Cowen on Rand

Tyler Cowen's 100th birthday retrospective (2005) on Ayn Rand is about what one would expect: he begins with some incisive observations but somehow manages to muddle through to silly conclusions. His best non sequitur:

The true take-away message is a reaffirmation of how the enormous productive powers of capitalism -- the greatest force for human good ever achieved -- rely on the driving human desire to be excellent.

There are a few competitors for the role of "greatest force for human good" I should think. Let's start with technology, art, science, agriculture, trade, government, law and education - most of which look to be essential enabling institutions for capitalism. The "driving human desire to be excellent" is one of those phrases (redolent perhaps of "the lilt of a driving dream") that I can' seem to get to play any rhetorical role beyond self-satire.

The pursuit of excellence may well be relevant to art and sport, but it looks a lot more like an afterthought for capitalism. A lot of the more successful capitalism looks more like the pursuit of crapitude - think Walmart or Microsoft. I suppose one might argue that Walmart has made a virtue finding the maximum amount of crapitude one can cram into a product or service and still manage to sell it.

Rand and Tyler seem to think that Capitalism requires a certain concept of ethics. Nonsense. Ethics is mostly for small group interactions - Capitalism requires laws.

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