Featured Atlas Summit Speaker: Bob Hayden (irrevo)
Meet Bob Hayden (irrevo), an Atlas Summit Speaker who is hoping to inspire attendees with local tales of the American Industrial Revolution.
Robert “Bob” Hayden taught mathematics at colleges and universities for 32 years and statistics for 20 years. He currently teaches statistics online at statistics.com and works with high school teachers of Advanced Placement Statistics.
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ATLAS SUMMIT
Q: What do you like best about the Atlas Summit?
A: For me its meaning is mostly symbolic -- that long after The Break [between Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden], Objectivism survives and there is a home for free minds.
Q: What will you be talking about at the Atlas Summit this year?
A: The early history of the American Industrial Revolution.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek of your talk?
A: Can I change the question? :) I think if I answer my own question it will provide at least a partial answer to yours. So my question is: Why did you chose this topic?
I attended the 2014 Atlas Summit on the outskirts of Manchester, NH, and was disappointed that no mention was made of the importance of the American Industrial Revolution and the role that New England cities, such as Manchester, played in that. This year we are near another early industrial city, Nashua, NH, so I decided it was a good time to speak up.
As a kid, I read Roger Burlingame's books with titles like “Machines that Built America” and I found them very inspiring. So I wanted to share some local stories that might inspire others in similar fashion.
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QUICK FACTS
Q: What is your favorite Ayn Rand book?
A: Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
Q: Who is your favorite Ayn Rand character?
A: Howard Roark
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Q & A
Q: When were you first introduced to Ayn Rand?
A: About 1960. I was running a one-man campaign to get Barry Goldwater the Republican nomination to run for President. My US History teacher told me his brother had similar ideas and felt the most important book he read was “Atlas Shrugged”. Shortly thereafter I saw a copy on the tiny book-stand at a local drug store and bought it.
Q: How has Ayn Rand influenced your life?
A: How many pages did you say I have for this "interview"?
The novels, and watching Rand in action at Ford Hall Forum, were inspiring. The ideas were incredibly useful. The movement was a huge disappointment, with deep religious overtones even before The Break [between Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden]. I wanted to see people extending and living Objectivist principles, not denouncing one another. It's in that context that I am happy to see the Atlas Summit continue.
Q: What passion projects are you working on right now?
A: Well, I'm not a professional Objectivist, you know ;-)
I have been working with high school Advanced Placement Statistics teachers for 20 years. They are the best class I have ever taught! They ask all kinds of interesting questions, and trying to answer them has radically altered my ideas on statistics and the teaching of statistics. So right now I have a paper on that which I think is near publication.
I am taking an online course in computer programming so I can write some programs to investigate questions for which I do not yet have answers. I have some papers in the works on questions for which I have found answers. And I am toying with the idea of writing a radical introductory statistics textbook. That should keep me off the streets for a while!
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A LITTLE FUN
Q: What do you enjoy reading, watching, or listening to other than Ayn Rand?
A: Classical music -- I'll mention Arturo Toscanini and the pianist Josef Hofmann (to whom the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto was dedicated).
Katharine Hepburn as a personality and cultural icon, and some of her movies -- one of the best is now on YouTube (A Bill of Divorcement).
I don't read much fiction. I do lots of book reviews for the Mathematical Association of America but I have a hunch not all your readers would be interested in those.
Q: If you could be the tycoon of any industry, which would you pick and why?
A: Being a tycoon would require an interest and talent for business, and I have neither. For me (and I suspect many others) the goal was to first figure out what I wanted to DO, then see if I could find some way to turn that into a salable product or service so I could make enough money to stay alive and do what I wanted to do. Roark is perhaps the best example of that in Rand's novels.
To end this interview I would like to mention Katharine Hepburn's first interview after becoming a movie star overnight. You need to know she was a very serious artist who was highly intelligent and extremely blunt. After fielding a number of the usual fan-zine type questions, she announced, "If you don't have anything more interesting to ask me, I'm going home." (I can well imagine Rand doing the same.)
So, thank you for asking me interesting questions.
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Bob’s Gulch profile: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/irrevo
Bob’s Atlas Summit speaker profile: http://atlassummit2015tas25thanniversar....
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Past Atlas Summit speaker interviews:
Dale Halling (dbhalling) - http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2d...
Vinay Kolhatkar (Vinay) - http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2e...
Kim Sawyer (cksawyer) - http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2f...
More Atlas Summit speaker interviews coming soon!
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Register for the Atlas Summit now: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/atlas-summit...
