TOS-Con 2019

Intellectual Independence: Your Basic Means of Thriving

Craig Biddle

Throughout life, we engage with, work with, and learn from many people. We befriend some, admire some, revere a few. All such encounters and relationships—especially those involving reverence—entail the possibility of compromising our intellectual independence.

Other people may seem certain about a given issue. Their arguments may seem convincing. They may treat their claims or expertise as decisive. And they may pressure us to accept their views on pain of disapproval.

But vital questions remain: What do I think? Does a given argument make sense to me? Is there evidence in support of the idea or claim in question? Is there evidence against it? Can I access the evidence? Do I need to take a position on this issue? If so, why? And so on.

In this talk, Craig Biddle will discuss the process of asking and answering such questions, strategies for ensuring that you engage in the process when necessary, and ways to teach these vital methods to others, including children and teenagers.

Enrich Your Life with Poetry

Lisa VanDamme

Today, many regard poetry as boring and best left to highbrows whose love of it is largely pretension. But in truth, poetry is one of the most powerfully soul-expanding art forms.

In this talk, Lisa VanDamme will reveal how deeply moving, illuminating, and personal the experience of reading a poem can be. She will explain why you may not experience the pleasure of a great poem merely by reading it. And she will teach a simple method, which is rarely taught or understood, for unlocking a poem’s meaning and value.

You will experience the power of poetry to enrich your life, and you will leave knowing how to reap this benefit again and again.

“Democratic Socialism”: The Whitewashing of Evil

Richard Salsman

Socialism has been proposed and practiced in numerous forms since the 1830s, including “utopian” socialism, Marxian socialism, national socialism, Christian socialism, and agrarian socialism. In its most virulent forms—as enacted in Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Red China, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela—the result has been mass misery, mass poverty, and mass murder. Some dismiss such cases as unrepresentative of “true” socialism, claiming that “real” socialism is peaceful, progressive, and morally correct.

Many socialists in America today aim to enact it slowly, consensually, and electorally, calling their version “democratic socialism.” This ruse has taken hold already in Europe and is now fast-gaining adherents in America, especially among the young.

In this talk, Richard Salsman will examine the means by which so-called “democratic socialism” is gaining ground. He will also zero in on the fundamental principles that people must understand and embrace to defeat it and to advance the only genuinely moral and practical social system: laissez-faire capitalism.

Cinema for the Soul

Patrick Reasonover

Cinema is the most complex form of art, incorporating all of the elements of literature (plot, theme, characterization, etc.)—plus acting, cinematography, lighting, costumes, props, soundtracks, special effects, and more.

With its many integrated elements, cinema has the capacity to affect our souls deeply and profoundly. In addition to entertaining us, it can challenge our preconceptions, help us to think more clearly, bring us to laughter or tears, and inspire us to persevere, to improve our lives, to fight for liberty, to love our loved ones with all that we have. Cinema at its best is fuel for the soul.

What are the characteristics of great cinema? Why do some movies and television shows affect us so deeply? And what gems are available that we may not have discovered?

Producer and Taliesin Nexus president and co-founder Patrick Reasonover will discuss movies and shows that he recommends, and several he’s helped to develop.

The Trader Principle and the Harmony of Rational Values

Andrew Bernstein

An important moral principle underlying civilized society is that of trade: All exchange of values must proceed by mutual consent and to mutual advantage of all parties involved. This principle applies not only to material values, such as food and medicine, but also to spiritual values, such as friendship and romance. To the extent that people understand and uphold the trader principle, they can live in harmony. To the extent that they don’t, they suffer discord and sometimes violence.

In this talk, Andrew Bernstein will examine the trader principle from multiple perspectives, concretizing it in myriad ways and showing its ubiquity in rational relationships. Whatever your current understanding, you will leave with a greater ability to apply the principle in your own life, to articulate it to others, and to advance civilized society.

How Music Conveys Meaning (Lecture & Performance)

Robin Field

Why does some music trigger powerful and specific emotions? Is it true, as some claim, that music does this without conveying meaning? Or is music “the universal language” in the sense that it does convey meaning?

In this combination lecture and performance, the award-winning entertainer, composer, and lyricist Robin Field will demonstrate how the basic elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm) can express ideas and images, which can lead the listener to an emotional response. Field will play and discuss several well-known pieces, showing how music can and does convey meaning and why this makes it such a profoundly life-serving value.

Come for an evening of discovery and delight.

How to Create a Career that Makes You Come Alive

Isaac Morehouse

Throughout life, you spend the vast majority of your waking hours working. How much better would life be if you created a career you love? Whatever your stage in life, you can create one.

In this talk, Isaac Morehouse will discuss principles, strategies, and practices for creating or transitioning to a career you love. He’ll also address misconceptions, beliefs, and fallacies that can throttle that effort. Whether you’re just starting to think about a career, decades into one, or anywhere in-between, this presentation will help you to think clearly, take charge, and create a career that makes you come alive.

Optimism in Visual Art

Bryan Larsen

Is optimism in art distinct from naiveté, kitsch, or sentimentalism? Renowned romantic realist painter Bryan Larsen answers with an emphatic “Yes!”

In this talk, Larsen will discuss the role of optimism in visual art, how it influences his choices of theme and subject, and how he aims to affect viewers with his work. Along the way, he will discuss sources of inspiration, the use of juxtaposition as a narrative tool, the resurgence of skilled training in classical technique, and related matters.

Larsen’s talk will be accompanied by examples from his work and that of others. Prepare for an intellectual and visual feast!

