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The Age of Rand: Imagining an Objectivist Future World

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Ayn Rand and Objectivism have inspired a substantial and growing number of written works. Most of them deal with either biographical matters or analyses of her philosophy.

This book is different.

The Age of Rand assumes at least a working knowledge of Rand's works on the reader's part; to quote from the introduction, "Relating, integrating, finding the connections--between Rand's past, present and future, her place in the long perspective of history--that is the purpose of this book." The author takes Rand's vision and runs with it -- in a number of different directions, speculating on how a future world in which Rand's ideas have been widely or universally adopted might look.

But wait -- there's more. This "speculation" about such a future isn't simply fanciful fantasizing based on utopian dreams, but is grounded in a broad and thorough knowledge of history, and is well supported with examples from past events and long-term trends. The book also includes excellent arguments in support of Objectivism, and provides a great deal of practical advice on how to get to the "Age of Rand".

Some of the treats in store for the reader: a superb analysis of the true nature of altruism; and a fascinating synthesis of the minarchist position and the anarchist position guaranteed to generate intense discussion.

The book is beautifully written, with a richness, depth, and clarity that make the reading a pleasure. The author doesn't hesitate to criticize Rand where criticism is called for, and certainly doesn't hesitate to improve on the master's work. But such criticisms and improvements are in the details, not in the essentials. Running through every chapter is Cookinham's quiet, steady passion for Rand's vision for life as it might be and ought to be.

Highly recommended.

After all the bitter and spiteful fulminations that have been written about novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand and Objectivism, how refreshing it is to come upon a book that can treat this subject with even-handedness, optimism, and even good-natured humor.

Mr. Cookinham, a native of New York City, a student and participant in the Objectivist movement for some thirty years, and the originator of an Ayn Rand-oriented walking tour in NYC, is ideally equipped to explain what Ayn Rand and Objectivism is all about.

Based on his first-hand knowledge of both the philosophy and the movement(s) that developed around it, Mr. Cookinham explains what has attracted so many people, how some have successfully applied Objectivist principles to further their life and careers, and also why a vocal minority instead descended into factionalism and other infighting.

But above the description of the philosophy and the colorful personalities (in addition to Ayn Rand) that developed and/or were attracted to it, the author goes on to develop some intriguing speculations on what the future might hold for this dynamic philosophy. He offers some optimistic (and some not-so-optimistic) scenarios on where Objectivism may be heading and the effects that its continued growth may have on the culture.

But it is this thought-provoking focus on "imagining an Objectivist future world" that makes this book stand out and sets it apart from all the other published surveys of Ayn Rand and her ideas. This is a first-rate achievement!

Mr. Cookinham takes his readers through a realistic walk of history from a professional historian's point of view. Openly, he cites the benefits conferred by the practice of objectivism and the humanness of the founders and their time. If there is a top to the top, Fred takes us there. This book is a look into a possible and probable future where there is a rule by law, not by force, and not by rulers. He shows how this future is possible based on the past actions of the Heroes in our world and the U.S. The Age of Rand, Imagining an Objectivist Future is a professional, creative, reality based rung to grip in our climb toward a better world. It will happen!

I liked this book. It's not a book about Objectivism so much as about Objectivists. The author is an old New York Objectivist and knows a lot of details that haven't been published before. He takes (very general) ideas seriously and thinks about them for himself.
This has a rare quality in Objectivist books, hundreds of new ideas. Only a few are very good ideas, but that's not so important. Finding new ideas is the hardest part of intellectual growth. And this book has another quality sorely missed among Objectivists: a complete absence of malice. When criticism is just, he doesn't shy from it: Ayn Rand swore her closest companions to secrecy so they could deceive the rest of the world. But there's no glee, no "gotcha," no need to rub our noses in it. Nor is there malice toward the anti-Rand camp. I never thought I'd see it: a benevolent book about Objectivists.

"The Age of Rand" might technically be a philosophy book, however its easy style makes it a pleasurable poolside read from start to finish.

The book contains well written explanations of Rand's concepts together with mention of movies and books by other authors that have tie-ins. I will be reading a few of the cited books in the future.

I also enjoyed the historical blurbs, particularly regarding New York City history and numerous comments about George Washington. I happen to read a lot about both Washington and Rand and was pleasantly surprised to find both featured in the same book.

My only criticism is that I cannot understand how the author can advocate the "non-aggression principle" of Objectivism while praising labor unions at the same time.

John Christmas, author of "Democracy Society"

I come at Ayn Rand as someone who appreciates what Rand tried to do. I want a lot of what Rand wanted, in other words, along with other values implicit in her philosophy which she didn't think of extracting, namely, radical life extension and the other human enhancemnts advocated by the "transhumanists" these days.

I just don't think Rand and her followers managed to pull it off, and Cookinham's science fiction shows why. Rand constructed an elaborate world view based on the idea that the human mind has complete sovereignty over itself, hence the rhetoric about man's "self-made soul" and the like. But in reality we have plenty of empirical evidence that Objectivism's fundamental premise doesn't map reality in the least. Premodern observations about a nonrational "human nature" have converged with modern neuroscience and the more controversial insights from evolutionary psychology to show that the real work of the mind happens in unconscious brain processes which our conscious minds cannot access. The brain then generates "consciousness" as a kind of false memory or hardwired hallucination about 300 milliseconds after the fact (experiments have actually measured this) to rationalize in an overwhelmingly convincing way what the brain just did, even if the rationalization makes no sense to outside observers, as often happens in patients with certain kinds of brain lesions. Terror management theorists in psychology have also demonstrated through experiments how reminders of death ("mortality salience") make people defend irrational behavior directed towards eliminating sources of danger, for example, the Objectivist calls for a genocide of Muslims after 9-11.

If, as the evidence suggests, humans have no deep understanding of, and control over, their minds, then an Objectivist "Age of Rand" simply can't get started.

And while Cookinham does allow that we could conquer aging and death some day, in the meantime these hard biological realities make Objectivism unworkable both before and after the window of vigorous adulthood. As an article in Reason magazine about Rand last year points out,

"In its pure form, Rand's philosophy would work very well indeed if human beings were never helpless and dependent through no fault of their own. Thus, it's hardly surprising that so many people become infatuated with Objectivism as teenagers and "grow out of it" later, when concerns of family, children, and old age--their own and their families'--make that fantasy seem more and more impossible."

Rand clearly felt uncomfortable with the facts that women have babies, that men often have to renounce a considerable number of personal values (e.g., sex without familial obligations) to support them, and that we wind up old, sick and eventually dead any way no matter how much wealth we can accumulate. (Notice that Rand portrays Hank Rearden's having an elderly mother a misfortune he readily abandons when he joins the strike.) Yet she formulated her "ethics," so called, by ignoring childhood and assuming that we can only die from misadventures, even though no amount of Objectivist philosophy and money-making can keep you alive longer than those relatively poor people who make the record books by living past 120 years. People who want to live like Rand's heroes, really can't do so under current circumstances. So you might as well use Rand's novels for door stops, go read what modern science has revealed about human nature, and start your project of philosophical reconstruction over from scratch.