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'''Ayn Rand and Wikipedia''', an article writen and copyright 2008 by Will Johnson, [mailto:wjhonson@aol.com wjhonson@aol.com] This page is locked, if you'd like to comment on it, you may email me. Note: This article is not yet finished, it's being built in pieces. ==Introduction== [[Jimmy Wales]] is a fan of [[Ayn Rand]]. Jimmy is also the instigator (or co-instigator) of the internet encyclopedia [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]. Jimmy Wales states that he is a Libertarian, which typically would mean a person who wants government to be as small as possible thereby allowing laissez-faire capitalism to thrive with little interference. =The Artist and the Committee= ==Chapter 1=== Ayn Rand was also a great fan of laissez-faire capitalism, believing it to be the necessary society in which man, the individual man of purpose and dedication, can achieve his greatest work. That is, the man unfettered by rules, procedures, bureaucracy and committees interjecting themselves into his work; partly because that system is as small as desirable and only as large as necessary. When an artist creates a great sculpture, an author an amazing novel, an architect a beautiful building, they do so neither by forming a committee, taking a vote, nor reaching consensus. Ayn Rand's viewpoint was that each person must live free from these sorts of restrictions, free to create fantastic works of art, as individuals. Ayn felt that whenever an outside agency interferes in the art process, the result is an ugly piece of work, not a beautiful one. In "The Fountainhead", her character the Dean says in contrast to her philosophy :<blockquote>"Nothing has ever been invented by one man in architecture. The proper creative process is a slow, gradual anonymous, collective one, in which each man collaborates with all the others and subordinates himself to the standards of the majority."</blockquote> ==Chapter 2== So each man is the master of his own artistic destiny, which is not to say, that one man of vision cannot employ others, but they work for him, at his will and order to accomplish his purpose. You might say they are his adoring accomplises, but the work is credited to the man at the top of the organization. So how in Ayn's ideal world can two seperate men, each with will and vision work together to accomplish a greater purpose? ==Chapter X== Another issue that's come forward is whether contributions to Wikipedia are acts of altruism. If so, do they violate Rand's concepts of altruism? If not, then what are they? ==Chapter Y== On WikiEN-l, on 29 Apr 2008, Jimmy Wales, responding in the thread "Re: [WikiEN-l] Searchability of non-mainspace pages" stated : "We are here to do something positive and loving for the world, and it makes us proud to be a part of it." ==Further reading== *[http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth--406-FAQ_Virtue_Selfishness.aspx "Virtue of Selfishness"], by J. Raibley at Objectivistcenter.org
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