Atlas Shrugged at the status quo

Two years ago, I set a goal for myself to start reading quintessential literary works. I began the journey of reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in July 2008 (50th Anniversary Edition by Signet). Although I still have 300 pages to go, I came across a few quotes last night that seem to fit with the content of this course.

"Whether it's a symphony or a coal mine, all work is an act of creating and comes from the same source: from an inviolate capacity to see through one's own eyes - which means: the capacity to perform a rational identification - which means: the capacity to see, to connect and to make what has not been seen, connected, and made before" (718). The 'ah ha' moment in this quote came to me after finishing this week's readings. The buzz word that emerged from each of them was innovation. To me, the last part of the excerpt from the book is innovation.

The next excerpt may not necessarily fit with this week's readings, but it does concern education. "I would not surrender [my children] to the educational systems devised to stunt a child's brain, to convince him that reason is impotent, that existence is an irrational chaos with which he's unable to deal, and thus reduce him to a state of chronic terror" (720). Is this what current engineering education does to its students? If so (in any way or to a certain degree), how can we change it?

Another quote concerns the tension between science and humanities, specifically between physics and philosophy. "They were majoring in two subjects: physics and philosophy. Their choice amazed everybody but me: modern thinkers considered it unnecessary to perceive reality, and modern physicists considered it unnecessary to think" (721). Not only does the Mann Report emphasize the need to include humanities and social sciences in engineering education, but this week's readings address the same need. It is a scary thought to imagine that those with the power to change education may still think (or not think if they're physicists) that thinkers do not need to perceive reality and physicists do not need to think.

The final excerpt refers back to the beginning of the semester when we discussed the philosophy of power. "Every man builds his world in his own image... He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice. If he abdicates his power, he abdicates the status of man, and the grinding chaos of the irrational is what he achieves as his sphere of existence - by his own choice" (725). We often ask the question: who has the power to decide? Well, we all have the power. I think it is how we choose (since we have the power of choice) to use it.

Just some food for thought...