https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky3VGO4AI-g




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Tristan de Liège, Ben Bayer, Don Watkins, and Robertas Bakula discuss What Went Wrong with Capitalism by Ruchir Sharma.



The book examines the history of government bailouts, Federal Reserve policy, and the growing reach of the regulatory state. Contrary to popular belief, Sharma argues, government intervention in America didn’t shrink after Reagan — it kept growing. He also offers proposals for reversing these trends.



The discussion covered:




* How Sharma refutes the myth that America has moved towards free markets in the last fifty years;



* How the government and the Federal Reserve created distortions and downturns;



* How the regulatory state expanded and decreased productivity;



* Why the book’s treatment of inequality is self-defeating;



* How the book’s views on capital misallocation and antitrust are contradictory;



* How the book lacks sufficient philosophical perspective.




The video was recorded on July 17, 2025 and posted on August 8, 2025.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm7PICSLkhc




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid take a wide-ranging look at abortion bans since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, examining their destructive effects on the lives and freedoms of women and medical professionals.



Among the topics covered:




* Ayn Rand’s distinctive defense of abortion rights;



* How abortion bans have impaired women’s lives;



* How anti-abortion laws impose arbitrary constraints against sound medical judgment;



* The unfortunate rise of pregnancy-related prosecutions;



* How abortion restrictions jeopardize doctors' freedom and careers;



* Why signs of resistance show abortion bans can be reversed;



* Evidence that the anti-abortion movement is motivated by a dark anti-sex agenda.




Recommended in this podcast are the Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on Abortion, Bayer’s book “Why the Right to Abortion Is Sacrosanct,” and his article “The Dark Form of Control Even Anti-Abortion ‘Moderates’ Want.” The podcast was recorded on July 28, 2025 and posted on August 9, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33MpmtvMKs0




Podcast audio:







In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Marek Michulka and Onkar Ghate examine the Trump administration's actions against CBS — including a billion-dollar lawsuit and FCC investigation — and argue that the FCC’s regulatory power is incompatible with free speech.



 Among the topics covered:




* How Trump's actions against CBS are targeting them for their content;



* How censorship in a free country relies on self-censorship;



* Why many critics of Trump’s actions miss the essential issue;



* How antitrust is being used to force editorial rooms to cater to the whims of bureaucrats;



* Why the realm of ideas can’t be separated from the realm of production and trade;



* How elite universities’ “public interest” rhetoric opened the door to government control;



* What the future holds.




Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essay “Have Gun, Will Nudge,” her talk “Censorship: Local and Express,” and her novel, especially Part II Chapter 5. 



This podcast was recorded on June 11, 2025 and posted on July 31, 2025.



Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVOG6tX8b8




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Don Watkins unveil their new book, Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business. This book is the latest publication of ARI’s new initiative, Atlas Circle, an intellectual project aimed at standing up for business and helping business stand up for itself.



Among the topics covered:




* Why Ayn Rand saw business as central to her moral defense of capitalism;



* The philosophical roots of today’s anti-business culture;



* How most people ignore the hard thinking that goes into business;



* Why understanding the morality of the profit motive is essential to standing up for business;



* The role of intellectuals in fostering a pro-business culture.




Recommended in this podcast are the Atlas Circle’s manifesto, “Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business,” the title essay of the book Profit Without Apology.



The podcast was recorded on July 22, 2025 and posted on July 24, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hGvQj376Uw




Podcast audio:







The 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, held in Boston, Massachusetts, wrapped up two weeks ago, and now you can get a taste of the wide range of topics and speakers featured at the event in a new highlights video.



The compilation includes clips from the following talks:




* “What is Western Civilization?” by Yaron Brook;



* “Revolutionary Constitutionalism” by C. Bradley Thompson;



* “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions” by Don Watkins;



* “Saving the Enlightenment” by Onkar Ghate;



* “The Road to Fascism (And Are We on It?)” by Nikos Sotirakopoulos;



* “Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process” by Agustina Vergara Cid;



* “Principles of a Proper Foreign Policy” by Peter Schwartz;



* “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism” by Ben Bayer;



* “Conceiving Values” by Greg Salmieri.




