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Friday
August 20, 2004

SOLO: Past, Present and Future by Joseph Rowlands

I just got back from a few weeks visiting Mr. Perigo in NZ. Aside from relaxation, good food, and good company, we spent a bit of time discussing SOLO. Periodically we try to go through what we've accomplished, and what we should be doing in the foreseeable future. We went through our old lists, and created some new lists in the process. (Read more...)
Discuss this Article (36 messages)

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 4:57am

Joe,

I joined SOLO because of its clear passion and sense of directed and rational action. That SOLO demonstrates a continued commitment to that mission pleases me greatly and makes me proud to count myself among its supporters. I look forward to the exciting new developments.

Luke Setzer

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 6:03am

Wow! SOLO is moving onwards and upwards!

Now that Article contributions are sorted - there is a problem about participation.

Is it not true, that if a person replies to your post (rather than posting), then you get an e-mail alerting you to that fact?

If it were only possible to reply - rather than post - that may encourage more participation. Or perhaps each post should have a title, in order that we know something of its contents before reading it - and would be more encouraged to take part in the discussion.

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 7:50am

Congratulations on all your hard work and future plans, and glad to be a part of all the hoopla. :)

Cheers,
Chris

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 9:22am

Well done for what you've achieved to date, and I am excited about your plans. One idea for an "interest" group. I'd be interested in "SOLO Entrepeneurs" or "SOLO Capitalists" group to discuss a shared interest in making money. How to start a business, run a business, successfully and in an enjoyable manner. How to do it ethically. How to apply reason to business problems. Compare literature.

I'll put my name forward if you want a volunteer to organise it, although I suspect there may be others more qualified.

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 12:27pm

When I chanced across SOLO, I was extremely skeptical: I found the many ARI positions dogmatic and the few other places I 'visited' were infested with near fanatics. Well, I didn't even want to give my real name and my regular email while registering!

I am beginning to like SOLO. Many of the articles are very thought provoking, even when I disagree with the contents. Discussions are very often energetic and passionate.

I wish to see SOLO growing stronger and attracting talent from all over the world.

coaltontrail

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 2:07pm

Solo is proof that the word "we" can be a beautiful word.

Friday, August 20, 2004 - 2:53pm

SOLOHQ 2.0 kicks ass. SO do the plans from the looks of it. Excellent accompishments, gents.

Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 12:52am

It's all very exciting. I'm particularly impressed by the focus on educating Objectivist intellectuals.

BTW: "The world won't conquer itself," wrote Joe. What a great line!

Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 1:48pm

Joe, both Solo's accomplishments and future goals are very exciting. Solo is uniquely valuable, and I'm happy to see it flourish.

A few thoughts:

You wrote: "SOLO University: The future of Objectivism will hinge on the intellectuals, and their grasp of the philosophy. SOLO would like to contribute to this by explicitly training Objectivists."

I don't know exactly what TOC and ARI teach in their advanced courses, but I wonder if you wouldn't be re-doing what may already be done appropriately and well.

You wrote:"Romance Page/SOLO Singles: This will probably be in the form of a SOLO Interest club. Passionate individuals are looking for passionate romances, and where better to find it than among Sense Of Life Objectivists?"

This is being done very successfully by The Atlasphere. I believe they have more than 4,000 subscribers. Again, I wonder if you'd be repeating what is already being done.

I wouldn't like to see Solo spend its time on what other organizations already are doing. Perhaps there is a way in which you could hook up with, say, TOC, and, for instance, use some or all of its material for advanced courses.

I very much like your idea for Objectivism 101. Although this, too, is done on other web sites, I think Solo's unique sense-of-life approach would make this much more interesting and valuable for newcomers.

Again, monographs, books, and pamphlets would be great. I look forward to hearing more about this plan. And Interest Clubs are a wonderful idea. These, too, could be a means of bringing Solo's unique perspective on Objectivism into still more areas.

Am I correct in assuming that your next American conference will be in Los Angeles? This is merely a disinterested inquiry. Why do you think it's relevant that I live there? Why are you accusing me?!

About your plan for Updates: Perhaps one Update could include an explanation of the many mysteries of Solo. For instance, as a relative newcomer to Solohq, I've only now learned that one can sanction an article or comment, what that means, and how to do it. My Profile page is a complete mystery to me.

Sunday, August 22, 2004 - 6:19pm

David - I love the Solo Entrepreneur/Capitalist idea. I would love to see if there is interest in that.

Monday, August 23, 2004 - 11:32pm

I think Barbara brings up a valid point about the dating piece (and I am not just saying this because I'm an Atlasphere editor).

Having said that, however, the problem with the Atlasphere dating directory is that it attracts Objectiv-ish people, some of whom are Christian or of other religious backgrounds (Galt help me). A dinner date with a Jehovah's Witness in disguise made that point abundantly clear to me. :)

It seems that this site would serve as a better filter for serious Objectivists, particularly passionate ones, to pursue romance. Right now, it seems that one cannot even search the member list by area, gender, etc. (unless I have missed that section of the manual?). Any improvement in this area would be a delight.

That's my two cents. Keep the change. ;)

Jennifer

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 12:09am

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sorry for the late responses.

Marcus, currently the "reply" button doesn't do anything except post. We had thought about adding something more, but it hasn't been a priority.

David, I'll set up a SOLO Entrepreneurs, and guess who just volunteered to run it? Thanks. I'll send you information on what to do.

Cameron, glad you liked the quote. Maybe I can convince Lindsay to add it to the Credo.

Barbara, thanks for the comments. I've got a few points of my own.

First, I think the SOLO University is going to turn out a little different from what the other people have done. But even if it were exactly the same, I think there's some advantage to reinventing the wheel.

