Atlas Shrugged

"In proportion to the mental energy he spent, the man who creates a new invention receives but a small percentage of his value in terms of material payment, no matter what fortune he makes, no matter what millions he earns. But the man who works as a janitor in the factory producing that invention, receives an enormous payment in proportion to the mental effort that his job requires of him. And the same is true of all men between, on all levels of ambition and ability. The man at the top of the intellectual pyramid contributes the most to all those below him, but gets nothing except his material payment, receiving no intellectual bonus from others to add to the value of his time. The man at the bottom who, left to himself, would starve in his hopeless ineptitude, contributes nothing to those above him, but receives the bonus of all of their brains. Such is the nature of the 'competition' between the strong and the weak of the intellect. Such is the pattern of 'exploitation' for which you have damned the strong."
[Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged ]

"They claim that they perceive a mode of being superior to your existence on this earth. The mystics of spirit call it 'another dimension,' which consists of denying dimensions. The mystics of muscle call it 'the future,' which consists of denying the present. To exist is to possess identity. What identity are they able to give to their superior realm? They keep telling you what it is not, but never tell you what it is. All their identifications consist of negating: God is that which no human mind can know, they say--and proceed to demand that you consider it knowledge--God is non-man, heaven is non-earth, soul is non-body, virtue is non-profit, A is non-A, perception is non-sensory, knowledge is non-reason. Their definitions are not acts of defining, but of wiping out." [Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged ]

Dan writes:"Today would have been Ayn Rand's 100th birthday. In celebration, I'm going to bake a cake and then not share it with anybody."

contracycle writes:Rand talks about the "value" of intellectual contribution, and who ends up with that value. What is value, anyway?

Websters writes:1value \val-yu\ n 1 : a fair return or equivalent in money, goods, or services for something exchanged 2 : the monetary worth of a thing; also : relative worth, utility, or importance 3 : an assigned or computed numerical quantity 4 : relative lightness or darkness of a color : luminosity 5 : the relative length of a tone or note 6 : something (as a principle or ideal) intrinsically valuable or desirable valueless adj
or

​

2value vb valued; valuing 1 : to estimate the monetary worth of : appraise 2 : to rate in usefulness, importance, or general worth 3 : to consider or rate highly : prize, esteem valuer n

William H. Stoddard writes:Rand says that value is "that which one acts to gain and/or keep." In her view, then, organisms act to gain and/or keep their own existence.

Crashfrog writes:I work and spend money on things just like the rest of us, and I like that I live in a place where if I have the money I can have nearly anything I want.But that's no reason not to find something better, is it?