I can count on my right hand, the books that have had a major impact on my life. And when I say "major" impact, I'm talking about causing an "effect" - in not only turning my thinking around - but also my actions.
One of the hardest things to have "done to you" is to have your thinking "turned around". Why, because we are creatures of habit - none more so than when it comes to our thinking.
Most of us are lazy thinkers. In fact we don't really think very often at all - but rather regurgitate old ideas that we have absorbed from somewhere else. Stuff like what our parents told us, or what we learnt in school - or, in the present, what gets handed to us by the general media and other state apologists.
The first impactful book I read was in 1982 - "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.
Why did this turn my thinking around? Because it challenged every belief I held. It challenged the very ideas of the last couple of thousand years. And in particular it challenged the prevailing code of morality - that it is "good" to sacrifice oneself for others. It went even one step further and declared that it is moral to live for one's own happiness.
When I read "Atlas", I literally went into a state of anxiety - realizing that I had to make a choice - between what I held to be "true" and what was being presented to me in this thought- provoking and philosophically challenging book.
Well, that was many years ago. And at first, I was so enthusiastic that I went out to seek like-minded people. I formed a discussion group. I started a newsletter. I stood for public office. I wrote letters to the editor - and I had unending arguments with friend and foe alike. I even started a political party!
You see, I was convinced that if only people could be exposed to these ideas - then they would vote accordingly, and a new free world would be born.
I can tell you, it all ended up in disillusionment - as I realized that no matter how much effort I put in - the vast majority of people were either preoccupied with their own lives or simply not interested.
And so, around three years ago, I found myself gradually weaning myself off the notion of "changing the world" - and instead started to focus on changing my personal circumstances directly.
So, you can imagine the shock to my system - not to mention the intellectual excitement - when I read a book (just a matter of weeks ago) that solved the dilemma of how to achieve a free society, when all attempts via the ballot box seemed doomed to failure. And it did so in a truly revolutionary way!
That book was weighty - both in price ($199) and size - as it had the dimensions of a substantial telephone directory! Not to mention its title (in Latin) - "Sic Itur Ad Astra" - which translated means "This is the Way to the Stars".
What I had in my hands was the transcript of lectures given in 1968 - by Andrew J. Galambos, under the auspices of the Free Enterprise Institute. The title of the course was V-50 - the "V" standing for "Volitional Science".
What amazed me was the fact that, in all my years of reading, I had never come across these writings before. And certainly never across the ideas contained therein.
The scope of the book is far too broad for me to do it justice in a short article like this - except to say that Professor Galambos presents what can only be described as the most exciting discovery regards the "method" of achieving freedom. And as a clue, you can forget politics!
If you're a person who is serious in your desire to achieve a free society, then you owe it to yourself to grab this book - and "have your thinking turned around" by the most brilliant mind. I can guarantee it will challenge all your assumptions, and ensure that you will never see the world in the exactly the same way again.
After completing "Sic Itur Ad Astra" (which I must say is a highly readable book, despite its daunting size), I made contact with its editor, Peter Sisco, to express my excitement at having dis- covered it. I also asked if he would write a few words about Galambos' work - and provide the necessary link as to where more information could be obtained.
He kindly obliged - and offered the following for publication at this site:
Dear Reader:I recently received e-mail from Robert Smith telling me how much he enjoyed a book I edited called, "Sic Itur Ad Astra - Volume One", by Andrew J. Galambos.
His letter contained two sentences that really jumped off the page at me. He said, "I have spent most of my life trying to change the world (until 3 years ago), mostly by political means." He also offered, "I got very discouraged to realize that the ideas I had, (largely the result of Ayn Rand), could never permeate the culture if it depended upon the ballot box."
Having never met Robert Smith, I was struck by how quickly I could relate to and empathize with his frame of reference. Like most of you reading this, I would characterize myself as a person who loves Freedom and yearns for a more civilized world where every individual is in full control of his own property.
Andrew J. Galambos (1924-1997), a physics professor, thought the same way and he used the rigors of physics and the Scientific Method to invent a social structure that would ensure the Freedom of every individual. Galambos' definition of Freedom is "The societal condition that exists when every individual has full (100%) control of his property." That is a magnificent definition that can be measured in absolute terms the same way "power" and "energy" can be measured in physics.
In fact, in Galambos' new "Volitional Science," the transfer of property between individuals is closely analogous to the transfer of energy between objects in physics. One of the first casualties of this clear thinking is the political model of giving voters "something for nothing." In Volitional Science this is clearly identifiable as a coercive transfer of property in a doomed attempt to defy the First Law of Thermodynamics.
Volume One of Sic Itur Ad Astra is 940 pages and explains Galambos' "Theory of Volition." A brief article such as this can not even scratch the surface of this vast topic. However, I would like to mention that when Robert Smith observed that, "I got very discouraged to realize that the ideas I had, (largely the result of Ayn Rand), could never permeate the culture if it depended upon the ballot box," he reach a conclusion embodied in Galambos' work. Galambos maintains that Freedom is a technological product - just like a light bulb or an airplane - it has to be invented and then it has to be built. Galambos invented a way to build Freedom and left it to posterity to do the construction. But today's ballot box is essentially a tool of coercion and not construction. You can no more vote Freedom into existence than you can vote an airplane into existence. ("All those in favor of a cancer vaccine say, 'Aye.'")
Even the followers of Ayn Rand (and I count myself as having enormous respect for her) can only counsel less coercion by political means. They have no alternative structure. Galambos designed a 100% voluntary social structure operating on zero coercion. No one has ever suggested that before, let alone designed a practical way to achieve it. That difference creates long term durability for the human species and maximum happiness for every individual.
I hope you will choose to look further into Volitional Science. As readers with a keen interest in the subject of Freedom and the sovereignty of each individual over his own life, I invite you to discover a most hopeful, uplifting and rationally optimistic examination of those subjects and many others.
Toward Freedom,
Peter N. Sisco
Editor, Bridge to Freedom
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