I realize that I am being voted down here, but am not sure why actually.

I've downvoted your comments in this thread because I don't think serious discussion of the relevance of Objectivism to existential risk reduction meets Less Wrong's quality standard; Ayn Rand just doesn't have anything useful to teach us. Nothing personal, just a matter of "I would like to see fewer comments like this one." (I do hope to see comments from you in the future.)

Rand making some random remarks on music taste surely does not invalidate her recognition that being rational and avoiding extinction are or crucial importance.

Ayn Rand would hardly be alone in assenting to the propositions that "Rationality is good" and "The end of the world would be bad." A more relevant question would be whether Rand's teachings make a significant contribution to this community's understanding of how to systematically achieve more accurate beliefs and a lower probability of doom. As dearly as I loved Atlas Shrugged, I'm still going to have to answer no.