In addition, we have published two full-length lectures from the conference: Tal Tsfany’s annual address to ARI supporters, covering the Institute’s progress over the past year and its plans for the future; and Ben Bayer’s Independence Day talk, “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism.”

https://youtu.be/9PCQRzAMohQ




Podcast audio:







As the Ayn Rand Institute marks its 40th anniversary, its mission to spread Objectivism through education has never been more urgent. In his 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference presentation, "Spreading Objectivism: A Vision for ARI's Future," President and CEO Tal Tsfany laid out a bold vision of the “big swings” ARI is taking to bring Objectivism into the cultural mainstream.



At the heart of this expansion are major advances in ARI’s educational offerings. Tsfany announced that ARI is ahead of schedule in pursuing accreditation for a Master of Arts in Objectivist Studies, aiming to become an accredited university by 2028. Meanwhile, the new ARI Live Courses program will offer quarterly classes at dramatically reduced prices. And a newly launched Intellectual Incubator will help students develop as intellectual entrepreneurs.



Meanwhile, ARI is scaling its cultural outreach. The Books for Students program aims to distribute 500,000 books annually by 2026, while the Books for Teachers initiative expands through a streamlined ordering system. Supporting this outreach is a new AI-enabled Institute website launching this fall, which will provide personalized learning tracks for 750,000 annual visitors.



To further Rand’s vision of an alliance between businessmen and intellectuals, ARI launched the Atlas Circle, invitation-only intellectual retreats bringing together leading businessmen and Objectivist thinkers. The Circle's first publication, Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business, calls on productive businessmen to push back against moral vilification.



ARI’s crowning project will be the Ayn Rand Center in Austin, TX, opening September 2, 2028. In addition to improved archival storage for the Ayn Rand Archives, the center will feature a cutting-edge interactive introduction to Rand’s novels, the Ayn Rand Immersive Experience.



As Tsfany emphasized, these bold initiatives represent the unity of thought and action that Rand envisioned, scaled for our time.



To learn more about ARI's efforts to fight for your values, watch Tal Tsfany's 2025 OCON talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e-3oeMO-0w&t=4s




Podcast audio:







Ayn Rand viewed the American founding’s enshrinement of individuals rights as the greatest political achievement in human history. Yet the rising statism of the twentieth century dramatically undermined those ideals. In Rand’s view, America needed a moral revolution: one that renounced the ethics of altruism and embraced the morality of self-interest.



What would it take to achieve such a transformation? On Independence Day at the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, ARI fellow Ben Bayer took up this question in his provocative talk, “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism.”



Bayer argues that it is not enough just to affirm the morality of self-interest in words. Most people — even those who claim to support liberty — remain psychologically dependent on the morality of self-sacrifice and so are unwilling to defend freedom on principle.



To illustrate this dependency, Bayer offers an in-depth case study of the COVID lockdowns. He reminds us that these policies were imposed not just by Democrats but also by Republicans, the alleged defenders of American freedom. Republican leaders were cowed by moral pressure to impose shutdowns but have now worked hard to memory-hole their involvement.



Bayer argues that Republicans’ evasion of their own commitment to altruism dramatized underappreciated insights from Ayn Rand’s views on the psychology of altruism. 



One of Bayer’s most thought-provoking points is that the common pejorative use of the term “virtue signaling” reveals a lingering psychological dependence on altruism: critics mock those who merely signal “virtue” because they are unwilling to challenge the content of the signalers’ moral beliefs directly.



In the Q&A period, Bayer addresses such topics as:




* How altruism shaped America’s post-9/11 foreign policy;



* Whether sweeping lockdowns can ever be justified;



* The enduring relevance of Rand’s idea of the sanction of the victim;



* The problems with the concept of “woke.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtW5q-7XaTw




Podcast audio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5csuEpTn69o




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Matt Bateman, philosopher at GT School, co-founder of Higher Ground Education, and ARU instructor, about the school choice movement and the philosophical case for education freedom.



