The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDnD9GWdLaI Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate examine why Iran’s ongoing uprising may be the regime’s most serious challenge yet — and why it deserves far more moral support from the free world. Topics include: The nature of the protests; Moral versus military support; Trump versus Obama and Biden; The bene...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTl2m5StrvQ Podcast audio: The crimes of the French Revolution have long been regarded as indicting Enlightenment ideals. Its Reign of Terror has been seen as the product of an overconfident belief in reason, liberty, and human perfectibility. The American Revolution, by contrast, is said to have succeeded only because it was more moderate and traditional. In his 20...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TpOvna_78 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the recent American attack on Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro. Topics include: Invalid “international law” objections; An act of war; Drug, “narcoterrorism” and oil excuses; Nationalistic “spheres of influence”; The altruistic conception o...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shwbIXkaZPs Podcast audio: This talk comparing Newton and Descartes approach to mathematics by David Bakker was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credits: Newton: G...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmXn3-j2t4 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss a recent essay by Steven Pinker and Marian Tupy (“The Golden Age of Humanity? We’re Living In It”) that aims to offer a secular alternative to the recent resurgence in religious culture. Topics include: The Anti-Enlightenment Phenomenon; Pinker and Tupy’s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hJO4ofx6VU Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, originally released on December 23, 2024, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid explore the true meaning of Christmas by examining the history and philosophical significance of our holiday practices. Among the topics covered: The secular meaning of Christmas; A proper view of Christmas’s comm...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3qhwVi1Eg Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, about the alarming trend of anti-vaccine irrationality coming from government leaders. Topics include: The state of vaccine scie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBSu1A2_BSg Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the recent American attacks on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and scrutinize pretexts for war with Venezuela. Topics include:  “War crimes” and international law; The fake “terrorist” threat; The “war on drugs”;  The Venezuelan military “threat”; Auth...

Podcast audio: This talk by Alex Silverman was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KEOmlA-YRo Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Josh Windham, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, about the Trump administration’s immigration policy and its violations of constitutional rights. Topics include: The Garcia Venegas case; Arbitrary “mass deportations”; Kavanaugh on permissible...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgur8cEOpnk Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and ARI’s senior intellectuals make a deep dive into the moral crisis of the conservative movement. Topics include: Moral sanction; “Cancel culture” and free speech; Conservative tribalism; How ARI is different. Resources: Onkar Ghate’s lecture On Moral Sanction This e...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uCwg6ADk4s Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Onkar Ghate discuss the implications of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York. As the country takes another step towards authoritarianism and tribalism, is there any hope to put a stop to the downward cultural and political spiral? Topics include: Mamdani’s evil; Ma...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgeCG_fGFrk Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula examine the key arguments supporting the President’s tariffs before the Supreme Court and expose their un-American hostility to the rule of law.  Topics include: Background on the case; Defying the rule of law; Hostility to objective legal interpretation; Tari...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4zPY_XnfS8 Podcast audio: The Enlightenment’s commitment to reason, individualism, and the power of knowledge sparked unprecedented progress in human life. Yet, despite this achievement, contemporary Western societies face deepening crises — mounting political violence, the collapse of alliances of free nations, and a growing support for authoritarian movements. Wh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1sggf9exTQ Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Samantha Watkins challenge Zohran Mamdani’s plan to phase out NYC’s Gifted & Talented program — a move that would hold back advanced students from the education they need to thrive — and replace it with universal free childcare. Topics include: NYC’s Gifted & Talented...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnyS0vpTh_k Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer, Tristan de Liege, and Mike Mazza discuss Jeremy Sherman’s book, Neither Ghost Nor Machine: The Emergence and Nature of Selves. Topics include: Science and Philosophy; Deacon’s Autogen Theory; Other Theories of the Origin and Nature of Life; Implications for Understanding Free Wi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id3kFduLXVg Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss both invalid and valid attempts to blame “both sides” of American politics for various outrages. Topics include: Introduction False moral equivalence “Two sides to every issue” Political violence on both sides Free speech hostility on both sides Altruism e...

Podcast audio: This talk by Robertas Bakula was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMJR3ja3s5s Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège and Gregory Salmieri discuss friendship as a moral and philosophical value and explore the relationship between friendship, egoism, and altruism. Topics include: Friendship in Rand’s fiction; Visibility in friendship; Egoism and Friendship;    Valuing Friendship; Altruism...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuyhO8xssYY Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Tristan de Liège, Mike Mazza, Gregory Salmieri and Ben Bayer discuss Kevin Mitchell’s book, Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will. Topics include: The locus of free will; Moral responsibility; The relevance of quantum mechanics; Determinism; Aristotle; Randomness and indeterminacy;...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-L271Y9HPA Podcast audio: In this Ayn Rand Institute Podcast episode, Mike Mazza and Samantha Watkins analyze objections to new embryo screening technology. Orchid’s new technology Moral status of embryos Genetic tradeoffs The “Eugenics” smear Views toward the disabled Losing our humanity Resources: Ayn Rand’s essay, “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” in The Return o...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zg_ANzngT0 Podcast audio: The American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was met with intense public debate about the proper course of U.S. foreign policy. The Objectivist philosophy offers a distinctive framework for thinking about such issues. In his 2025 OCON talk, “Principles of a Proper Foreign Policy,” Peter Schwartz, an Objectivist intellectual and former...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi8sRxe21qo Podcast audio: In this Ayn Rand Institute Podcast episode, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Overall evaluation of the deal; Evading Hamas’s evil goals; The injustice of the deal; Altruism enables the injustice; Enemies of freedom must be defeated. This podcast was recorded on October 15, 2025...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZCJXTdch2E Podcast audio: In this episode of ARI Bookshelf, Sam Weaver, Ben Bayer, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ibis Slade critically examine America’s Cultural Revolution by Christopher Rufo and The Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk. Among the topics covered: Nature of “woke” ideology; “Domino” view of ideological influence; Influence of right-wing ideas; Rufo’s authorita...

This talk by Steven Warden was recorded live on July 3rd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.