The lecturer was good in introducing the overview of Ayn Rand's philosophy and adept at answering questions from the audience. However, he left some unsatisfied questioners with slippery arguments on happiness, altruism and the demanding life of a true Ayn Rand follower. In its purest form, Ayn Rand's philosophy is idealist and heroic.
But with the messy reality of societies here and abroad, the vastly different levels of educations and socio-economic standings it would be hard or impossible to apply her objectivism philosophy to our daily life: how would one respond to victims of natural disasters here and abroad; how should one accept cheaper products/services manufactured by illegal aliens which would definitely be to one's benefits; how would society survive if the more numerous, better armed and less enlightened would threaten the life, liberty and freedom of the rest?
There are some evidence shown by evolutionary biologists that a society of an organism would have better chance of survival if the majority of individuals acted altruistically. This is contradictory to Ayn Rand's ethics of every man is an end in himself. I do like and agree with many of Ayn Rand's philosophical views of self-reliance and heroic individualism. But at the same time I am not sure how her philosophy would change the messy, uncertain predicaments of our current society. Try telling the millions of Americans who worship Hollywood celebrities or sports heroes or the under-educated/underclass mass about living a life of reason, purpose of self-esteem and see how far you'll get!
