E10 - >>Fast Forward>> Part 1 of Francisco d'Anconia's Money Speech

A Socialist Reads Atlas Shrugged

For the 10th episode, Jonathan "fast forwards" to Part 2, Chapter 2 in order to discuss one of the most quoted sections of Atlas Shrugged, Francisco d'Anconia's Money Speech. In Jonathan's edition, the speech appears on page 387. The gist of the speech is that d'Anconia (and Rand) claims that money is not the root of evil, but the root of all good. In this longer episode, Jonathan delves into the logic Rand uses to support this claim and examines several underlying assumptions. Jonathan will close read the second half of the speech in Episode 20.
Jonathan mentions the PBS documentary The Commanding Heights as one of the best explanations of 20th-century macroeconomic theory. They also mention Francis Fukuyama's two-volume study, The Origins of Political Order, Ursula K. LeGuin's book The Dispossessed, and a post on Medium about why there is no leftist equivalent to Atlas Shrugged (there's also a Slate article on that).
Today's Moments of Non-Contradiction come from Reddit and YouTube.
My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it?

Questions or comments? Email me at: [e-mail]
Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at their website, https://jonathanseyfried.art
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The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.
The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bialys.

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