1.) Through the act of teaching, we learn to better integrate the ideas, and make them easy to digest for others.
2.) It would be a lousy long-term strategy to say "If you want to learn about Objectivism, go to ARI!". I think educating people builds loyalty to the organization, and I certainly don't want to send people elsewhere if that's the case.
3.) Having the tools to train people in house can be used for other projects as well.
4.) When we eventually drive the other organizations out of business, we'll have to be prepared to take up the slack.

Just some initial thoughts on that topic. Clearly if the cost is too high, we'll have to take that into consideration. But it's worth a try.

The romance thing is easy, and there's at least some demand for it. I'm not going to bend over backwards to make SOLO a dating organization, but since a few Objectivists have found love through SOLO, we may as well facilitate it.

The thought of hooking up with TOC has come up recently, but I don't think they're quite ready to take that step.

And of course, we haven't decided on the venue for the next conference. That's certainly an option worth considering.

Finally, you asked about some explanations. On the "About" page http://www.solohq.com/About/ there are some documents. You might be most interested in "Customize SoloHQ", which tells you some of the cool things you can do.

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 2:16am

Jennifer - you *know* SOLO is *way* better for romance than Atlasphere. Just look at all the hot young males who *threw* themselves at you the instant you appeared here. (Some people have all the luck.)

SOLO, after all, is the place for belly-laughers; the others are repositories for anal-retentives.

Once Professor Rowlands gets his "university" up & running there'll be no stopping us. Hell, there's no stopping us *now*!

I understand TOC are going into "planning" mode soon & will discuss, among other things, joint activities with SOLO. They'd better do *something* with us or they'll be left behind! :-)

KASS!!!!!!

Linz

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 10:12am

As a straight person I have no interest in reading about the angst of homosexual affairs, how to cure anal retention by a good dose of "man-meat" and the joys of S&M. In the past week homosexuality has become a dominant theme on this board. I have no problem with what people do with their own bodies and if they want to adopt Objectivism as their philosophy, fine and dandy, just as marijuana smokers might. But I am not interested in either.

So, I'll lurk around here for a while more and see how it goes but I can't help thinking that if it keeps on the way it is going more people will be driven away from this site than will be attracted.

Sam

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 11:05am

Help!!! All this gay stuff makes me want to listen to the Village People and write articles for The Free Radical! Will the neighbours find out? What if Linz, James, Cameron or any one of those million or more gorgeous SOLO men-hunting hulks send me a come-hither private message? What will I do with myself? How can I constrain my desires!?

Sorry, Mr. Erica, I can't join you in your condemnation of all this homosexual affairs angst, but I DO invite you to join in our heterosexual mouth-foaming over Scarlett Johanssen at http://www.solohq.com/Forum/Movies/0053.shtml if that would help you affirm your manliness?!?

I guess we heteros better just take our world back before we end up all bummy and babyless :-).

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 11:25am

Yeah, I expected a response like that.

Sam

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 11:36am

>> As a straight person I have no interest in reading about the angst of homosexual affairs, how to cure anal retention by a good dose of "man-meat" and the joys of S&M.

...the joys of S&M?

Damn, missed that one. Where is it?

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 2:59pm

In the past week homosexuality has become a dominant theme on this board.

I must agree with Mr. Erica. If a single issue, that is peripheral to the individual rights issue as a whole, comes to dominate the discourse of this website - then I am out of here.

As a straight person I have no interest in reading about the angst of homosexual affairs, how to cure anal retention by a good dose of "man-meat" and the joys of S&M.

Once again, I must concur with Mr. Erica. However, in my opinion the recent article by Mr.Kilbourne is not along these lines. I found that article to be respectful, interesting, and a heartfelt story on an individuals personal struggle to overcome.

You will be hard pressed to find a greater supporter of levity and open discourse than I. A few offhand jokes or comments that are 'racy' is not the end of the world (and I intend to make them myself) - but, if homosexuality becomes even a slightly dominant theme (especially in a non-academic manner), then you will quickly see the demise of SoloHq.

Now, to be fair - a week does not a trend make. As a loud voice that has complained of objectivist taking things out of proportion or exaggerating issues, I must end this post on the note that my above statements are a warning of what could be the ultimate conclusion of a prolonged and escalating 'gay' theme. It is not to suggest that SoloHq has within a week become a San Francisco internet gay message parlor.

George W. Cordero

(Edited by George W. Cordero on 8/24, 10:02pm)

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 3:42pm

The solution to not wanting to read about stuff is not to read about it. There's always lots else going on. Probably not all of that is of interest to absolutely everyone either. On no other occasion have I seen any prima donna say, "If thread X continues to get talked about as much as it has been talked about this last week, I'm outta here." I didn't think anyone who visited/contributed here would be so infantile as to say such a dopey, pathetic, petulant thing. Folk are free to post on any subject they like. It's not for us Admins to determine what gets talked about & to what extent. Threads ebb & flow on the board precisely to the extent that folk participate in or ignore them. What part of that does anyone not get? Hello? Duh!

Most people here, as in the world at large, are straight. They're at perfect liberty to raise specifically straight issues as & when they wish.

As for the SM reference, I too must have missed that thread. I *have* just turned down an article on that subject, because on reflection I didn't think it had anything to do with Sense-of-Life Objectivism. It nonetheless makes for interesting, if disturbing reading, & I suggested to its author that she post it on the Dissent Forum, since there's quite a bit of explicit (& in my view implicit) dissent from Objectivism in the article. I see she has indeed posted it there. No one *has* to read it (but I bet everybody does! :-)).

Linz

Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 3:54pm

prima donna, infantile, dopey, pathetic, petulant

Thats quite a list of adjectives Mr. Perigo, congratulations.

Your response tells me everything I need to know and I appreciate your candor.

Sincerely,

George W. Cordero