Remember, Galt’s Gulch members save 20%: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2b...
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Robert “Bob” Hayden taught mathematics at colleges and universities for 32 years and statistics for 20 years. He currently teaches statistics online at statistics.com and works with high school teachers of Advanced Placement Statistics.
- - - - -
ATLAS SUMMIT
Q: What do you like best about the Atlas Summit?
A: For me its meaning is mostly symbolic -- that long after The Break [between Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden], Objectivism survives and there is a home for free minds.
Q: What will you be talking about at the Atlas Summit this year?
A: The early history of the American Industrial Revolution.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek of your talk?
A: Can I change the question? :) I think if I answer my own question it will provide at least a partial answer to yours. So my question is: Why did you chose this topic?
I attended the 2014 Atlas Summit on the outskirts of Manchester, NH, and was disappointed that no mention was made of the importance of the American Industrial Revolution and the role that New England cities, such as Manchester, played in that. This year we are near another early industrial city, Nashua, NH, so I decided it was a good time to speak up.
As a kid, I read Roger Burlingame's books with titles like “Machines that Built America” and I found them very inspiring. So I wanted to share some local stories that might inspire others in similar fashion.
- - - - -
QUICK FACTS
Q: What is your favorite Ayn Rand book?
A: Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
Q: Who is your favorite Ayn Rand character?
A: Howard Roark
- - - - -
Q & A
Q: When were you first introduced to Ayn Rand?
A: About 1960. I was running a one-man campaign to get Barry Goldwater the Republican nomination to run for President. My US History teacher told me his brother had similar ideas and felt the most important book he read was “Atlas Shrugged”. Shortly thereafter I saw a copy on the tiny book-stand at a local drug store and bought it.
Q: How has Ayn Rand influenced your life?
A: How many pages did you say I have for this "interview"?
The novels, and watching Rand in action at Ford Hall Forum, were inspiring. The ideas were incredibly useful. The movement was a huge disappointment, with deep religious overtones even before The Break [between Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden]. I wanted to see people extending and living Objectivist principles, not denouncing one another. It's in that context that I am happy to see the Atlas Summit continue.
Q: What passion projects are you working on right now?
A: Well, I'm not a professional Objectivist, you know ;-)
I have been working with high school Advanced Placement Statistics teachers for 20 years. They are the best class I have ever taught! They ask all kinds of interesting questions, and trying to answer them has radically altered my ideas on statistics and the teaching of statistics. So right now I have a paper on that which I think is near publication.
I am taking an online course in computer programming so I can write some programs to investigate questions for which I do not yet have answers. I have some papers in the works on questions for which I have found answers. And I am toying with the idea of writing a radical introductory statistics textbook. That should keep me off the streets for a while!
- - - - -
A LITTLE FUN
Q: What do you enjoy reading, watching, or listening to other than Ayn Rand?
A: Classical music -- I'll mention Arturo Toscanini and the pianist Josef Hofmann (to whom the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto was dedicated).
Katharine Hepburn as a personality and cultural icon, and some of her movies -- one of the best is now on YouTube (A Bill of Divorcement).
I don't read much fiction. I do lots of book reviews for the Mathematical Association of America but I have a hunch not all your readers would be interested in those.
Q: If you could be the tycoon of any industry, which would you pick and why?
A: Being a tycoon would require an interest and talent for business, and I have neither. For me (and I suspect many others) the goal was to first figure out what I wanted to DO, then see if I could find some way to turn that into a salable product or service so I could make enough money to stay alive and do what I wanted to do. Roark is perhaps the best example of that in Rand's novels.
To end this interview I would like to mention Katharine Hepburn's first interview after becoming a movie star overnight. You need to know she was a very serious artist who was highly intelligent and extremely blunt. After fielding a number of the usual fan-zine type questions, she announced, "If you don't have anything more interesting to ask me, I'm going home." (I can well imagine Rand doing the same.)
So, thank you for asking me interesting questions.
- - - - -
Bob’s Gulch profile: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/irrevo
Bob’s Atlas Summit speaker profile: http://atlassummit2015tas25thanniversar....
- - - - -
Past Atlas Summit speaker interviews:
Dale Halling (dbhalling) - http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2d...
Vinay Kolhatkar (Vinay) - http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2e...
Kim Sawyer (cksawyer) - http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2f...
More Atlas Summit speaker interviews coming soon!
- - - - -
Register for the Atlas Summit now: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/atlas-summit...
Remember, Galt’s Gulch members save 20%: http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2b...
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