Friday Links 07-11-02

From the Web

College is for Socializing – Ben does a great job summarizing my number one reason for going to college: meeting people. I’ve found the knowledge that can be acquired in University is decent, but fairly inefficient compared with reading books and practicing in the real world. But the opportunities to work on your networking skills are priceless.

Evolution = God? – The existence of something hinges entirely on how you define it. Here Eliezer proposes that evolution could be viewed as a deity of sorts. Unconscious? Yes. Often cruel? Definitely. But it is still a guiding force for the living world.

How to Find Your Dream Job – Brad has another great entry about getting the best work possible. The best point? Make sure you have 1 year’s worth of savings in the bank at all times. It may seem extreme, but it also affords you the freedom not to live paycheck by paycheck. This is something I need to get started on myself.

From the Archives

The Power of Humility – Do I change my opinions? Frequently. Here’s an example where I’ve gone back and forth. Let me state my current opinion for the record: Humble confidence is the goal. Where you are secure and unafraid to take action, but you are completely open and humble to the potential for opportunity and being wrong. I feel the latter is too easily neglected.

From the Shelf

The Fountainhead – It took 4 weeks, but I finally finished this length and important book. Here are several key philosophical points I agree with wholeheartedly:

• You lead your own life. Reasoning can only be done by you, don’t let others make opinions for you.
• Purpose is found in creation. Not in money, prestige or (directly) serving others.
• The world isn’t zero-sum. Greatness in one person shouldn’t diminish the lives of others.

But there were many points I felt where Rand’s theories fail to match the world. I don’t believe a purely capitalistic system is the ideal state for a society. While it affords great opportunities, it often ignores important but not immediate issues (such as an environmental crisis) and can lead to large corporations becoming as powerful as small governments.

If people want to know my political beliefs I’d have to say I believe all extreme theories are flawed. Communism, socialism and capitalism (if taken to the extreme) are good in theory but fail to work as predicted in the real world. I think the world would be better off if there were less theories and politics/economics was based more on empirical evidence.