PLOT
On September 2, just before d’Anconia Copper’s holdings are to be nationalized, Dagny and Jim hear from an announcement they are found to be worthless. Dagny and Hank have dinner and see Francisco’s message on the calendar. Hank turns down job requests separately from Philip and the Wet Nurse. Dagny is called away from a dinner with Jim’s friends to handle a problem at the terminal. She sees John Galt is a day laborer. John Galt follows her to a secluded tunnel and they have sexual intercourse.
SUBPLOT (loose ends)
The Railroad Unification plan isn’t working.
Dagny hasn’t argued with Jim in the last two months.
Rearden Steel is now working at capacity, yet Rearden is bored.
California passed an Emergency State Tax causing the California oil companies to go out of business.
Hank gets his divorce, but his lawyer said it went too easy and wonders if they are planning something against Hank’s mills.
The Wet Nurse also believes they are ready to spring something on Rearden.
Minnesota has a huge harvest but it rots because the government gives the trains to Emma Chalmers’ Project Soybean.
The soybeans were moldy and unfit for human consumption because they were reaped prematurely.
John Galt admits it was he who stood outside Dagny’s John Galt Line office that night.
John Galt admits that before he saw Dagny in the valley, he knew about her affair with Hank.
John Galt is willing to bear the consequences for their "moment".
John Galt tells Dagny not to come to his home or try to see him.
THOUGHT PROCESSES
Hank is producing and NOT experiencing joy.
"...that joy is the goal of existence, and joy is not to be stumbled upon, but to be achieved..."
"...They know that I'm pouring more Metal than the quotas they give me to produce. They don't care. He added, They think I do."
"Tired Hank?"
"Bored to death."
"There was a time, she thought, when his mind, his energy, his inexhaustible resourcefulness had been given to the task of a producer devising better ways to deal with nature; now; they were switched to the task of a criminal outwitting men."
Hank ended up feeling joy as a release in surrender:
"She did not know which shock was greater: the sight of the message or the sound of Rearden's laughter - Rearden, standing on his feet, in full sight and hearing of the room behind him, laughing above the moans of pain, laughing in greeting, in salute, in acceptance of the gift he had tried to reject, in release, in triumph, in surrender."
Hank is habituated to Focus, but it looks like he may be moving up to Ease/Serenity. Dagny is habituated to Drift, but it looks like she may be moving down to Evasion:
"The next time she noticed the office around her and permitted herself to feel, it was noon of the following day. She stood in the middle of the office, running stiff, spread fingers through a strand of hair, brushing it back off her face --- and for an instant, she wondered where she was and what was the unbelievable thing that had happened in the last twenty hours. What she felt was horror, and she knew that she had felt it from the first words of the man on the wire, only there had been no time to know it."
"There was not much that remained in her mind of the last twenty hours, only disconnected bits, held together by the single constant that had made them possible --- by the soft, loose faces of men, who fought to hide from themselves that they knew the answers to the questions she asked."
Finally, consider the following:
-John Galt realized he was wrong at the age of 26 and changed his mind by going on strike.
-Francisco was shown by Galt that he was wrong and Francisco instantly changed his mind.
-Dagny is open to being proven wrong. Hank even affirms the Wet Nurse even though he has been wrong almost his entire life.
-James knows he's wrong, but he won't change his mind. In fact, he looks like his response is to get worse. (Same for Stadler.)
It appears (for Ayn) it is not about being right or wrong. It isn't even about how quickly you realize you are wrong. It is your response to being proven wrong that shows where you are truly at.
COMMENTS
Model – In the last chapter, we saw how production and life were being discouraged and we theorized it would eventually run out. In this chapter we see the continuation: “time is running out”. The reserves that make "cash flow" possible are running out. It’s to the point consumers have to admit they need producers. This chapter looks at the responsibility of the individual through the role of consumers and producers, the added value of reserves and the purpose of joy.
Producers – The Railroad Unification plan is a negative incentive to producers. The railroads are trying not to provide services in order to remain profitable. Ultimately, they go out of business because it’s the best way to stop losing money.
