The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Don Watkins and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss New Year’s resolutions, what makes them difficult to maintain, and how integrated, contextual thinking can help automatize good habits. Among the topics covered: The unhealthy motivation of the “fresh start effect” vs. healthy motivations for resolutions; Why the fact of automatization makes change both desirable and c...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two recent news stories: Elon Musk's controversial management of Twitter and Brittney Griner's return from captivity in Russia. They first analyze what Musk's management and its public reception foretells for the future of freedom of speech in America; they then examine what the Biden administration’s deal to secure Griner’s fr...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the philosophical bankruptcy of effective altruism and the movement’s role in FTX’s financial collapse. Among the topics covered: The connection between FTX’s financial collapse and the effective altruism movement, including CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s goal of “earning to give”; What effective altruism advocates and why its offshoot,...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos explain how authoritarian states such as Qatar use international sporting events like the World Cup to launder their reputations. They argue that this practice of “sportswashing” and organizations, like FIFA, who enable it, should be condemned for aiding authoritarian states in their bid for moral legitimacy. Among th...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Dr. Amesh Adalja discuss the ethics of infectious disease and evaluate the continued push for stringent paternalistic measures to combat Covid, including the Chinese government’s push for “Zero Covid.” Among the topics covered: Why Covid is now endemic, not a pandemic; How an individualized harm reduction framework can help us navigate a world in wh...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews professor and clinical psychologist Gena Gorlin about the value of gratitude, possible misconceptions about it, and how it’s being understood and implemented in psychology and psychotherapy. Among the topics covered: Gratitude and its role in psychological exercises within the gratitude movement; Whether these kinds of exercises are useful an...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith and Mike Mazza discuss World Philosophy Day to explore what is the nature and value of philosophy. They address how philosophy is commonly perceived (especially within academia) as a useless field and how Ayn Rand's distinctive conception offers a deeper and more practical perspective that matters for life. Among the topics covered: What philosophy is...

The international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been extraordinary. Rarely have so many nations united so quickly to impose such heavy economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia. Even Switzerland, a byword for studied neutrality, saw fit to levy sanctions on Putin’s regime. Millions of Ukrainians who fled their homes have been welcomed as refugees in Europe. The sympathy for them,...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the midterm elections and offer a philosophical analysis of the state of American politics. Among the topics covered: The value of analyzing the midterms from a long-term, philosophical perspective;Why the results in Georgia are an encouraging sign about the mindset of independent voters;The absence of long-term policy visions...

What makes China tick? What animates the ruling Communist Party? What does Xi Jinping’s third term as “paramount” leader portend? Elan Journo interviews Scott McDonald, a scholar of Chinese political thought.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the recent attacks conducted by the Just Stop Oil activists and offer a moral and political evaluation of both the group itself and people supporting them. Among the topics covered: How the media justification of the soup attack on a Vincent van Gogh painting encourages further attacks;How to morally assess the protest...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the attacks on "neoliberalism," an alleged ideology that critics blame for many of today’s political, social and economic problems. They analyze the critics’ central claims and explain why the very concept of “neoliberalism” clouds, rather than clarifies, our thinking about our political landscape. Among the topics cov...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver address questions about free will submitted by the podcast’s audience. Among the topics covered: Ayn Rand’s view of free will as the choice “to think or not”;The importance of this view for the rest of Objectivist philosophy. How does metaphysical libertarianism differ from the Objectivist view of free will? How it contrasts w...

Enrollment in college English departments is declining, with literature concentrations experiencing a particularly precipitous drop in student interest. This may sound like no great loss. Increasingly, American teenagers view timeless works of literature as hopelessly boring and their study of them as yielding no cash value. Even if this trend does not tell the full story behind the decline in col...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Liberalism and Its Discontents, a recent book by the well-known political scientist Francis Fukuyama. They analyze the book’s main claims and argumentation, and evaluate Fukuyama’s defense of liberalism. Among the topics covered: Fukuyama and his famous “end of history” thesis;Recent attacks on liberalism as the contex...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the recent protests against the authoritarian regimes of Iran and Russia. They analyze the common causes that animate these public demonstrations and offer a philosophical perspective on why they effectively undermine the moral legitimacy of these dictatorships. Among the topics covered: Why we should care about protests...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Mike Mazza discuss Oxford philosophy professor William MacAskill’s new book, What We Owe the Future. The book advocates “Longtermism,” which calls for treating the well-being of people in the indefinite future as equal in value to presently existing people. Bayer, Watkins, and Mazza offer an egoistic perspective on the value of the fut...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Sam Weaver discuss political controversies that have erupted in the last two years around the discussion of controversial issues, like race or gender, in public schools. They analyze the causes of these political battles and what it would take to resolve them. Among the topics covered: The recent history of attempts to control the content of educa...

No death toll can truly capture the devastation that Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot and their ilk inflicted upon the world. Think of the engineered Great Famine in Ukraine (Holodomor), the Holocaust, the Cultural Revolution, the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Though today we recognize these leaders as monsters, we mustn’t forget that in their time Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and others had Western apologists...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Elan Journo and Tristan de Liège discuss the phenomenon known as “hustle culture,” an attitude toward work that promotes relentless pursuit of career goals, and which critics say causes people to abandon their personal lives and experience burnout. Among the topics covered: The meaning of the new term “hustle culture”;Ayn Rand’s view of work...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss America’s failed response to 9/11 and some of its consequences, including the discrediting of American political and intellectual institutions, the proliferation of conspiracy fantasies, and the rise of “populism.” Among the topics covered: Why 9/11 was a turning point in American foreign policy and in the wider culture;How ARI...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith, Dan Schwartz, and Tristan de Liège discuss Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, a recent book by Nancy Sherman that promotes the philosophy of Stoicism while arguing that a healthy modern Stoicism requires important changes. They discuss major themes of Sherman’s book and how we should evaluate her perspective on Stoic philosophy. Amo...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Statement of Principles recently released by leaders of the “National Conservatism” movement outlining the ideas they think are necessary for “recovering and maintaining our freedom, security, and prosperity.” Journo and Sotirakopoulos discuss the “principles” the statement advocates, how they relate to America’s f...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Iran’s recent attempts — on American soil — to assassinate Masih Alinejad, a journalist and critic of the Iranian regime, and John Bolton, a former U.S. National Security Advisor, as well as the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, whose murder Iran has advocated for over 30 years. They discuss the...

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss the idea held by critics of “cancel culture,” such as John McWhorter and Bari Weiss, that we should not call our political opponents evil. They discuss why we should sometimes regard those who disagree with us as immoral or evil — and treat them accordingly. Among the topics covered: The phenomenon often called “cancel culture” a...