[Flotsam_Jetsome]

Baby, meet bath water. Exit stage riiight. As far as her being hopped up on amphetamines, caffeine or whatever, our armed forces employ these tools to keep pilots in the air after exhaustion would normally preclude them from action. Do the effects sometimes result in errant targets getting put in the hurt locker? Who can say without a larger data set to study? I have not personally read, or seen Atlas Shrugged (yet). But from what I have read, time and again on the subject matter of that tome, I think it reasonable to conclude that the larger body of Rand's ideas are at the very least a good starting point and idea “tool bag” for free thinkers to utilize as guideposts on the exploratory journey toward the noble goals of self determination and attendant self respect. My $.02 and all that.

[Publius]

I have not personally read, or seen Atlas Shrugged (yet).

Read it along with our first FReeper Book Club from 2009. Some of the FReepers who commented on those threads were among the most erudite people on his site.

FReeper Book Club: Introduction to Atlas Shrugged
Part I, Chapter I: The Theme
Part I, Chapter II: The Chain
Part I, Chapter III: The Top and the Bottom
Part I, Chapter IV: The Immovable Movers
Part I, Chapter V: The Climax of the d’Anconias
Part I, Chapter VI: The Non-Commercial
Part I, Chapter VII: The Exploiters and the Exploited
Part I, Chapter VIII: The John Galt Line
Part I, Chapter IX: The Sacred and the Profane
Part I, Chapter X: Wyatt’s Torch
Part II, Chapter I: The Man Who Belonged on Earth
Part II, Chapter II: The Aristocracy of Pull
Part II, Chapter III: White Blackmail
Part II, Chapter IV: The Sanction of the Victim
Part II, Chapter V: Account Overdrawn
Part II, Chapter VI: Miracle Metal
Part II, Chapter VII: The Moratorium on Brains
Part II, Chapter VIII: By Our Love
Part II, Chapter IX: The Face Without Pain or Fear or Guilt
Part II, Chapter X: The Sign of the Dollar
Part III, Chapter I: Atlantis
Part III, Chapter II: The Utopia of Greed
Part III, Chapter III: Anti-Greed
Part III, Chapter IV: Anti-Life
Part III, Chapter V: Their Brothers’ Keepers
Part III, Chapter VI: The Concerto of Deliverance
Part III, Chapter VII: “This is John Galt Speaking”
Part III, Chapter VIII: The Egoist
Part III, Chapter IX: The Generator
Part III, Chapter X: In the Name of the Best Within Us
Coda: Ten Years After
Afterword and Suggested Reading