What Do I Think?

So what do I think about the world? Is it heading in the right direction or is it doomed? How can we either keep it going in the right direction or prevent it from collapsing? The truth is, I don't know yet.

I started this blog to present my views on Tracinski's "What Went Right?" series. Part of the purpose of this blog was to better understand his theory by writing about it. Since his view is different from the common, modern-day Objectivist view, I also needed to understand that view which has its origins in the writing of Ayn Rand, in particular the essay For the New Intellectual, so I'm writing about that too.

I don't fully understand either view at this point, so I don't know what I think. I find good points in both theories, and there are points in both that don't feel right to me, but I know that's not a reason to disregard them--it's a reason to study them more.

Here are the two viewpoints, as I understand them today:

• Ayn Rand (writing 1960-1981): America has been on the wrong path since the 1930s due, ultimately, to bad philosophy from the university philosophy departments. The only way to change course is for New Intellectuals to learn a philosophy for living on earth and to promote it, in particular to defend capitalism on moral grounds.
• Robert Tracinski (analyzing the years 1980-present): The culture has not accepted a philosophy for living on earth, yet we have not collapsed. The forces of global capitalism, education in science and technology, and representative government have caused many people to adopt an implicit philosophy for living on earth in a bottom-up approach. This is what has saved us.

I suppose the easiest way to settle the question of who is right it to build a time machine and go one hundred years in the future. Did the world fall into countless dictatorships after a world-wide economic collapse? Or did the world continue to improve, with Africa becoming a first-world continent? I'll let you know what I find when I get back.