State Science Institute - Revision history

DavidB4-bot: /* top */clean up & uniformity

2016-07-12T06:56:47Z

top: clean up & uniformity

TerryH at 04:08, February 18, 2012

2012-02-18T04:08:17Z

TerryH: /* Background */

2011-11-16T23:41:36Z

Background

TerryH: /* Typology */

2011-08-18T01:17:40Z

Typology

TerryH: /* Project F */

2011-08-18T01:13:59Z

Project F

TerryH: /* Background */

2011-08-18T01:11:59Z

Background

TerryH at 19:30, June 20, 2009

2009-06-20T19:30:49Z

TerryH at 00:37, June 9, 2009

2009-06-09T00:37:49Z

TerryH at 00:37, June 9, 2009

2009-06-09T00:37:23Z

LaxmanGurung: What would ZIZEK do?

2009-06-09T00:25:38Z

What would ZIZEK do?

New page

WHAT WOULD ZIZEK DO?

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:56, July 12, 2016
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−	The '''State Science Institute''' (fl. 2004-2020), in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was the government-run laboratory nominally directed by [[Robert Stadler]] but actually directed, in [[Niccolo Machiavelli\|Machiavellian]] fashion, by [[Floyd Ferris]]. It figures most prominently in three connections: a meretricious report on the merits of [[Henry Rearden#Rearden Metal\|Rearden Metal]], the construction of the infamous [[Project X]], and finally the construction of Project F, essentially a [[torture]] chamber where [[John Galt]] was briefly examined under duress until its electroshock generator failed.	+	The '''State Science Institute''' ([[floruit\|fl.]] 2004-2020), in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was the government-run laboratory nominally directed by [[Robert Stadler]] but actually directed, in [[Niccolo Machiavelli\|Machiavellian]] fashion, by [[Floyd Ferris]]. It figures most prominently in three connections: a meretricious report on the merits of [[Henry Rearden#Rearden Metal\|Rearden Metal]], the construction of the infamous [[Project X]], and finally the construction of Project F, essentially a [[torture]] chamber where [[John Galt]] was briefly examined under duress until its electroshock generator failed.

	{{spoiler}}		{{spoiler}}

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-The '''State Science Institute''', in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was the government-run laboratory nominally directed by [[Robert Stadler]] but actually directed, in [[Niccolo Machiavelli|Machiavellian]] fashion, by [[Floyd Ferris]]. It figures most prominently in three connections: a mendacious report on the merits of [[Henry Rearden#Rearden Metal|Rearden Metal]], the construction of the infamous [[Project X]], and finally the construction of Project F, essentially a [[torture]] chamber where [[John Galt]] was briefly examined under duress until its electroshock generator failed.
+The '''State Science Institute''' (fl. 2004-2020), in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was the government-run laboratory nominally directed by [[Robert Stadler]] but actually directed, in [[Niccolo Machiavelli|Machiavellian]] fashion, by [[Floyd Ferris]]. It figures most prominently in three connections: a meretricious report on the merits of [[Henry Rearden#Rearden Metal|Rearden Metal]], the construction of the infamous [[Project X]], and finally the construction of Project F, essentially a [[torture]] chamber where [[John Galt]] was briefly examined under duress until its electroshock generator failed.
 {{spoiler}}
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 In the novel, the State Science Institute was the brainchild of [[Robert Stadler]], who at the time held the chair of the [[Physics]] Department at [[Patrick Henry]] University, [[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]]. Stadler believed in the separation of "pure" [[science]] from applied science, and wanted a guaranteed source of funding so that no scientist would ever have to be beholden, as it were, to purely commercial interests.
-The Institute was probably established some time during or before the [[Second World War]], or perhaps simply the period in which that War (in real life) took place. (There is no evidence that, in the alternate history that the novel represents, the Second World War ever broke out.) The only clue to its year of establishment is a confrontation that took place between Dr. Stadler and his most prized pupil, [[John Galt]], concerning the propriety of such an Institute. John Galt, of course, did ''not'' recognize any legitimate divide between pure and applied science, nor that any government had any legitimate reason to fund scientific research.
+The Institute was established in 2004. This provoked a confrontation between Dr. Stadler and his most prized pupil, [[John Galt]], concerning the propriety of such an Institute. John Galt, of course, did ''not'' recognize any legitimate divide between pure and applied science, nor that any government had any legitimate reason to fund scientific research.
 Robert Stadler, of course, became Director of the Institute, a post he held until his death. But very soon he lost a key part of his power to his Associate Director and Top Co-ordinator, [[Floyd Ferris]]. While Stadler was the "pure scientist," Ferris was a [[politics|politician]] ''par excellence'', and used his political abilities to change the Institute's entire mission in a manner that Stadler found himself powerless to stop or control.
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 == The Rearden Metal Controversy ==
-The first episode in which the State Science Institute plays a part is the controversy surrounding the introduction of [[Henry Rearden#Rearden Metal|Rearden Metal]]. On the flimsiest of evidence, the Institute said that Rearden Metal represented an unproved technology, and that its response when carrying tremendous loads, or bearing great structural stresses, was impossible to predict.
+The first episode in which the State Science Institute plays a part is the controversy surrounding the introduction of [[Henry Rearden#Rearden Metal|Rearden Metal]], in 2017. On the flimsiest of evidence, the Institute said that Rearden Metal represented an unproved technology, and that its response when carrying tremendous loads, or bearing great structural stresses, was impossible to predict.
 How Stadler would have handled the controversy is impossible to determine. But Ferris had a political motive for issuing a report that was, essentially, filled with [[George Orwell|Orwellian]] doubletalk. He was attempting to curry favor with an industry lobby that stood to lose a great deal if Rearden Metal was accepted.
-But after the opening of the John Galt Railway Line, which included a track and even an entire bridge of Rearden Metal, the Institute's report was forgotten. Ferris saw to it that the Institute's egregious miscall of the potential of Rearden Metal would never redound to the discredit of the Institute or of himself.
+But after the opening of the John Galt Railway Line (July 22, 2017), which included a track and even an entire bridge of Rearden Metal, the Institute's report was forgotten. Ferris saw to it that the Institute's egregious miscall of the potential of Rearden Metal would never redound to the discredit of the Institute or of himself.
 == Project X==
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 Floyd Ferris' next effort was [[Project X]], a project that built upon Robert Stadler's earlier work on the physics of [[sound]] to produce a device, called the Xylophone or the "[[Mr. Thompson|Thompson]] Harmonizer," that could pulverize objects of any size within a very large radius. Ironically (and hypocritically), Ferris sought to use Rearden Metal to build the Xylophone. But Henry Rearden refused ever to deal with the State Science Institute "for any purpose whatever, good or bad, secret or open," and so Ferris had to settle for ordinary [[steel]].
-Nevertheless, Ferris succeeded in building the Xylophone and in demonstrating it to a group of dignitaries who, while clearly horrified, nevertheless praised it as "an instrument of peace."
+Nevertheless, Ferris succeeded in building the Xylophone and (on June 29, 2019) in demonstrating it to a group of dignitaries who, while clearly horrified, nevertheless praised it as "an instrument of peace."
 The ultimate irony would come later, however: in the last year of John Galt's strike, Robert Stadler attempted to seize direct control of the Xylophone and ended up struggling violently with another faction leader over its controls. The result was its premature detonation and the destruction, among other things, of the [[Taggart Bridge]]. That single event precipitated the final collapse of the [[United States]] into [[anarchy]].
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 Two things went wrong on that fateful occasion. First, the electroshock generator failed, and the only man who knew how to repair it turned out to be John Galt himself. Galt's calm and careful proposal for repair of the very device that had been causing him pain, caused the generator's operating technician to flee the project site, and then caused one of Ferris' two witnesses, [[James Taggart]], to suffer a complete nervous breakdown.
-The second thing happened while Ferris and [[Wesley Mouch]] were transporting Jim Taggart to the nearest hospital (presumably Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, then in Hanover). A [[militia]] [[commando]] force led by [[Ragnar Danneskjold]] liberated John Galt from the project site and killed several of its guards in the process.
+The second thing happened while Ferris and [[Wesley Mouch]] were transporting Jim Taggart to the nearest hospital (presumably the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, then in Lebanon). A [[militia]] [[commando]] force led by [[Ragnar Danneskjöld]] liberated John Galt from the project site and killed several of its guards in the process.
 == Aftermath ==

