E22 - Definitions of Property (Private, Personal, Intellectual)

A Socialist Reads Atlas Shrugged

After a short statement touching base about the format of the podcast, Jonathan returns to Orren Boyle's ideas about the social responsibilities of companies. The Delano Grape Strike & Boycott is a famous example of the "people not standing for it" when a company fails in its social responsibilities. The bulk of this episode is devoted to an economic discussion of the concept of private property. To distinguish between Orren Boyle's definition of private property and most socialists' definitions of private property, Jonathan emphasizes the difference between private property and the economic concept of personal property. Socialists do have an area of agreement with Boyle's conceptualization of private property regarding the topic of intellectual property regarding live-saving technologies such as pharmaceutical generics and the Green Revolution touched off by Norman Borlaug. Jonathan ends the episode by explaining the dangers of the extremes when it comes to economic competition: monopoly and "unbridled competition." For a great op-ed about third-party sellers flooding Amazon, see this piece by Moira Weigel.
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?

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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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