The Atlas Society Presents - The Atlas Society Asks

Join Atlas Society Senior Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University Stephen Hicks, Ph.D., for a special Current Events webinar analyzing the first six months of Javier Milei's presidency in Argentina.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 208th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews immunologist and author Steve Templeton about his new book "Fear of a Microbial Planet: How a Germophobic Safety Culture Makes Us Less Safe," which offers desperately needed clarity and science on the organization and management of individual social life in the presence of pathogenic infection. A Senior Scholar at Brownstone Institute and Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Indiana University School of Medicine - Terre Haute, Steven served on Gov. Ron DeSantis's Public Health Integrity Committee and was a co-author of "Questions for a COVID-19 commission," a document provided to members of a pandemic response-focused congressional committee. Alongside his book "Fear of a Microbial Planet," he is also the author of a Substack by the same name.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 207th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews former professor and food psychologist Brian Wansink about his book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" As an Objectivist you want to be rational in all aspects of life—from what you put into your head, to what you put into your mouth. Brian Wansink can help, his book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, which revolutionizes our awareness of how much, what, and why we’re eating—often without realizing it. A former professor and food psychologist, Brian is described as a “pracademic,” focusing on discovering new ways for people to live happier, healthier lives, through consumer behavior and marketing research.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 206th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews journalist Nellie Bowles about her book "Morning After the Revolution: Dispatches from the Wrong Side of History," a hilariously irreverent romp through all the sacred spaces of the New Left, of which she was a part, at least until she began questioning whether the progressive movement she knew and loved was actually helping people. Nellie Bowles writes the TGIF column for The Free Press, a news media company she’s building with her wife, Bari Weiss, that embraces the journalistic ideals of objectivity and independence. Nellie previously worked as a correspondent for the New York Times, where, as part of a team, she won the Gerald Loeb Award in Investigations and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 205th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews Batya Ungar-Sargon about her latest book Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women, which combines deep reporting with a look at the data and expert opinion on America’s emergent class divide. Batya Ungar-Sargon is the opinion editor of Newsweek. Before that, she was the opinion editor of the Forward, the largest Jewish media outlet in America. She is the author of Bad News: How Woke Media is Undermining Democracy and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has written for outlets like the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, the New York Review of Books Daily.

In the US, anxiety and depression in young people have increased by 63% since 2005, with increased feelings of fragility and fear complicating the transition to becoming productive, resilient adults. Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 204th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews clinical psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Chloe Carmichael about this rising trend in young people as well as Dr. Carmichael's book "Nervous Energy: Harness the Power of Your Anxiety," where she shares advice for parents and young people wanting to avoid self-sabotaging mindsets and debilitating neuroses. Dr. Carmichael is a featured expert for Psychology Today, a frequent guest on Inside Edition, ABC Nightline, and Fox News; she’s been quoted in the New York Times, Forbes, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, and Rolling Stone.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 203rd episode of The Atlas Society Asks, in which she interviews author Paul Tice about his book "The Race to Zero: How ESG Investing Will Crater the Global Financial System." Now an Adjunct Professor of Finance at New York University, Paul Tice has spent the past 40 years working on Wall Street at some of the industry’s most iconic firms, including J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, and BlackRock. His professional specialization in the energy sector has afforded him a unique perch from which to study the growth of the ESG and sustainable investment movement, and its destructive influence on corporate governance.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 202nd episode of The Atlas Society Asks, in which she interviews Nuala Walsh about her book "TUNE IN: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World." Nuala Walsh is an adjunct professor of behavioral science at Trinity College Dublin, an independent non-executive director, bestselling author, TEDx speaker and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. She joins us to talk about her new book, TUNE IN: How to Make Smarter Decisions in a Noisy World, which helps readers avoid misjudgement and maintain objectivity.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 201st episode of The Atlas Society Asks, in which she interviews Professor John Agresto about his book "The Death of Learning: How American Education Has Failed Our Students and What to Do About It." Author of several books, including "Rediscovering America," "Mugged By Reality," and his latest, "The Death of Learning: How American Education Has Failed Our Students and What to Do About It," John Agresto is the former President of St. John’s College. Professor Agresto formerly served as a senior adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 200th episode of The Atlas Society Asks. This week, she interviews the President and co-founder of Climate Forecast Applications Network (CFAN), Dr. Judith Curry. Dr. Curry joins The Atlas Society to discuss her storied career in climatology, as well as share her takeaways from efforts to marginalize her work for questioning preferred political narratives regarding climate change. Dr. Judith Curry is President and co-founder of Climate Forecast Applications Network (CFAN). A leading global thinker on climate change, Dr. Curry is the author of the book "Climate Uncertainty and Risk: Rethinking Our Response" and was targeted by the Cancel Culture mob for research at variance with the conventional narrative on matters related to weather and climate. She is Professor Emerita at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she served as Chair of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences for 13 years.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 199th episode of The Atlas Society Asks. This week, she interviews John M. Ellis about his book "The Breakdown of Higher Education, How it Happened, the Damage it Does, and What can Be Done." Previously interviewed by The Atlas Society back in 1998, Ellis is the author of many books, including "Literature Lost: Social Agendas and the Corruption of the Humanities," and received the Peter Shaw Memorial Award by the National Association of Scholars. A Distinguished Professor Emeritus of German Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Ellis founded the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics in 1993 and served as president of the California Association of Scholars in 2007–13 and chairman of its board since then.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 198th episode of The Atlas Society Asks. This week, she interviews John R. Lott Jr. about his book "Gun Control Myths: How Politicians, the Media and Botched 'Studies' Have Twisted the Facts on Gun Control." An economist, political commentator, and world-recognized expert on guns and crime, John Lott is a prolific writer, having written op-eds for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune, along with several books, including "More Guns, Less Crime," "The Bias Against Guns," and "Freedomnomics." He is also the founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 197th episode of The Atlas Society Asks. This week, she interviews Katherine Brodsky, about her book "No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage―Lessons for the Silenced Majority," which argues that it’s time for principled individuals to resist self-censorship and stand up against authoritarians who promote it. A correspondent for Variety for over a decade, Brodsky has also contributed to the Washington Post, WIRED, The Guardian, Newsweek, often interviewing personalities ranging from the Dalai Lama to Elon Musk. Substack: "Katherine Writes" - https://www.katherinewrites.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/mysteriouskat Book: "No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage―Lessons for the Silenced Majority" - https://amzn.to/3uNwbv1