Among the topics covered:




* What the expanding reach of school choice programs means for parental freedom;



* Why parents, not the government, should invest in education;



* Why the school choice movement should refocus its arguments on parental rights;



* How bureaucratic accountability measures undermine school choice efforts;



* Why Rand’s tax credit proposal is better than a voucher system;



* The worst thing about the public school system;



* Rand's influence on Bateman's approach to parenting and education.




Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand's essays "Tax Credits for Education" , "The Comprachicos", and "Art and Moral Treason".



This podcast was recorded Jun 3, 2025 and posted on June 26, 2025.



Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDj_LhwM0Vw




Audio podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMepGP0ehPo




Podcast Audio







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo interviews ARI intellectuals about their upcoming talks at the Objectivist Summer Conference, taking place July 1-5 in Boston, Massachusetts.



Among the topics covered:




* Audra Hilse’s talk, “Revised Blueprints: Early Versions of Part II of The Fountainhead,” which will draw on archival material to offer insights into Rand’s creative process;



* David Bakker’s talk, “Newton Versus Descartes on the Exactness of Mathematics,” which will examine how their contrasting views on mathematical precision shaped the development of modern science;



* Ben Bayer’s talk, “America Should Declare Independence from Altruism,” which will argue that America’s responses to 9/11 and Covid reflect a deep-rooted evasion of altruism’s moral flaws;



* Don Watkins’ talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” which will challenge conventional narratives about both revolutions to reframe how we understand the Enlightenment’s true legacy.




Registration is open for both in-person and virtual conference passes.



The podcast was recorded on June 9, 2025 and posted on June 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YchKm3DnUFo




Podcast Audio:







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the ongoing mass protests in Los Angeles and how the Trump administration’s response also shows a disregard for the rule of law.



Among the topics covered:




* The scale of the violence;



* Evidence that the rioters do not care about immigrants’ individual rights;



* Why the right to peaceably assemble does not imply a right to mass protest;



* The bad jurisprudence that supports the alleged right to mass protest;



* The lawlessness of Trump’s immigration policies;



* What a proper response to Trump’s lawless immigration policy looks like.




Recommended in this podcast are The Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on free speech, Ghate and Bayer’s article “Ending Campus Protests Protects Free Speech,” and Bayer’s article “The Specter of Lawlessness Is Darker than You Think.”



The podcast was recorded on June 9, 2025 and posted on June 11, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A28R9JnfNro




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Elan Journo, Mike Mazza, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Robertas Bakula discuss The Technological Republic, the recent New York Times bestseller by Alexander C. Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, and Nicholas W. Zamiska, the company’s head of corporate affairs and legal counsel.



Karp and Zamiska argue that America’s future greatness hinges on a renewed commitment to national industrial policy. They claim that Silicon Valley is failing the nation by prioritizing personal ambition and consumer gratification over government-directed projects. In response, they claim to offer a new model of partnership between the U.S. government and American business.



The discussion covered:




* The plausibility of the book’s arguments;



* How the book is a Trojan Horse for collectivism;



* How the book undermines freedom and promotes central planning;



* How the book rehashes old ideas;



* Why only a free society is worth defending;



* The disturbing metaphysical premises behind the book’s worldview.




The video was recorded on June 2, 2025 and posted on June 5 2025.

https://youtu.be/iVJOTxv-tWk




Podcast audio:







American schools have long performed dismally at providing the education children need to read well. A movement in favor of systematic phonics instruction offers hope for improvement, but while phonics is essential to teaching children to read, they need further education to become highly capable readers. This talk by Sam Weaver defines a properly aspirational goal for reading education, explores the types of knowledge and skills that go into reading, and identifies key areas beyond phonics where American schools must improve if students are to achieve a high level of literacy.



Recorded live on June 17 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY3NY7gFYtw




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège examine Douglas Murray’s recent critique of Joe Rogan and other influencers who share their platforms with unreliable pseudo-experts. They explain why Murray fails to clarify the standards for distinguishing expert from non-expert testimony.