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 === Probable location ===
 The State Science Institute was located in [[New Hampshire]], in a cold region, and near enough to a major river to see it. The only river that could qualify is the [[Connecticut River]], and specifically that part of it that separates New Hampshire from [[Vermont]]. And the most likely location is therefore the reservation that, in real life, holds the [[United States Army]] Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, located along the two-lane highway (Highway Ten, known as the Lyme Road at that point), about a twenty-minute walk north of [[Dartmouth College]] in Hanover. Hence it would be close enough to offer fellowships at a major [[Ivy League]] [[university]], and even long-standing relationships with several faculty departments at that university.
 == The Rearden Metal Controversy ==

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 But most of all, Rand used the Institute as the symbol of the ''mind-body dichotomy'', the notion that the mind and the body ought to be separate. The artificial divide between "pure" and applied science is one illustration of this. Robert Stadler believes that a "scientific mind" should be above commercial or "practical" concerns. He forgot that
 scientific discoveries will always find a practical use, and if those discoveries belong to a government, then they will inevitably serve a purpose of destruction, not construction.
 {{nb Atlas}}
 [[Category:Literary Figures]]

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 Two things went wrong on that fateful occasion. First, the electroshock generator failed, and the only man who knew how to repair it turned out to be John Galt himself. Galt's calm and careful proposal for repair of the very device that had been causing him pain, caused the generator's operating technician to flee the project site, and then caused one of Ferris' two witnesses, [[James Taggart]], to suffer a complete nervous breakdown.
-The second thing happened while Ferris and [[Wesley Mouch]] were transporting Jim Taggart to the nearest hospital. A [[militia]] [[commando]] force led by [[Ragnar Danneskjold]] liberated John Galt from the project site and killed several of its guards in the process.
+The second thing happened while Ferris and [[Wesley Mouch]] were transporting Jim Taggart to the nearest hospital (presumably Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, then in Hanover). A [[militia]] [[commando]] force led by [[Ragnar Danneskjold]] liberated John Galt from the project site and killed several of its guards in the process.
 == Aftermath ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:37, June 9, 2009
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	The '''State Science Institute''', in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was the government-run laboratory nominally directed by [[Robert Stadler]] but actually directed, in [[Niccolo Macchiavelli\|Macchiavellian]] fashion, by [[Floyd Ferris]]. It figures most prominently in three connections: a mendacious report on the merits of [[Henry Rearden\|Rearden Metal]], the construction of the infamous [[Project X]], and finally the construction of Project F, essentially a [[torture]] chamber where [[John Galt]] was briefly examined under duress until its electroshock generator failed.

−		+	{{nb Atlas}}
−	~~WHAT WOULD ZIZEK DO?~~	+	[[Category:Literary Figures]]