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Ayn Rand and I remained close until she died in 1982, and I'm grateful for the influence she had on my life. I was intellectually limited until I met her. All of my work had been empirical and numbers-based, never values-oriented. I was a talented technician, but that was all. My logical positivism had discounted history and literature -- if you'd asked me whether Chaucer was worth reading, I'd have said, "Don't bother." Rand persuaded me to look at human beings, their values, how they work, what they do and why they do it, and how they think and why they think. This broadened my horizons far beyond the models of economics I'd learned. I began to study how societies form and how cultures behave, and to realize that economics and forecasting depend on such knowledge -- different cultures grow and create material wealth in profoundly different ways.
Ayn Rand and I remained close until she died in 1982, and I'm grateful for the influence she had on my life. I was intellectually limited until I met her. All of my work had been empirical and numbers-based, never values-oriented. I was a talented technician, but that was all. My logical positivism had discounted history and literature -- if you'd asked me whether Chaucer was worth reading, I'd have said, "Don't bother." Rand persuaded me to look at human beings, their values, how they work, what they do and why they do it, and how they think and why they think. This broadened my horizons far beyond the models of economics I'd learned. I began to study how societies form and how cultures behave, and to realize that economics and forecasting depend on such knowledge -- different cultures grow and create material wealth in profoundly different ways.
Ayn Rand “the lifeline feeding any social system is a culture’s dominant philosophy and . . . Capitalism never had a philosophical base” (24).
David Mamet (1947 - ) Goddard College
David Mamet (1947 - ) Goddard College Founds theater company, S. Nicholas Theatre Company
David Mamet (1947 - ) Goddard College Founds theater company, S. Nicholas Theatre Company Meets William H. Macy
David Mamet (1947 - ) Goddard College Founds theater company, S. Nicholas Theatre Company Meets William H. Macy Brief stint in real estate
David Mamet (1947 - ) Early dialogue plays
David Mamet (1947 - ) Early dialogue plays Radio plays
David Mamet (1947 - ) Early dialogue plays Radio plays Emphasis on dialogue and speech
David Mamet (1947 - ) Early dialogue plays Radio plays Emphasis on dialogue and speech Sociolect: distinct idiom of a social group
Capitalist existentialism Water Engine: Chicago World Fair; pyramid scheme
Capitalist existentialism Water Engine: Chicago World Fair; pyramid scheme American Buffalo: pawn shop
Capitalist existentialism Water Engine: Chicago World Fair; pyramid scheme American Buffalo: pawn shop Cons: House of Cards; The Spanish Prisoner
Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) Real estate idiom
Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) Real estate idiom • Leads
Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) Real estate idiom • Leads • Sales maxims (5th clip: 08:32)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) Real estate idiom • Leads • Sales maxims • Closing
Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) Real estate idiom • Leads • Sales maxims • Closing • Roma’s sale [first bookmark: 4:31]
Glengarry Glen Ross (1983) Real estate idiom • Leads • Sales maxims • Closing • Roma’s sale [first bookmark: 4:31] • The fabrication [second bookmark: 1:09]
How language works: Threats
How language works: Threats Fantasies
How language works: Threats Fantasies Insinuations
How language works: Threats Fantasies Insinuations Robbery plot: just listening means being implicated [third bookmark: 0:45]
Talking too much Levine reveals himself [1:23:46]
Dramaticinfluences: Samuel Beckett (dramatist of inaction)
Dramaticinfluences: Samuel Beckett (dramatist of inaction) Harold Pinter
Dramaticinfluences: Samuel Beckett (dramatist of inaction) Harold Pinter (dramatist of silence)