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> just to appease the Ayn Rand acolytes? huh? You had me up until this point.

• smt88 11y ago
  S/he means people who believe that society and individuals are better off serving themselves without any concern for the well-being of others. If this experiment, of giving up a bunch of profit (and his own pay), were to succeed and make the company more profitable, it would undermine the idea that selfishness is the best way to serve yourself. See also: enlightened self-interest[1]. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightened_self-interest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightened_self-interest
  • deelowe 11y ago
    I'm familiar with libertarianism and Rand's books. The OP's ad homonym is extremely out of place in this thread. That was my point.
• WorldMaker 11y ago
  Possibly more confusing, but have you played BioShock? It's kind of an Objectivism Pitfalls for Dummies. Ayn Rand founded/advocated a strong, determined branch of Libertarianism called Objectivism. In an over-generalizing nutshell, it's a philosophy, often economic, of individual freedoms over community needs (a strong negative over-reaction to bad socialism).
  • Plough_Jogger 11y ago
    Though this isn't the proper forum for this discussion, Ayn Rand wouldn't have objected to the CEO choosing to pay his employees an above-market wage.
    • WorldMaker 11y ago
      Good point, and one that is lost in a lot of modern political discourse. I once had some very cool discussions with a (very) early fan of Objectivism, when it was more a religion than a economic philosophy, and his perspective on what the modern Libertarian Thinktanks have done to co-opt Objectivism was fascinating. Unfortunately for him, although the economics adherents have lost a lot of the nuance of the original Rand vision in addition to the stronger religious views, they certainly haven't fallen that far from the tree and have kept the religious sort of fervent devotion to their version of its ideals.
      • soperj 11y ago
        You could say the same about a lot of the Marxist adherents.
  • tunesmith 11y ago
    Objectivists argue about what branch of normative ethics it is. I like to see it as a branch of Consequentialism, like a cousin of Utilitarianism, except where the utility function is not what outcome is best for the greater good, but what outcome is best for the self. They tend to believe that what is best for the self is by definition best for everyone. Debates usually get hung up on Tragedy of the Commons, and whether it actually exists as a meaningful concept or whether it can always be solved via private property ownership.
  • jldugger 11y ago
    Bioshock isn't really a critique of Objectivism. Part of Ayn Rand's philosophy as demonstrated in her books is that charity and philanthropy are used as PR stunts to cover up some nefarious deeds, like Bernie Madoff donating millions of other people's money to charity. The first half of the game sets up the Founder Capitalist Figure as villan, and the second half portrays him as victim to a Bootlegger/Baptist Figure. I haven't read her stuff, but I seem to recall this plot being closer to a re-enactment, based second hand descriptions of the books. The later games do a somewhat better job though. In that light, he is absolutely buying the loyalty of his employees, and being a private company, we really have no idea how sustainable the system really is. Worse, these things are path dependent. Getting a raise from 28k->32k will feel a lot different than going from 28k->70k->32k, even though the end state is the same. This is the sort of thing that can wreck companies.
    • Joof 11y ago
      I wonder if such a jump is actually bad for people. Many would allow lifestyle bloat and have difficulty going back down to market value when they transfer jobs.