Consumers – They finally got their wish. "They had not wanted to know that this was what they wanted, they had not wanted to see that they had the power to wish, but not the power to fake – and they achieved their wish to the letter, to the last bloodstained comma of it." Consumers want the producers’ reserves. In order to justify their right to the reserves, consumers make extreme claims. These claims are based on their feelings (need and suffering) without logic. Strategically, the consumers make a claim to all of it, but will settle for the reserves. The claim to all of it leads them to demonize the producers. This includes demonizing production, wealth, joy, logic, etc. Unfortunately for the consumer, all of these things are needed in order to have something to consume. Reserves are needed to keep the producer out of "cash flow" problems. Joy (in its many forms) is needed to energize the producer and provide the ability to repair (life). The consumers stand out because they define their “lives” by suffering (lack of joy). In fact, in order for sustainability to be achieved, the exchange has to be "Two-Way". What are the consumers giving back. Dagny realizes this: "Now, it was still like a stream of blood, but like the one-way stream that runs from wound, draining the last of a body's sustenance and life. One-way traffic - she thought indifferently - consumers' traffic."
Slow Death - In addition, reserves are never enough because the consumers can consume it all and more. "Those who had once simpered: ‘I don’t want to destroy the rich, I only want to seize a little of their surplus to help the poor, just a little, they’ll never miss it!’ – then, later, snapped: ‘The tycoons can stand being squeezed, they’ve amassed enough to last them for three generations’ - then, later, had yelled: ‘why should people suffer while businessmen have reserves to last a year?’ – now were screaming: ‘Why should we starve while some people have reserves to last a week?’ What were they counting on? – she wondered." The reserves are down to one week’s worth.
Copper – The running story of copper wires breaking illustrates interdependency and the value of reserves. A wire breaks in California and Dagny depletes Montana’s reserves to help out California. Later, a copper wire in Montana breaks and Dagny depletes Minnesota’s reserves to help out Montana. Next, a copper wire in Minnesota breaks and Dagny depletes her last reserves at the Terminal to help out Minnesota. Is the copper wire breaking quicker than it used to? No, problems ALWAYS occur to EVERYONE. Now, the only difference is there are no reserves to fix the problems. Reserves buy time to make repairs. Consequently, when you are out of reserves, you are out of time to live (repair).
Government – Where are the government’s reserves? "But thirty million dollars of subsidy money from Washington had been plowed into Project Soybean. But five million dollars was being spent by the office of Morale Conditioning on the People’s Opera Company. Seven million dollars had been granted to a psychologist in charge of a project to solve the world crisis by research into the nature of brother-love. Ten million dollars had been granted to the manufacturer of a new electronic cigarette lighter." If the government wants to get in the business of supplying to consumers, they need to learn the principles behind producing. Our government seems to think it understands what's right for business. How successful has our government been in its role as a business? What is their checkbook balance?
Eastern – The Eastern belief is tied to the negative side of the scale several times in this chapter. Emma Chalmers is a Buddhist. Soybeans are from the cult of Oriental austerity. Dagny likens Jim’s friends to a fat, unhygienic rajah of India. Eastern philosophy isn’t interested in producing (creating/repairing/living) and avoids explaining why.
Why? – Philip and the Wet Nurse use two different techniques when they seek a job from Hank. Philip begs Hank for a job. He says he deserves it because he needs it. The Wet Nurse says he wants a job so he can earn his keep. Philip wants to consume. The Wet Nurse wants to produce. As mentioned in previous notes, Hank only turns people down if they don’t have the right reason. However, he has to turn down the Wet Nurse because he is being a "moral" businessman.
Personal – Actually, we will all get a chance to experience the "reserve" process on a personal level. In 1989, I took a course called Managing Interpersonal Relationships (MIR). It’s pretty well known. The course categorizes a person as a driver, expressive, analytical or amiable. They also categorize people on their ability to deal with all four types. The categories are on a spectrum: "W", "X", "Y" and "Z". Inflexible people are "W" and very flexible people are "Z". Years of categorizing people resulted in some very telling data. People who were 25-34 years old were equally spread in all four areas. The 35-44 age group had more people in the "X" group. The 45-54 age group had more people in the "Y" group. The 55 and older group was essentially all "W" or "Z". There was no middle ground. If we think back to our scale and reserves, most people do achieve a growing sum as they get older. However, problems will always occur. As people get to 55 they seem to fit in one of two categories. The "Z" group is made up of people who are still producing or have produced so much a life of consuming doesn’t make a significant dent in their reserves. The "W" group isn’t producing, so consuming takes over. And over time they just get washed down to the negative side of the scale.
