The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

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 stagnation. Resources: Nathaniel Branden’s essay “Divine Right of Stagnation” in The Virtue of Selfishness This episode was recorded on January 12, 2026, and posted on February 12, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credits: Waymo: Mario Tama / Staff / via Getty Images; Hawley: Chip Somodevilla / Staff / via Getty Images

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 our needs, desires, or emotions. In his 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference talk, titled “Conceiving Values,” Gregory Salmieri offers a different account. Drawing on Ayn Rand’s distinctive view, he argues that valuing is not passive or instinctive. It is an active, cognitive achievement — something we must choose, learn, and practice. Values, Salmieri explains, are goals within an ongoing process of self-sustaining action. Other organisms act to preserve themselves, but only human beings can conceptually identify and plan out their values. To concretize this process, Salmieri turns to the work of creators.  An architect does not discover their buildings ready-made in the world; a novelist does not stumble upon finished stories; each must actively conceive a guiding idea and gradually give it concrete form. Likewise, valuing involves choosing long-range commitments that give direction to one’s actions and define the course of one’s life. Topics covered in Salmieri’s talk include: Conventional view of values vs. Objectivism’s; Values and life; Conceptual values in human beings; Knowledge and goals in valuing; Q&A. This talk was recorded live on July 5th 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=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; The case of Plato’s Symposium; Relation to intellectual freedom; Who should decide in public universities; Motives behind the policy. Resources: Ayn Rand’s essay “Fairness Doctrine for Education” in Philosophy: Who Needs It Onkar Ghate and Sam Weaver’s article “Trump vs. Harvard: Intellectual Freedom in the Crosshairs” This episode was recorded on January 27, 2026, and posted on February 5, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credit: Jon Hicks / Stone / via Getty Images

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. Resources:  Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand’s book The Fountainhead Ayn Rand’s essay, “The Ethics of Emergencies” The Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on sacrifice This episode was recorded on December 30, 2025, and posted on January 29, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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 law; ICE is not real police; They way ICE conducts arrests; The argument that the Constitution doesn’t apply to immigrants; The administration playing to its base’s tribalism; The administration’s loyalty tests; The shooting of Ashli Babbitt; The future of America. Resources: Synchronized videos of Renee Good’s shooting The White House’s January 6 timeline   The shooting of Ashli Babbitt   Harry Binswanger’s essay “ICE vs. the rule of law, not of men”   Podcast episode: ICE Raids vs. Rule of Law: Interviewing Institute for Justice’s Josh Windham   This episode was recorded on January 21, 2026, and posted on January 22, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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 benefits of a free Iran; The roots of Western silence. Resources: Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism What Justice Demands "The U.S. has Appeased Iran for Decades” This episode was recorded on January 13, 2026, and posted on January 14, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Carlos Jasso / AFP / via Getty Images

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 2025 OCON talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” Don Watkins challenges this narrative. What history shows, Watkins contends, is that Enlightenment ideals in France were largely confined to intellectual elites within a rigid, hierarchical society. French culture was also shaped by powerful anti-Enlightenment currents — notably Rousseau’s elevation of passion and the collective over reason and the individual. These ideas later fueled the Terror. By contrast, many American colonists read thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Franklin and had long practiced self-government, giving Enlightenment ideals real cultural depth. Watkins highlights a further, crucial difference between the two revolutions. The French were fundamentally motivated by hatred towards the ancien régime. French mob violence was widespread and brutal, since it sought, above all else, to eradicate the nobility, the clergy, and every other symbol of the past. Similar unrest was relatively limited and contained in America, where Americans resisted British rule with a positive aim: to establish a government that protected individual rights. Among the topics covered: Narratives about the French Revolution; The rise and fall of the Revolution; Two Revolutions compared; Contrasting motivations. This talk was recorded live on July 5th 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=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 of “self-interest”; Contempt for the Constitution; Ayn Rand on the Roots of War. Resources:  Ayn Rand, "The Roots of War" ARI Podcast, "How Drug Boats Could Be Used to Rationalize an Unjust War with Venezuela," December 11  ARI Podcast, “Trump’s Anti-Capitalist Control Over Business,” Sept 18, 2025 Onkar Ghate, "Saving the Enlightenment," OCON 2025 This episode was recorded on January 7, 2026, and posted on January 8, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Tomas Ragina / iStock / via Getty Images

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: GeorgiosArt / iStock / via Getty Images. Descartes: ilbusca / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images

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 secular strengths; A weak critique of Christian morality; Christian morality and antisemitism; Understanding the crisis of meaning; Unphilosophical moral foundations; Alternative, Pro-Enlightenment moral foundation. Resources:  “The Objectivist Ethics,” Ayn Rand “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God,” Onkar Ghate “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics,” Ben Bayer This episode was recorded on December 16, 2025, and posted on January 2, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP / via Getty Images