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 196th episode of The Atlas Society Asks. This week, she interviews J. Michael Waller, author of the book "Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains," which recounts the inception and evolution of various arms of the American intelligence bureaucracy and also explains why they’ve become politicized and prone to partisan activism. President of Georgetown Research, a political risk and private intelligence company, J. Michael Waller previously worked for the CIA in Central America and published an award-winning doctoral dissertation titled Secret Empire: The KGB In Russia Today. This episode of The Atlas Society Asks is sponsored by the Vice President & Associate Publisher for Human Events Media Group, Brent Hamachek. He is the author of the new book "Dissidently Speaking: Change the Words, Change the War," which is available for sale on Amazon.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 195th episode of The Atlas Society Asks. This week, she interviews David Barnhizer, author of the book "Conformity Colleges: The Destruction of Intellectual Creativity and Dissent in America's Universities." Don't miss as the duo explore how intense and aggressive political strategists and self-styled "revolutionaries" are using the apparatus of American educational institutions to indoctrinate a new generation of activists. Speaking from experience, as a professor of Law emeritus at Cleveland State University, David Barnhizer has worked to provide education programs and legal models to minority and economically disadvantaged individuals in the Greater Cleveland area. A prolific writer, Barnhizer has authored several books and graduated with a law degree from Ohio State University with a Master of Law degree from Harvard University, where he was a Ford Foundation Urban Law Fellow and Clinical Teaching Fellow.

Join Senior Scholars Stephen Hicks, Ph.D., and Richard Salsman, Ph.D. for a philosophical discussion on the intersection of ethics and economics: “For centuries, the ‘is-ought’ (or ‘fact-value’) dichotomy has been a perennial issue in philosophy (see Hume) and remains so today. Those who reject it and contend that morality can (and should!) be objective and fact-based are accused of committing ‘the naturalistic fallacy.’ In economics, the is-ought dichotomy takes the form of a supposed conflict between ‘positive’ and ‘normative’ economics. Even pro-capitalist Austrian economists say economics isn’t science unless it is ‘value-free.’ Is this valid? Is the argument about the ‘naturalistic fallacy’ itself fallacious? If the good isn’t to be grounded in nature (including human nature), then what or whence? Only the supernatural?”

Join Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 193rd episode of The Atlas Society Asks where she interviews Dr. Helen Smith about her 2014 book "Men on Strike: Why Men are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream - and Why it Matters." Dr. Helen Smith, a forensic psychologist and wife of Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds unleashed a firestorm of controversy with a pointed 2008 column popularizing the slogan “Going Galt,” a reference to Atlas Shrugged and a provocative proposal: “Should productive people cut back on what they need, make less money, and take it easy so that the government is starved for funds, or is there some other way of making a statement?” Smith continued the theme of withdrawal with her pivotal book Men on Strike: Why Men are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream—and Why It Matters, which argues that “men aren’t dropping out because they are stuck in arrested development. They are instead acting rationally in response to the lack of incentives society offers them to be responsible fathers, husbands and providers. In addition, men are going on strike, either consciously or unconsciously, because they do not want to be injured by the myriad of laws, attitudes and hostility against them for the crime of happening to be male in the twenty-first century.”

Jennifer Burns is an Associate Professor of History and research fellow at the Hoover Institution. As a leading independent expert on Ayn Rand and the American conservative movement, she is the author of the biography Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right. Burns joins Atlas Society CEO Jennifer Grossman to discuss her perspective on Ayn Rand along with her latest biography Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative, which traces Milton Friedman’s life and his key role in popularizing a new monetary and free market approach to economics and transforming American conservatism.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 191st episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews research, writer, and competitive cyclist Jens Heyckle about his book "Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire: Multiculturalism in the World's Past and America's Future," the origin of the terms “melting pot” and multiculturalism, along with surveys of multiethnic societies in history. Jens Heycke is a researcher, writer, and competitive cyclist. He studied economics and Near East Studies at the University of Chicago, the London School of Economics, and Princeton. Jens worked as an early employee and executive in several successful technology startups, including one that pioneered the mobile internet. Since retiring from tech, he has worked as a writer and researcher, conducting field research around the world, from Bosnia to Botswana.

Join CEO Jennifer Grossman for the 190th episode of The Atlas Society Asks, where she interviews Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Roger L. Simon to talk about his latest book "American Refugees: The Untold Story of the Mass Exodus from Blue States to Red States" and how a culture clash precipitated a great blue state exodus, and what this means for the rest of America. Roger L. Simon made his living as an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and mystery novelist before becoming the CEO and co-founder of the pioneering blog, news, and opinion website PJ Media. In books, he is best known for his series of eight Moses Wine detective novels, but he has also written several nonfiction books, including Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown and I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.