Basic Principles and Pitfalls of Fitness Training

Chad Morris

Most people understand that exercise is crucial to health, but relatively few agree about what kind of exercise is best. Even among fitness experts and personal trainers, conflicting advice abounds. How can you navigate the often contradictory claims? How can you determine what is really best for you?

In this talk, Chad Morris will zero in on basic, big-picture truths and help you to think clearly about what’s best for you given your context, age, physical condition, and goals. He will address questions such as: What are the benefits of and differences between cardiovascular, aerobics, weight lifting, and body-weight exercises? To what extent should you incorporate these into your fitness routine? How often and for how long should you exercise to achieve optimal results? Is more always better? What’s the role of rest?

In addition to identifying key truths about fitness training, Morris will address various pitfalls to avoid in your efforts to get or stay fit.

Here’s to exercising your body as well as your mind!

The Morality of More: How Advertising Inspires Us to Be More Productive, Make More Money, and Achieve More Happiness

Tim Chermak

When economists and historians consider the ways in which free markets and corporations have dramatically improved our standard of living, they typically ignore the contributions of the advertising industry. And many people today regard advertisements as an annoyance, something to be avoided or skipped whenever possible. But, says Tim Chermak, these people are missing one of the telltale signs and causes of human progress and prosperity.

In this talk, Chermak will take a philosophical and historical perspective on advertising, asking: What exactly is this thing? Where and when did it originate—and why? What is its relationship to freedom, capitalism, and human flourishing? How does it relate to free will? What is its moral status? And, most importantly, what’s in it for you?

Beginner Lindy Hop Workshop

David Crawford

Lindy hop is one of the most popular social dances in the world today. It’s also one of the most energetic, athletic, and unabashedly joyful dances ever devised.

In this one-hour workshop, David Crawford will teach the basics of Lindy hop for absolute beginners. You don’t need to know anything about Lindy hop or dancing at all, and you don’t need to bring a partner. Just bring your feet—even if you have two lefties—and your willingness to try something new.

David will have you dancing in no time. As he puts it, “I’ll take you from no dance experience to being able to dance to a three-minute song while smiling at your partner the whole time.” Then you’ll be all set to Lindy hop the night away at the TOS-Con dance on Saturday.

The Human-Flourishing Framework: A Powerful Tool for Clear Thinking

Alex Epstein

To accurately assess the moral status of fossil fuels, we must understand how and to what extent they positively and negatively affect the lives of human beings. This is a key theme in Alex Epstein’s first book, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels. While writing the revised edition, The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels 2.0, Epstein developed a human flourishing-based framework for evaluating any technology, from GMOs to social media to self-driving cars. In this talk, Epstein will elaborate further on this framework, showing how it can help us to think clearly and objectively not only about technologies, but also about personal productiveness, recreation, rejuvenation, and other crucial aspects of life.

How to Lead an Enlightenment Life in an Anti-Enlightenment World

Timothy Sandefur

The Enlightenment was a period during which intellectual leaders prioritized values—including secularism, individual liberty, scientific research, and skepticism toward religion and tradition—that gave birth to, among other things, the United States. Yet these values are increasingly under assault by advocates of government intervention in the economy and society; by academics who promote cultural relativism and denigrate freedom, wealth, science, and the Enlightenment itself; and by religionists who claim that the Enlightenment was rooted in faith.

In this talk, Timothy Sandefur will recount the philosophical and political legacy of the Enlightenment and discuss how embracing its core values can help us to lead freer, happier lives today.

John Locke: The Father of Liberalism

Jon Hersey

In the realm of life-serving philosophy, few have contributed as much as John Locke. America’s founders stood on his shoulders, putting into practice his ideas on natural rights, justified revolution, constitutional government, separation of powers, and freedom of conscience. Locke was also seminal to the Scottish Enlightenment, which would fuel the Industrial Revolution and vital philosophic discourse throughout Europe.

Jon Hersey will tell the story of the “Father of Liberalism,” discuss his contributions to our freedom and prosperity, and highlight Lockean principles that can help us to advance the Enlightenment and live in it today.

Turning Philosophy into Technology

Tal Tsfany

Why are many tech entrepreneurs rational and knowledgeable in regard to their businesses and what it takes to build a great company and massive wealth—yet simultaneously irrational and/or ignorant regarding the political freedom and philosophic foundations on which such productiveness depends? And what happens when such entrepreneurs discover rational philosophic principles and inject them into their companies?

In this talk, Tal Tsfany will discuss what he calls the “ought-is” gap (not a typo)—that is, the gap between entrepreneurs’ knowledge of what they ought to do for success in business, and the moral and philosophic facts that underlie and support those “oughts.” He will also relay what he has observed in the tech world when entrepreneurs have discovered the principles of Objectivism, bridged the “ought-is” gap, and put rational philosophic ideas to work in their businesses.

Purpose X: Understanding Objectivism and Using It to Thrive

Craig Biddle

Ayn Rand created Objectivism as a practical philosophy. She called her ethics “the morality of life,” said its purpose is to teach you “to enjoy yourself and live,” and called Objectivism as such “a philosophy for living on earth.” The ultimate purpose of Objectivism—and of every branch, principle, and aspect of the philosophy—is to guide you in living and loving your life.

Yet many treat Objectivism as something else—whether a new set of commandments or categorical imperatives to accept and obey in order to be a “good Objectivist,” or a cudgel with which to beat people and win arguments, or a set of floating abstractions that connect like a puzzle in midair but have no connection to reality or practical application in life.

In this talk, Craig Biddle will introduce a tool called “Purpose X,” which can help you to see and use Objectivism as the vital, fact-based, life-serving philosophy that it is.