Jerry Brito

Ayn Rand’s “New Man”

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Today would have been Ayn rand’s 100th birthday. The NYT profiles her and points out this quote: “This is the motive and purpose of my writing: the projection of an ideal man.” This is nothing new, but stated so clearly it reminded me of Che Guevara’s identical mission in life: to create the “New Man,” as he called it.

Obviously, where Rand’s ideal was selfish and individualist, Che’s had no ego and was communist. And while Che saught to create his New Man at the point of a gun, Rand simply resorted to scorn and hectoring of those who did not meet her approval. What is interesting, though, is that we don’t hear calls to change the nature of man anymore. I think it’s a combination of things.

For one thing, I think we’ve come to accept that man has an innate nature that can’t quite be changed on a dime, and that it is somewhere between the two extremes. Perhaps it is best summed up in the concept of reciprocal altruism. Also, perhaps the horrors of the world wars inspired an instinct to change man’s nature that we don’t see today. Where we do see it today, though, seems to be in radical islamism–perhaps also as a reaction to corruption and oppression.

Anyhow, since I don’t know where I’m going with this, I’ll just say happy birthday, Ayn! Here’s to your ubermensch android future!

Feb 2, 2005 | Comments