Going Galt, my watered down version
Posted by DennisJeeves 2 weeks, 5 days ago to Going Galt
Heads up: I have repeated this post in the past. Email me directly if you expect a response to any comments that you may have. So here I go:
Most people when they talk about 'Going Galt' are generally talking about living in some secluded place on their own (except perhaps with immediate family members). They also often want to stop dealing with the mainstream entirely. This in my opinion is not always optimum, Ideally the Gulch should be able to replicate all the useful concepts that the mainstream has come up with: like a hospital, or jobs that pay well. Larger projects (whatever that might be) require more people who are philosophically aligned and intellectually wise to co-operate achieve that goal.
I'm putting crude efforts in that direction which are outlined here at https://quberoot.wordpress.com/ . If you are interested please contact me after reading what I have put in the link. One thing that I can say unflinchingly is that it will take a lot of effort in building working relationships - something which most admirers of Ayn Rand are incapable of comprehending.
Summary, if you don't want to read the all pages on the link:
1) Get together with like minded people (I have defined what like minded is in the link that I put).
2) Work on projects for mutual benefit.
3) Initial efforts will be co-operating online. It may or may/not involve physical relocation, depending on many factors.
4) A stress on people rather than projects. Without the 'right' people every project no matter how well laid out will be doomed.
5) I'm no John Galt, expect an ordinary middle class fellow, with some grand ambitions( that may never materialize). You will have to pull your own weight, you can ( and should) expect a reasonable amount of co-operation and efforts from me.
As you can see there is nothing novel about the concept (partly the theme of Galt's Gulch in Atlas Shrugged ) , but the big challenge appears that often relatively independent thinking people also come with reclusive and non-cooperative tendencies. This means that there is near complete lack of efforts in putting aside minor differences to co-operate with other like-minded people for mutual benefit. Independence of thought (which is gret) tends to foster loner (which is bad) like tendencies
Most people when they talk about 'Going Galt' are generally talking about living in some secluded place on their own (except perhaps with immediate family members). They also often want to stop dealing with the mainstream entirely. This in my opinion is not always optimum, Ideally the Gulch should be able to replicate all the useful concepts that the mainstream has come up with: like a hospital, or jobs that pay well. Larger projects (whatever that might be) require more people who are philosophically aligned and intellectually wise to co-operate achieve that goal.
I'm putting crude efforts in that direction which are outlined here at https://quberoot.wordpress.com/ . If you are interested please contact me after reading what I have put in the link. One thing that I can say unflinchingly is that it will take a lot of effort in building working relationships - something which most admirers of Ayn Rand are incapable of comprehending.
Summary, if you don't want to read the all pages on the link:
1) Get together with like minded people (I have defined what like minded is in the link that I put).
2) Work on projects for mutual benefit.
3) Initial efforts will be co-operating online. It may or may/not involve physical relocation, depending on many factors.
4) A stress on people rather than projects. Without the 'right' people every project no matter how well laid out will be doomed.
5) I'm no John Galt, expect an ordinary middle class fellow, with some grand ambitions( that may never materialize). You will have to pull your own weight, you can ( and should) expect a reasonable amount of co-operation and efforts from me.
As you can see there is nothing novel about the concept (partly the theme of Galt's Gulch in Atlas Shrugged ) , but the big challenge appears that often relatively independent thinking people also come with reclusive and non-cooperative tendencies. This means that there is near complete lack of efforts in putting aside minor differences to co-operate with other like-minded people for mutual benefit. Independence of thought (which is gret) tends to foster loner (which is bad) like tendencies
But you appeared to believe that only the gathering itself, of 'like-minded' people would be enough to get projects and other community activities accomplished.
Rand is somewhat paradoxical here, because she was never enamored of committee decisions. Some one person was needed to take the risk, and the credit for success, and the responsibility if not successful. So I am wondering what it was you had in mind that could 'hold' your gulch together.
Like-minded alone does not achieve anything really, it would be naive if one thought so. There is more to it here.https://http://quberoot.wordpress.com/partners/
>Rand is somewhat paradoxical here, because she was never enamored of committee decisions.
I don't look upto Ayn Rand's writings for guidance, she and her writings are something that I use as a proxy to signal to others to define ROUGHLY what I stand for.
Each situation has its nuances, if a committee is needed, so be it, and just for the record I don't like any kind of bureaucracy either, and that includes committees.
>Some one person was needed to take the risk, and the credit for success, and the responsibility if not successful.
In this case I'm not aiming for that. (it's a longer explanation for what I'm hoping for). Again each situation has its own nuances. In reality single person a hero taking on the burden of an entire group is generally speaking a myth and if implemented even partially is fraught with self sacrifice and tragedies, something that I don't want to do.
>So I am wondering what it was you had in mind that could 'hold' your gulch together.
The 'holding' together part is certainly a very important point that you bring up.
A huge explanation is put on the same page that I mentioned : https://quberoot.wordpress.com/partne...
The essence of it is this: I'm not interested in lone wolves. The combination of someone who is an independent thinker, yet wants to cooperate closely with others is indeed rare , if not an impossible find. I only seek those individuals who are also willing to play their part in holding the group together.
( I'm not sure where you are going with this, In this case a question of governance of a bunch of people I'm trying to gather, is indeed personal at this point)
I apologize.
We have a loose consortium of about 100 folk with some 1000 acres between us.
We have the skills to apply equitable living conditions without electricity or modern fuels if pushed to an extreme.
My skills in manufacturing, farming philosophy and law are applicable to our present state of living. Right now we "hide in plain sight".