on the lookout: the comprachicos are alive and may very well inhabit a grade school near you..

To which I say Amen!

The Rational Capitalist blogging about the same video wrote:

This film is purely evil in every sense of the word. It is predicated on a willful evasion of the most basic facts of reality and perhaps, more disturbingly, appears designed to appeal to young children who do not have the power to conceptually grasp the material presented, i.e., it is purposefully designed to scare children into adopting the environmentalist religion's anti-human, anti-freedom, anti-technology credo.

And further in the same post he writes:

A proper discussion of the ideas presented in this film would include advanced concepts and theories in the physical sciences, basic philosophy, ethics, politics, economics, finance, law, and history. To assume such a discussion is appropriate for young children presumes that the material can be inculcated at a pre-conceptual level, i.e., by emotion, which is exactly the purpose of the propaganda.

This above point hints at a very important point in the education of a child: the hierarchical nature of knowledge (which I hope to write about in future posts).
As I commented, it was hard for me to survive more than two minutes of the video. The video is available in several short clips for those like me, who would otherwise get massive bouts of indigestion and nausea! (thanks L.B. for ).

Howtheworldworks has created an excellent four-part series pointing numerous of the factual errors in the video. (If you were planning to invest your time, you may actually be better off just watching this four-part series instead of watching Story of Stuff, since the author of Howtheworldworks incorporates the entire original in his rebuttal - you thus get both sides in one viewing! )

Story of Stuff, Critique Part 1 of 4


Story of Stuff, Critique Part 2 of 4


Story of Stuff, Critique Part 3 of 4


Story of Stuff, Critique Part 4 of 4



Stay tuned for tommorrow's posting on a leading scientist separating the politics from the actual science in the so-called "climate change" movement.