[236] in libertarians
A Call to Arms
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles Arnone)
Fri Sep 23 21:25:40 1994
From: mule@netcom.com (Miles Arnone)
To: objectivism@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 1994 18:20:54 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: libertarians@MIT.EDU
To those who are rational:
I recently read Alperovitz's article, "Distributing Our Technological
Inheritance" in the October issue of Technology Review. Never in my life
have I read such an affront to reason. Mr. Alperovitz would strip all
individuals of the products of their work and deliver it to the mob. He
calls for the end of property rights, our "irrational economic system",
and the distribution of a "collective" technological inheritance to each
and every human being. Mr. Alperovitz makes Toohey of The Fountainhead
look like a good person!
Cutting to the quick, I think you will each find it in your best interest
to read this article and respond to it. I for one am very concerned to
see these views promoted in any publication, let alone an MIT magazine.
For those who read the article and are so moved, I urge you to send your
responses to "technology-review-letters@mit.edu". Following are some
excerpts from this article....
"Very little of what we as a society produce today can be said to derive
from the work, risk and imagination of citizens now living"
Mr. Alperovitz builds a model that presents our time as one of
stagnation, where all that is to be invented has been, and where
significant achievement is no longer possible. He sounds like the now
infamous director of the patent office who claimed over 100 years ago
that there was nothing significant left to be invented! The flaw in his
model is that he sees only a determinant, single-threaded developemnt of
technology with predictable progress and ends. History rebukes this
argument, as does the rapid development of new technologies today. In
fact, the growth of trade and industry world-wide (which Alperovitz hopes
to harness) could not exist if we were, "akin to a pebble resting on a
mountain of previous achievement..."
Alperovitz: "...then a substantial portion of society's current income
should go as a matter of equal right to each individual, apart from the
amount he or she earns from current work or risk or to the entire community."
"Plainly put, the way we allocate the benefits of present and past
economic activity that stem from this technological inheritance is
irrational and unjust." His essential conclusion, here presented,
involves several leaps in logic, from the fact that because there have
been past acheivements we must all own them, to the assertion that these
benefits can continue to be reaped for a common good in a society where
the individual means nothing. Someone should tell Mr. Alperovitz about
the 20th Century Motor Company!
Heard enough? Let's rally against this evil! Send your responses to the
Technology Review! I for one am going to send Mr. Alperovitz a copy of
Atlas Shrugged!
Miles Arnone
MIT '91