Suffering - John Galt states a revelatory perspective on suffering: "Dagny, it's not that I don't suffer, it's that I know the unimportance of suffering. I know that pain is to be fought and thrown aside, not to be accepted as part of one's soul and as a permanent scar across one's view of existence." The negative side of the scale gets their identity from suffering. John Galt is not denying the existence of suffering. He is stating his will he doesn't accept suffering into his soul and existence. Again, a very spiritual perspective.
Honeymoon - Dagny and John Galt have their honeymoon and consummate their marriage. It is an effect of John Galt observing Dagny's handling of the Terminal crisis and Dagny's realization these were the same circumstances when he first fell in love with her. First, Dagny is wearing a dress made of light satin: "...a satin so light and thin that it could have served as the stuff of a nightgown." Second, Dagny recognizes what it is going on: "...if you know the meaning of this moment and can't let it slip by, as others let it slip, into the senselessness of the unwilled and unreached. You will follow me - she felt an exultant assurance which was neither hope nor faith, but an act of worship for the logic of existence." Dagny realized this moment hearkened back to the source of their attraction. Third, John Galt completes the covenant: "...as if he had nothing to hide from her any longer and what he owed her now was only the act of undressing his soul, as simply as he would have undressed his body..."
PRACTICAL APPLICATION (worth rereading)
Dagny’s handling of the Terminal problem is worth rereading in order to understand the issues surrounding progress. Dagny realizes the intelligence of one's work is linked to their ability to be controlled: "that the harder their work and the less their gain, the more submissive the fiber of their spirit"
All jobs consist of knowledge aspects and task aspects. The task aspects are those activities that can be reduced to writing and reproduced with minimal thought. Ultimately, a machine can execute these tasks. The knowledge aspects require thought. Not only are both necessary, they are related in the long-term profitable organization. In order for the organization to grow, new knowledge aspects have to be identified. In order for the company to maintain acquired growth, knowledge aspects must be actively turned into tasks. The reductions in resources needed to carry out the task are then used to identify new knowledge aspects.
"The pull of one of the small levers, which protruded like bookmarks from the shelves, threw thousands of electrical circuits in motion, made thousands of contacts and broke as many others, set dozens of switches to clear a chosen course and dozens of signals to light it, with no error left possible, no chance, no contradiction – an enormous complexity of thought condensed into one movement of a human hand…"
The main purpose of a machine is to reduce a knowledge aspect to a task. That doesn’t mean it takes no thought to carry out the aspect, it means it takes less thought. (This is essentially the third term in the Equation and is an effect of the first and second terms: mind and brain.)
"Oh, you thought that your tools would determine your ideas? But it happens to be the other way around."
People who use machines without ANY thought can end up in a lot of trouble. The reduction of a knowledge aspect to a task is supposed to make the process more efficient.
"‘By written order - just like in the old days.’ She pointed to the tower director. ‘He’s working out a schedule of how to move the trains and which tracks to use. He’ll write out an order for every signal and switch, he’ll pick some men as runners and they’ll keep delivering orders to every post – and it will take hours to do what used to take minutes, but we’ll get those waiting trains into the Terminal and out on the road.’"
Long-term profitability is dependent on increased efficiency. Efficiency can ONLY be achieved through interdependency. Whether we like it or not, we affect each other. Consequently, as society progresses, there are MORE chances for things to go wrong, not less.
Coming back from a convention in 2000, we sat for 45 minutes on the plane waiting to leave the gate. The businessman next to me was fuming. He called the airline’s customer service on his cell phone and got a $400 voucher. (It was his second one that week, to which he said aloud, "I’m beginning to look at airline travel as a profit center".) The reason we were held up? Someone misplaced our paperwork. He started to complain to me while I was reading AS. So I gave him a quick book review on this topic.
“As society gets more sophisticated, we become more interdependent. That means every step in the process has to be carried out and on time. Ideally, each step is reduced to a task. However, it only takes one person who is incapable of carrying out a task to wreck the whole process. Let’s face it, unemployment is so low, we are employing the unemployable. Consequently, everyone suffers." To which he replied, "That’s it exactly. What’s the name of that book?"
SUPPLEMENT
"I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering." (Agent Smith, The Matrix)
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous." (Psalms)
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house on a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it did not fall: for it was built on a rock." (Jesus)
Next Chapter: The Concerto of Deliverance
Table of Contents
No comments:
Post a Comment