Approach

Recently, before this trip, an Objectivist friend and I determined a very probable cause of my inability to do schoolwork. This is the first time I have been able to attempt to solve the problem by addressing the cause. We considered both that a break from school may help and that it may be best to try to solve it while in school. I'll at least have this break.

So I went to the (science and business) library to do some quantum mechanics. It was a very good-looking library. At the top of the stairs there was a long wavy banner with lots of quotes.


There were more homeless people on the subway today. They're pretty good at making their speeches asking for help. They are practiced, refined, and aimed for maximum guilt. They make it clear that they have nothing to offer but their gratefulness. After reading Atlas Shrugged, it's clear how horrific this is. Afterward I unrelatedly found this quote from Galt's speech that sums it up pretty well.

Suffering as such is not a value; only man's fight against suffering, is. If you choose to help a man who suffers, do it only on the ground of his virtues, of his fight to recover, of his rational record, or of the fact that he suffers unjustly; then your action is still a trade, and his virtue is the payment for your help. But to help a man who has no virtues, to help him on the ground of his suffering as such, to accept his faults, his need, as a claim—is to accept the mortgage of a zero on your values. A man who has no virtues is a hater of existence who acts on the premise of death; to help him is to sanction his evil and to support his career of destruction. Be it only a penny you will not miss or a kindly smile he has not earned, a tribute to a zero is treason to life and to all those who struggle to maintain it. It is of such pennies and smiles that the desolation of your world was made.

It seems I'm not eating enough, but my body isn't good at telling me that I'm hungry. I'm sleeping too much, because I'm getting tired too late. I'll set an alarm tomorrow, because I want to get going at 900.

The Empire State Building is gorgeous. When I see it peeking up from behind other buildings, I am drawn to it. I stand by my statement that it doesn't look as big as I thought, but I'm not sure why this is. The middle section doesn't seem to be as tall. When I stop and evaluate it analytically, it's certainly more than twice as tall as any building around it. Maybe humans aren't used to the distance-length distortion applied vertically. I'd like to see it from the top of another building about halfway up.



I'll visit the top of the Empire State Building eventually. The officials said I can stay up on the observatory deck (including an enclosed heated part) as long as I want, and that I can bring a laptop. I plan to write at the top. Look forward to it.

-Alex Scott