[MD] Emergent Consciousness

[craigerb at comcast.net]

To all,
I think Platt is being coy.  "To each his own" is not the best formulation of the message of Atlas Shrugged.
One message of that great work is the following:  The best organizations are the ones with the best leaders; the best products come from the best inventors & engineers; the best art from the greatest artists & authors.  We need to create an environment that is not artifically restrictive to these people of genius & properly rewards them for their creations.  Since we cannot know in advance who these people are, we need to create this environment for everyone, so that they can emerge.  This libertarian picture of society is nearest to the message Platt found.   
There is also the theme of individual morality, as in the following:
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another, nor ask another man to live for mine."  (Cp. "I will never go hungry again".  Scarlet O'Hara, GWTW)  This "virtue of selfishness" is separate from the libertarian theme.
Craig