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 commercial aspects;   Why some people are antagonistic towards the Christmas spirit;   How the doctrine of original sin undermines Christmas joy. Mentioned in this podcast are Ben Bayer’s articles “Give the Gift of a Guilt-Free Christmas” and “The Meaningful Delights of a Worldly Christmas"  and Onkar Ghate’s essay “An Atheist’s Tribute to Christmas”. This podcast was recorded on December 18, 2024 and released on December 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

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 science Hepatitis B vaccine Covid vaccine The cause of conspiracism The real-world impact of conspiracism A healthy culture’s approach to vaccine science Resources:  “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease” by Onkar Ghate, in which he shares ARI’s view of the role of government with respect to infectious disease This episode was recorded on December 15, 2025, and posted on December 18, 2025. Image Credit: Alex Wong / via Getty Images

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”; Authoritarian presidential power. Resources:  Ayn Rand, “The Roots of War” This episode was recorded on December 9, 2025, and posted on December 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credits: Venezuela flag: Kryssia Campos / Moment / via Getty Images; Trump: Chip Somodevilla / via Getty Images

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 profiling; Qualified immunity; DHS’ denial of reality; Precedent for current enforcement; American principles betrayed; Standing up to authoritarianism. This episode was recorded on December 2, 2025, and posted on December 4, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credits: Police: Octavio Jones / AFP / via Getty Images; Constitution: Tetra Images / via Getty Images

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 episode was recorded on November 19, 2025, and posted on November 22, 2025. Image Credits: Carlson: Leon Neal / via Getty Images; Fuentes: William Edwards / AFP / via Getty Images

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; Mamdani and populism; The downward spiral of tribalism; The education system gave us Mamdani; Is there a hope for the future? Resources: Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, How NOT to Explain Mamdani’s Socialist Revival This episode was recorded on November 17, 2025, and posted on November 21, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago / via Getty Images

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; Tariffs are not foreign policy powers; The absence of an “intelligible principle”; Striking down unconstitutional laws; Un-American arguments and policies; Likely and desirable outcomes. Resources:  Ayn Rand Lexicon, “Law, objective and non-objective” Ayn Rand, “The Nature of Government” Ben Bayer, “The Constitutionally Dubious Law Empowering Trump’s ‘Emergency’ Tariff Authority” Ben Bayer, “The President Has No “Foreign Policy” Discretion To Impose Sweeping Global Tariffs” Ben Bayer, “The Lawyers Defending Trump’s Tariffs Know They’re Un-American. Here’s How We Can Tell” This episode was recorded on November 13, 2025, and posted on November 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: David Talukdar / Moment / via Getty Images

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. What accounts for this reversal? In his talk, “Saving the Enlightenment,” delivered at ARI’s 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, Onkar Ghate diagnoses the problem at its root: our cultural crises are the aftermath of a crucial philosophical gap left by the Enlightenment. Ghate argues that a key feature of our cultural landscape is “a blind rebellion against an orgy of self-sacrifice.” Crises like 9/11, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the widespread embrace of DEI initiatives marked the unfolding of self-sacrificial policies that cost American lives. Many who now condemn their leaders do not realize how those policies reflect the same moral code they still accept. They embrace alternative ideologies (like nationalism) that channel the same code. So they don’t know their real target: their rebellion against “elite” demands for self-sacrifice is “blind.” This blindness, Ghate contends, stems from the Enlightenment’s failure to articulate a morality of self-interest. While its philosophers championed reason in science and politics, they never provided an alternative to the ethical frameworks that demanded individuals subordinate their welfare to collective duty. Consequently, modern culture lacks a coherent philosophy that sanctions the individual’s right to pursue happiness. To secure the Enlightenment’s legacy, Ghate urges, requires adopting an ethical system that validates rational self-interest and personal happiness as moral goods — principles that only Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism fully articulates. Objectivism, in his view, provides “the new morality that's necessary to cement the achievements of the Enlightenment.” Among the topics covered: The Enlightenment and its failure The grip of self-sacrifice Self-sacrifice in the 21st century Today’s pseudo-selfishness Objectivism completes the Enlightenment This talk 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=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 Program Mamdani’s Reasons to End G&T  Mamdani’s Universal Childcare Proposal The Goal Is Punishing Gifted Kids The Reaction to Mamdani’s Proposals Education Is Not Zero-Sum Resources:  Ayn Rand, “The Age of Envy,” Return of the Primitive Ayn Rand, “The Comprachicos,” Return of the Primitive This episode was recorded on November 5, 2025, and posted on November 13, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credits: [Child]: Catherine Delahaye /DigitalVision / via Getty Images[Mamdani]: Stephanie Keith / Stringer / via Getty Images