The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmnux6MriXE Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the recent decision in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump, striking down the President’s expansive “Liberation Day” tariffs.   The majority’s reasoning The major questions doctrine Statutory interpretation and legislative intent The dissent’s plausibility Th...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDKszEjACFA Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Agustina Vergara Cid and Brandon Lisi about their new article: “’I Chose to Be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.” Topics include: Motivation for the article; Why Rand chose America; Obstacles Rand faced; How Rand pushed America to live up to its values; Archi...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89gUQLWQGG0 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the role of Trump in today’s rise in political violence. Topics include: How Trump’s campaign demonized fellow Americans Connection between tribalism and violence Trump’s whitewashing of violence Trump’s targeted political attacks Trump’s comfort with po...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49b6O7nOtZI Podcast Audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Mike Mazza discuss the opposition to autonomous vehicles. Topics include: Why some people oppose autonomous vehicles; The safety of autonomous vehicles; Economic costs of automobile Accidents; Fear of displacing jobs; The “common man” argument; Divine right of stagnatio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtmQv3O7T8 Podcast audio: It is common to think of values as things we “discover” about ourselves — pre-packaged preferences waiting somewhere deep inside. We speak, for example, of “discovering our passion” or of finally realizing “what we were meant to do,” as if these priorities had been there all along. On this view, valuing is automatic: we simply respond to o...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g8n9_LOSwc Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver and Ben Bayer discuss a new policy in Texas A&M University that restricts professors’ ability to teach topics related to gender and sexual orientation, which resulted in one professor being prevented from teaching Plato’s Symposium. Topics include: Texas A&M’s policy; Th...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twCDUSXZMWw Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège discuss the confusions involved in the conventional conception of sacrifice. Topics include: Examples of Sacrifice; Investment vs. Sacrifice; Value Hierarchy; How to Rank Values Objectively; ‘Sacrifice’ as a package deal; The false appeal of sacrifice. Resour...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyYlYiLE7Y Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the implications of the killing of Renee Good for the rule of law. Among the topics covered: Topics include: ICE operations resembling military operations; The immediate aftermath of the shooting; The administration’s contempt for the rule of la...

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...