The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Elan Journo discuss recent calls by Tucker Carlson and other conservative voices to resist technological and economic progress in the name of preserving traditional values and lifestyles. Among the topics covered: Conservative policy proposals that oppose economic and cultural progress; How conservatives are torn between the contradictory...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza are joined by software engineer Chad Mills to discuss recent developments in AI and the ethics of AI development. Among the topics covered: What artificial intelligence is, vs. the way AI is perceived by the public; The most impressive uses of AI technology that bring value to human life; How AI is rapidly heading towards greater user acc...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo explore the moral and political lessons of the Iraq War. Among the topics covered: Why Americans need to examine the lessons of the Iraq War; The 9/11 terrorist attacks and the context leading up to the war; The focus on weapons of mass destruction and intelligence weaknesses while evading the threat of Islamic totalitarianism; Why Rus...

In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Effective Altruism's Faith-Based Sacrifice for the Future.” In that essay, he examines "longtermist" philosophy and its relation to "effective altruism." Bayer notices that "the more we learn about the causes the effective altruist leadership has embraced, the more we should question the moral foundation of the movement." The moral foundation of...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the libertarian support for Putin and other authoritarian regimes. They explore the libertarian movement's decades-long sympathy for evil regimes, its anti-state, anti-American foreign policy, and how the movement's rejection of morality has led to sanctioning tyrants. Among the topics covered: Recent libertarian defen...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss Ayn Rand’s philosophic analysis and critique of “liberals.” They explain what makes Rand’s evaluation of “liberalism” different from that of “conservatives,” why she thought “liberals” began concealing their collectivist goals, and how today’s “liberals” are different from (and worse than) those of Rand’s time. Among the topics c...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge Robert Reich’s unjust crusade against billionaires. Agustina and Nikos unpack the pernicious motivations behind the attacks against successful billionaire producers and give an impassioned moral defense of their right to the wealth they have created. Among the topics covered: How widespread the attacks on th...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Ziemowit Gowin, Harry Binswanger, Shoshana Milgram, and Don Watkins discuss new course offerings at the Ayn Rand University (ARU). Among the topics covered: The goals of the Ayn Rand University and how students can benefit from it; Shoshana Milgram’s course Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Investigating the Mind of a Murderer; How ARU courses facilit...

In this episode, we read aloud “Why Nationalism Is Hostile to America,” an article written by Yaron Brook and Elan Journo. In that essay, they examine the true nature and consequences of the rise of nationalism in America, especially the so-called national conservatism. Brook and Journo argue that the principles and ideas of the advocates of national conservatism are ultimately anti-American, as t...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the heckling and public shaming of Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan by Stanford Law School (SLS) students and the school’s associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at a Federalist Society (FedSoc) event. Ghate and Journo delve into the viral video of the event, Stanford’s letter apologizing to the judge, and the philosop...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza respond to several common and plausible philosophic objections to Objectivism that were sent in by viewers. Among the topics covered: Why it is valuable to explore objections to any philosophy, especially one’s own; Why Objectivism does not fall foul of a supposed is/ought gap in its argument for self-interest;What Ayn Rand says we can le...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the immigration debate from a philosophical perspective. They address questions such as whether foreigners have a right to immigrate to America, whether immigration or its curtailment violates the rights of American citizens, and what role government has in relation to immigration. Among the topics covered: Whether imm...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two landmark cases before the Supreme Court of the United States on the legality of using race in college admissions. They explain how collectivist thinking and state involvement in higher education have created policies that are fundamentally at odds with America’s history of individualism. Among the topics covered: How the co...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the pervasive influence of altruism on the culture and draw lessons from it about the systemic racism debate. Among the topics covered: Systemic altruism, like systemic racism, as the claim that the ideology permeates the culture, even if is not always accepted explicitly; What altruism is and why it is evil; Examples of altruism...

American popular culture is filled with pieces that gently mock, satirize and ridicule religion, especially Judeo-Christian beliefs. To cite but three instances, Stephen Colbert’s periodic Late Show conversations with God, the character of Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, and the musical The Book of Mormon. At the same time, religion remains a highly respected force in American society, often regarde...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ziemowit Gowin mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine by discussing European attitudes towards Russia before and after the launch of the all-out campaign. Among the topics covered: How European nations found themselves heavily reliant on Russian gas exports; How European leaders' lack of principled thi...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss Ron DeSantis’ push to ideologically transform Florida colleges, and evaluate its potential to bring about greater freedom in the realm of education. While some of DeSantis’ actions should be evaluated as positive, there are ominous signs that they could also entrench further state control of education. Among the topics covered: Th...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Sam Weaver discuss Natalie Wexler’s argument that many American elementary schools have abandoned the responsibility of teaching factual content, and that this rejection of the importance of knowledge is exacerbating the nation’s reading crisis. Among the topics covered: The outrageous failure of American schools to teach students how to read and...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith interviews Harry Binswanger on Ayn Rand’s distinctive value-centered approach to philosophy — and to living life. As a long-time student of Rand and close friend in her final years, Binswanger shares his recollections of Rand's passionate quest of values, both as presented in her works and ideas and in her personal life. Among the topics covered: Ayn...

Why does the “antiracist” movement mobilize to deplatform or fire anyone who slights or asks the wrong questions about the dominant views of “social justice”? What explains the irrational fervor of the “woke”? John McWhorter, noteworthy Columbia linguistics professor and New York Times columnist, grapples with this question in his recent book, Woke Racism. The book’s subtitle reveals his provocati...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Mike Mazza are joined by Dr. Amesh Adalja to discuss the phenomenon of skepticism towards COVID-19 vaccines. They argue that this skepticism is based on arbitrary claims made in disregard of actual evidence and explain how to assess and respond to such claims. Among the topics covered: Adalja’s analysis of alleged dangers and actual side...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss the recent incident at Hamline University, where art history professor Erika López Prater was dismissed for showing her students a fourteenth-century painting of the prophet Mohammed. They analyze the administrators’ charge of “Islamophobia,” the issue of “academic freedom” in terms of which the controversy has been viewed, and...

Our experts take your questions on arguments for God, whether morality depends on religion, and other issues related to religion.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ziemowit Gowin discuss the political philosophy of Alexander Dugin, a Russian philosopher whose collectivist theory has been influential in empowering the opposition to Western liberalism in Russian culture. Among the topics covered: Dugin’s philosophical influence in Russia; Dugin’s collectivist “Fourth Political Theory”  vs. liberalism;...

On May 7, 1943, as World War II raged across the globe, Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead was published in America. Due to sparse reviews and minimal publicity, sales were initially low. Then an unusual thing happened, paralleling Rand’s description of the gradual success of the novel’s hero, Howard Roark: “It was as if an underground stream flowed through the country and broke out in sudden sprin...