One definition of hostile is “unfriendly, antagonistic”. I don’t think your reply was friendly, and you were definitely trying to oppose/argue with the implied criticism you received, so that seems antagonistic. Another definition is “marked by resistance especially to new ideas”. You were definitely resisting the new (to you) idea that the examples pointed out might have involved careless guesses.
One way to thing of it might be: in what ways did your reply fail to be a model of friendly curiosity? If we set the standard that high, perhaps that makes it easier to see warning signs of hostility.
She has difficulty finding decent people to hire or promote for jobs that involving thinking.
should be “that involve thinking”
Dagny’s understanding of life, morality, etc., is enough of a thorough, integrated, ever-present part of her thinking that looking at the status is sufficient for her to know what it means.
I re-read the first three chapters of Atlas Shrugged and have been reading Elliot’s close readings after each chapter. I’ve been through Elliot’s close readings before, and I have read AS many times, but I noticed myself missing certain things that Elliot noticed, despite having the benefit of these prior readings. Here’s one small example:
Larkin finally tells the truth, but Hank doesn’t notice it contradicts some of Larkin’s previous statements.
I didn’t notice this contradiction either, I think partially because I read Larkin’s statement "“But no, no special trouble this time. I just thought I’d drop in to see you.” in social mode as opposed to in literal mode. People very commonly deny they have a particular motivation for seeing someone when they do, so I just assumed he was doing standard lying and didn’t notice when he contradicted himself. Another part of the story is I’m not great at keeping track of discussion context. Anyways, just thought it was interesting.
saw a post on LinkedIn from Alex Epstein. His quote (which he chose as the key point/teaser to get people to watch the video) seems to be focused on social status. He didn’t pick a quote about wanting to correct misconceptions that people have about fossil fuels, change minds, use reason. He picked one talking about wanting to have a Jordan Peterson-like status such that the mainstream media can’t ignore you. I thought this was notable. It seems bad.
Paths Forward is an alternative where ideas and criticisms wouldn’t just be arbitrarily ignored because the speaker doesn’t have high enough social status. The idea is to have a norm where ideas are dealt with rationally. Epstein is trying to win an irrational game instead of pushing for a more rational system. As his hero Ayn Rand said, that is counter-productive.
On the general topic of nutrition and food additives, I wonder if anyone has looked into what the “natural flavors” in some foods are. I’ve tried to investigate and came across this (particularly relevant since Bubly drinks are what prompted me to investigate):
Basically it says nobody knows what they are. It says the FDA defines “natural flavors” in a very open-ended way, that a ton of “chemical food additives” are recognized as “natural flavors”, and that they just have to be “generally recognized as safe”. So I’m suspicious as to whether they’re good and thinking maybe they should be avoided.
I know that some things recommend avoiding “natural flavors” because they aren’t disclosed.
Related to this (hidden ingredients), did you know that most “gum base” (like in chewing gums) is plastic? If you want plastic-free gum, you have to specifically look for gums that disclose what is in their gum base and don’t use plastic.
She noticed the particular quality of Francisco’s smile again, one night, when she sat with him and Eddie at a bonfire they had built in the woods. The glow of the fire enclosed them within a fence of broken, moving strips that held pieces of tree trunks, branches and distant stars. She felt as if there were nothing beyond that fence, nothing but black emptiness, with the hint of some breath-stopping, frightening promise . . . like the future. But the future, she thought, would be like Francisco’s smile, there was the key to it, the advance warning of its nature—in his face in the firelight under the pine branches—and suddenly she felt an unbearable happiness, unbearable because it was too full and she had no way to express it. She glanced at Eddie. He was looking at Francisco. In some quiet way of his own, Eddie felt as she did.
“Why do you like Francisco?” she asked him weeks later, when Francisco was gone.
Eddie looked astonished; it had never occurred to him that the feeling could be questioned. He said, “He makes me feel safe.”
She said, “He makes me expect excitement and danger.”
When I listened to this I realized I didn’t actually understand the difference in their reactions.
Here’s a very tentative guess that might be way off (seemed worth trying some sort of analysis though; crits welcome):
Eddie’s good but not great so he needs people like Francisco in the world existing and running things. Francisco’s existence and presence makes him feel safe for that reason - it reminds him the world is in good hands.
Dagny is great and expects to be doing great things out in the world with Francisco, so she has a different reaction that’s more adventurous.
The principal at Whittier Elementary in Northwest Washington was the first to contact the fire department. Students’ smoke detectors kept chirping in the background of virtual classes. The problem seemed widespread at the elementary school of more than 300 students, and the principal sought help from the fire department on how to address the low batteries in smoke detectors.
But soon after, other school leaders across the city starting calling, too, according to Tony Falwell, fire marshal and deputy chief at the D.C. fire department. Smoke detectors in homes were disrupting classes across the city, and to Falwell — an experienced firefighter in the department’s fire prevention division — that meant that homes were more susceptible to dangerous fires.
And while the teachers heard it, the parents and students at the homes seemed so accustomed to the incessant noise that they didn’t notice it.
“As soon as you hear it, you need to address it,” Falwell said in an interview. “Because if you continue to ignore it, it just becomes background noise.”
Many people ignore constant chirping that warns them their potentially life-saving alarm isn’t working. Pretty scary. (Also, I don’t know how people could even do that - I like quiet though, and most people seem to live in much noisier environments than me).