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Its a little too early to write the history books because it all depends on how it plays out. Its not possible to say Trump's election is a turning point yet (
by dmfdmf 10y ago
Its a little too early to write the history books because it all depends on how it plays out. Its not possible to say Trump's election is a turning point yet (despite all the angst on both the Left and Right) because we don't yet know how he'll govern or what he'll do. People forget, he ran as a Republican but was repudiated by the Right and he certainly isn't a Sanders-style Democrat but shares many of the same values of the centrist Democrats so change is in the wind, how much change depends on what happens next. Trump has single-handedly shaken both parties to the core. If this leads to a major change of one or both major parties then 20 years from now we can point to Trump as the instigator. If the two parties settle into superficial changes ("I feel your pain") to address the concerns of those who voted for him then his presidency will just be a blip on the road to the future and not a turning point.
Now on to your explicit question; By far and away the most significant turning point in our lifetimes is (last century) Ayn Rand's validation of reason by solving the problem of universals in her theory of concepts. I don't expect anyone here reading this to understand or appreciate this but it is an epic, world-changing achievement and, like Aristotle, she will be discussed in the history books 1000's years from now. She is a turning point in the history of man.
- hga 10y agobut was repudiated by the Right So he was elected by Leftists? I think it's more he was repudiated by the GOPe(stablishment) and most of the Established Authorities (i.e. press) that claims to be of the "Right". We on the Alt Right beg to differ as to their being very much at all on the right.
- dmfdmf 10y agoThis is the problem with the Right/Left terminology but it is what we are stuck with, for now. But Trump's repudiation was wider than just the GOP establishment. All stripes of those who reside on that end of the political spectrum, i.e. GOP, conservative, neo-cons, religious-right, libertarian-right, "moderate" conservatives, etc. all distanced themselves from Trump and called him a buffoon. Until he won. Now they are all claiming "victory" for their brand and racing to join his team which reveals the truth; they just want political power and are no better than the power-lusting Clintons. Ultimately we will get communism or fascism and how or who are just historical details. Rand showed these are just different expressions of collectivist ethics which is driving politics. But ethics is not a primary -- it derives from epistemology, which is why validating reason last century was a major turning point in Western thought and the OP's question.
- kafkaesq 10y agoI don't expect anyone here reading this to understand or appreciate this but it is an epic, world-changing achievement and, like Aristotle, she will be discussed in the history books 1000's years from now. It's pretty safe to say that if no one on HN knows what the hell you're talking about (and not even WP mentions PoS and AR in association with each other), then no, it's not likely that this will be seen as "the most significant turning point" of our era, centuries from now.
- dmfdmf 10y ago> WP mentions PoS and AR Over my head, care to define your abbreviations? Thanks
- kafkaesq 10y agoWP = Wikipedia PoS = should be PoU = Problem of Universals AR = The Greatest Thinker Of Our Lifetime, And Indeed, One of The Greatest Thinkers In The History Of Man
- dmfdmf 10y ago> AR = The Greatest Thinker Of Our Lifetime, And Indeed, One of The Greatest Thinkers In The History Of Man Don't forget Aristotle! Everything we have now including science, technology, medicine, math, freedom and even Ayn Rand we owe to him for discovering the laws of deductive logic. But deductive logic was not validated till Rand identified the principle behind concept formation.