Ayn Rand and objectivism are something like a crazy loner uncle (or aunt, I guess). The ideas are frankly very interesting, but it’s almost impossible to get past her complete inability to write about interpersonal relationships.

Neglecting the many stupid things I’ve written here, I “won” the brain raffle, as did everyone who places into the top quartile (probably everyone on this site, who uses a computer, etc). The key thing to understand is that I did not do a single thing to earn this brain; granted, I have honed my skills over the years, but I didn’t do anything to earn my brain, just as Shaq/%%WELL_KNOWN_ATHLETE%% didn’t do anything to earn his height, or his fast twitch to slow twitch muscle ratio [although he has obviously honed his physical skills].

In my personal “tribal” view of humanity, if you receive a windfall that you did nothing to earn, you are obligated to share it with your tribe. Period. That’s the rules of the game, for me. For this reason, I can’t really support Ayn Rand’s ideas.