Ayn Rand and the Prisoner's Dilemma

[Louisiana1976]

I've been reading VA Classical Liberal's exploration of Atlas Shrugged, and it's left me thinking about the underpinnings of Rand's philosophy of rational selfishness.

As someone with a mathematical background, I find myself approaching the question as a matter of limits. What is the steady-state for rational selfishness? Does cooperation make sense in this framework? Does altruism? Or is selfishness the only true virtue, as Ayn Rand seems to imply?

Follow me below the fold for more.

snip

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/11/813071/-Ayn-Rand-and-the-Prisoners-Dilemma

[Birthmark]

1. Selfishness isn't rational.

It is based on the emotion of the individual --usually fear.

For the record: Ayn Rand was a ninny.

[Greybnk48]

3. Ninny is the perfect word.

She does not make a distinction between rational self interest (exercising, brushing your teeth, paying your bills, etc.), and selfishness, and there absolutely is a difference.

[ThomThom]

2. Rand's philosophy is completely unworkable.

The Prisoner's Dilemma is very informative and proves the case.

[StarfarerBill]

4. It can be for a certain period when you realize she meant it to apply only to a very small group:

her Ubermenschen, the Galts and Roarks to whom the rest of us hoi polloi were supposed to bow-and-scrape and serve thankfully.

We see it in action every day in this country; oh, perhaps not in the romanticized way Rand wanted (after all, most of the real "producers" are nothing but cunning greedheads who know how to play the system), but close enough.