".....best return implies a degree of intelligence not always found in lowest price."

Oh, I do like that.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!

" When governments pretend to pay people, people pretend to work."

Big pluses for that one phrase...........!!!!!!!!

China? No way. Why? Piracy.

If you manufacture something in China, you have to give the Chinese government the plans to how it is built. They have no respect for property rights or invention. Neither Galt nor any other Objective inventor would ever consider manufacturing in China at this point in time.

Maybe you can have him stumble across the Statute of Liberty with Lazarus' poem intact and his search for its beginnings points him toward a re-discovery of America?

You understand, then: no novel can succeed unless it is primarily the story of a particular person or persons. It's not enough to narrate a Big Event. One must narrate the story of one caught up in that event. One who learns something from it.

Such a person is a literary hero. By my definition, Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden are the heroes of AS. John Galt, Francisco d'Anconia, and Ragnar Danneskjöld are anti-villains. "Villains" because, unlike heroes, they have already made their decisions and will ruthlessly carry on to their destinies. "Anti-" because the cause they serve is just rather than unjust.

Henry Rearden said it best of all, to Gwen Ives: "I am discovering a new continent. One that should have been discovered along with America, but wasn't."

Now I must invent a character who sets out to find Atlantis and makes a similar discovery. I could, possibly, use Eddie Willers--or some scout, either independent or belonging to some settlement or other, who discovers him. And doesn't know quite what to make of the raving maniac he has by then become, or how to help him.

I like it!

That's pretty much what John Galt expected of the founders of these communities. There's your theme, by the way. The plot-theme must involve someone caught up in the collapse, who learns a stern life lesson as the leaders of several of these communities recruit and sent out a scout force on a "Quest for Atlantis." Which, by the way, is my working title.

It sounds like the birth of civilization itself! Let us hope it doesn't take another 8000 years or more.

+1 most State and local governments would be functioning on a level of Today's Detroit.

The only problem is that "States Rights" by the time of Galt's invention had already been destroyed by the federal government and it's crony-capitalist leeches. I don't believe there were any "Right to Work" states left according to Ayn Rand.

Actually the best would be that these mini-Gulches would self-form and trade together and even band together for their mutual protection. All voluntarily! Gee! that sounds like the start of our country before the birth of this federal wasteful and tyrannical Leviathan we have now.

I agree! Best product at the most "reasonable" price. Value for what you are getting!

Well said! When governments pretend to pay people, people pretend to work. Socialist countries have traded the work ethic for the entitlement mentality (just like we are seeing here in the US). The least resilient countries are the ones that must practice tyranny in a police state! Galt would never wish to move to a "Peoples Republic" to build his engine unlike Apple Computer.

I believe that we "vote with our money" and also
vote with our choices. . if I were John, I would have
the motors made in the u.s. in a right-to-work State
under license (as long as patents would last) while
I worked in my lab to invent more. . I believe in the
u.s. even to this day. -- j
.

If even one state, the country or the whole world ever got back to 'Principles' then he probably would have produced his generators in every country under his own supervision.

+1 An excellent idea.

One of several things to think about.

What would you lose by starting this kind of project? It will take some time to undertake and more connections can be made in the meantime. There are important people in this place with valuable networks outside of the site. The Gulch is a great place to start. It's just difficult to recommend a book that hasn't been written.

They must be negotiating that now, because it's easier to go into business in Hong Kong than here.

You'd have to acknowledge that there would be Gulches all over the world. What would develop would be an international trading network between these Gulches, somewhat like the silk road and its trade between city states. The rebirth would come from that network.

I like the idea of John and Dagny's son/daughter starting a reconnaissance of the post-collapse world.

Maybe the son/daughter of Prometheus and the Gaia [Anthem].

You bet!

True. In fact it's the only decent, independent money left. Oh, you can debase officially stamped coin, but someone can melt that down and re-refine the gold so you have a standard--one thousand fine. There is no such concept as "one thousand fine" applicable to government scrip.

A universe in which everything took place *except* the withdrawal of a group of "people of the mind"? Or one in which a bunch of people like us decide to "make it real"?

Actually someone already created the scenario in which the whole society collapses. But not everyone here is going to appreciate it. The author's name is John the Apostle, also known as Saint John of Jerusalem. The work I cite is The Away-Vision (Apocalypsis) from John, or the Revelation to John as St. Jerome called it. He told of this mainly in allegorical signs: a generalized earthquake with simultaneous solar and lunar eclipse manifestations to signify the collapse, then the arrival of a man-with-a-plan--a real braggart, and, to give him credit, a great military captain. See Revelation chapters 6 and 13 for details.

Gold is money too.