Among the topics covered:




* Why Douglas Murray’s challenge to Joe Rogan’s platforming of non-experts is only partly right;



* The proper role of expertise;



* How to properly think about expert consensus as a non-expert;



* How Murray is unclear about the standards we need for assessing expertise;



* Why philosophical expertise, not simply on-the-ground experience, is crucial in evaluating the ethics of an ongoing war;



* Why many people distrust experts.




Recommended in this episode are Gregory Salmieri’s lecture “How to Be an Objective Consumer of Science,” Ben Bayer’s talk “Being Objective About the News.”



The podcast was recorded on May 27th, 2025 and posted May 30th, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/o615h8druDE




Podcast audio:







The creation of the atom bomb during WWII was an extraordinary achievement, dramatized in part in the movie Oppenheimer. What were the three greatest challenges in making the bomb and how does the success in overcoming those very difficult obstacles illustrate the application of objectivity? Which great scientists’ work were most essential to the success of the project? As Ayn Rand said of Apollo 11, the Manhattan Project was “an achievement of reason, of logic, of mathematics, of total dedication to the absolutism of reality.”



Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

https://youtu.be/VUYooprteeU




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid analyze how the Trump administration’s immigration policy has escalated attacks on due process, legal immigration, and the broader American system of government.



(Since the recording of this podcast, Rümeysa Öztürk has been granted bail by a federal judge and released after more than six weeks in detention.)



Among the topics covered:




* How the Trump administration has ramped up mass deportations as a show of power;



* The chilling, unconstitutional actions targeting legal immigration;



* How Trump’s actions build on a long history of corrupt immigration laws and enforcement;



* How the attack on due process aims at scaring immigrants into self-deporting;



* How the unchecked abuse of executive powers threatens the American system of government.




Recommended in this podcast is the previous podcast episode on “What Would Mass Deportations Mean for Freedom in America?”



The podcast was recorded on May 7, 2025 and posted on May 14, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/RclwB5luKek




Podcast audio:







Ayn Rand denounced racism as “the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism.” She also rejected as collectivist many of the measures being advocated to combat this evil, including what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On the sixtieth anniversary of that law, Dr. Greg Salmieri revisited the themes of Rand’s classic article “Racism,” relating them to present-day America.



Topics include the definitions of “race” and “racism,” how the rejection of free will incline intellectuals toward racism, how superficially opposed racist doctrines on the political left and right embolden one another, in what respects racism can be “institutional” or “systemic,” how statist policies (including provisions of the Civil Rights Act) perpetuate existing racial inequities, and why it is only by embracing capitalism that we can put racism and its legacies behind us.



Recorded live on June 18 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

https://youtu.be/2yQWRvrbVUI




Podcast audio:







Foreign policy is both a political activity and a field of applied ethics. However, the metaphysical and epistemological premises held by theorists and practitioners shape their view of ethics. The lack of an objective view of the world has led to theories and policies that do not support, and are often harmful to, the role of a proper government. However, as Scott McDonald explains, an objective understanding of the global system can lead to a first-handed foreign policy.



Recorded live on June 14 in Anaheim, CA as part of OCON 2024.

https://youtu.be/LVNSnbdEo0o




Podcast audio:







In this episode of The ARI Bookshelf, Onkar Ghate, Tristan de Liège, and Robertas Bakula discuss Abundance, the recent best-selling book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that has gained traction in liberal circles.



Klein and Thompson acknowledge the failings of past liberal policies and present what they call the “abundance agenda” as an alternative. The agenda emphasizes streamlined regulations alongside robust government involvement in production — an approach the authors claim will usher in a new political order.



The discussion covered:




* The book’s central arguments;



* How the “abundance agenda” is unphilosophical and collectivistic;



* How the book’s position on environmentalism reveals its deeper philosophical problems;



* How the book fails to distinguish between coercion and voluntary cooperation;



* How the authors fail to check their premises about government;



* Why the book’s admiration for China is troubling.




The video premiered on May 1, 2025.