u/DoberNation

***originally posted in r/aynrand, reposted here per request with infographic removed

https://www.reddit.com/r/aynrand/s/1L3LCz6Shd

Empathy is a heightened ability to perceive and intuit. It is simply a tool, which cannot replace its driver. Empathy doesn’t kill, people surrendering to the temptation of *Blanking Out* is what kills.

“They want to cheat the axiom of existence and consciousness, they want their consciousness to be an instrument not of perceiving but of creating existence…But reality is not to be cheated. What they achieve is the opposite of their desire. They want to be omnipotent power over existence; instead, they lose the power of their consciousness. By refusing to know, they condemn themselves to the horror of a perpetual unknown…

“An emotion that clashes with your reason, an emotion that you cannot explain or control, is only the carcass of that stale thinking which you forbade your mind to revise.”

—Ayn Rand

July 16, 1999

JFK Jr’s Piper Saratoga crashed near the coast of Martha’s Vineyard that hazy evening, killing himself and two passengers. Did JFK Jr have any idea his aircraft was heading into a crash?

The pilot, JFK Jr, maintained radio silence throughout the entire flight. No distress calls were sent out, and the aircraft had no black box. His last words to the passengers, his wife and her sister are unknown.

He had a standard exchange with ATC prior to takeoff. At last, the tower controller asked JFK Jr whether he was heading toward Teterboro, NJ. “No, sir, I’m, uh, actually I’m heading a little, uh, north of it, uh, eastbound.” The tower controller told Kennedy to “make it a right downwind departure then,” Kennedy answered, “Right downwind departure two two,” his final recorded words.

Kennedy was not an instrument rated pilot. He was trained and certified to rely on visual clues. Visibility was poor flying over open water in darkness and haze. When visual cues are absent, motion detected by vestibular reflexes of the inner ear can be misleading and misinterpreted by the brain. The NTSB investigation determined that Kennedy became spatially disoriented about an hour into the flight, when he failed to maintain control of the plane’s descent over water at night.

Radar data showed the plane began tightening into a “graveyard spiral“ dive at >4,700 ft (1,432 m) per minute, eventually locking into the nose-down position.

“The dive lasted about 17 seconds, during which Kennedy would have likely been confused, with the aircraft instruments not matching his physical sensations. According to aviation experts, all three occupants—Kennedy, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette—may have felt increasing G-force pressure and the growing noise of airflow over the plane. However, these sensations would not necessarily have been immediately alarming.”

https://www.britannica.com/question/Did-John-F-Kennedy-Jr-know-his-plane-was-crashing

Do you think this tragedy was caused by bad luck or bad judgment? Was the pilot “only human” in face of suboptimal flying conditions?

What does Ayn Rand really think about relying on one’s own senses and perceptions as “the driver“ (or pilot)? How might she have judged this event, and why? Is “Human Error” legitimate?