The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://youtu.be/vCiKkxLAFJY Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Sam Weaver and Tristan de Liège discuss Atlantic writer Derek Thompson’s idea that Americans are afflicted by a religious obsession with work that he calls “workism” and their view of the role of work in human life. Among the topics covered: Thompson’s view on work and why it's worth talking about; Why making work central to one’s life doesn’t entail adopting a religious perspective; Understanding what causes burnout and lack of fulfillment in work; The Objectivist perspective on work. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, her essay “Causality Versus Duty”, Gregory Salmieri’s essay “The Act of Valuing (and the Objectivity of Values)” in A Companion to Ayn Rand edited by Allan Gotthelf and Salmieri, and de Liège’s Ayn Rand University course Philosophical Perspectives on Work. This podcast was recorded on November 7, 2024, and released on November 20, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kQrSryOiQ Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Elan Journo, Ben Bayer, and Onkar Ghate discuss the 2024 U.S. election results. Among the topics covered: Why the Democrats and Kamala Harris didn’t deserve to win; How Harris should have dealt with the failures of the Biden administration; The American sense of life vs. the view of the elites; Why Trump didn’t deserve to win; The Republican Party’s capitulation to Trumpism; How policy will change under the new administration; The Trump campaign’s appeal to the worst in Americans. The podcast was recorded on November 13, 2024 and posted on November 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/rPsgR0WCqxw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss Ayn Rand’s radical view on abortion rights and the debates over abortion as an election issue. Among the topics covered: Why Ayn Rand defended abortion rights as a matter of individual freedom; How to understand abortion as an election issue after the Dobbs decision; How to evaluate recent Democratic arguments for abortion rights; How state ballot initiatives on abortion fail to uphold women’s right to life; What the future holds for abortion rights as an election and moral issue. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s entry in the Objectivist Lexicon on “Abortion,” Ayn Rand’s essay “On Living Death,” and Ben Bayer’s essay “Ayn Rand’s Radical Case for Abortion Rights” and book of essays, Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct. The podcast was recorded on October 21, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/MLF5deQWbrc Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Aaron Smith interviews Elan Journo to discuss his critical evaluation of two popular but deeply flawed biographies of Ayn Rand: Jennifer Burns’ Goddess of the Market and Anne C. Heller’s Ayn Rand and the World She Made. Among the topics covered: The standards of objectivity that the biographies fail to meet; The authors’ disregard for how Rand thought of herself and her work; Examples of the books’ lack of objectivity; How the authors mishandled the biographies' sources; Why ignoring Rand’s philosophy makes the books less interesting and intelligible. Recommended in this podcast are Journo’s articles “‘Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right’ Is Worse than Incompetent” and “Postscript: ‘Ayn Rand and the World She Made’ Is an Exploitative, Tabloid Biography,” and Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri’s book A Companion to Ayn Rand. The podcast was posted on October 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/wgKovwvgEs0 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza and Sam Weaver discuss the enduring value of The Virtue of Selfishness, a collection of Ayn Rand’s essays on ethics, on its sixtieth anniversary. Among the topics covered: Why Ayn Rand wrote and collected the essays in The Virtue of Selfishness; How Ayn Rand’s essays address questions central to living a good life; How Ayn Rand presented a radical new way to think about morality; How Ayn Rand challenges conventional ways of thinking about morality; How Ayn Rand provided novel ways of evaluating many moral issues. Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s essay collection The Virtue of Selfishness. The podcast was recorded on October 8 and released on October 18, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/Lsm2sRbywwg Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss Western misconceptions around October 7 and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Among the topics covered: Why the war is really between Israel and Iran; How pragmatism effects the West’s inability to understand Iran; How Palestinian grievances help pragmatists evade Iran’s ideology; Why most Palestinian grievances are deliberately made up; How October 7 demonstrates the power of philosophy. Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism and Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands. The podcast was recorded on October 4, 2024 and posted on October 7, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/IBopAUk3s4A Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza and Tristan de Liège discuss the private space industry and Ayn Rand's philosophical thoughts on the subject. Among the topics covered: How state monopolization forestalled the development of the private space industry; Why Rand saw the Apollo 11 mission as a philosophical, not a political achievement; How pull peddling threatens space entrepreneurship; How the goal of making a profit enables progress in the private space industry; What's wrong with the objection that private business will corrupt science; How space exploration benefits us. Recommended in this podcast are Rand’s piece “Apollo 11,” the essay “Common Fallacies About Capitalism” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, and Keith Lockitch’s “Ayn Rand on Apollo 11.” The podcast was released on October 2, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/5Bpu-bAQXMs Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the recent antitrust case against Google and what it reveals about the nature of antitrust law. Among the topics covered: Why Ayn Rand regarded antitrust law as immoral and un-American; What evidence the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google is based on; How antitrust law is non-objective in theory and in practice; Why the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google is non-objective and unjust; How antitrust law criminalizes businesses for being successful as such; How the DOJ’s antitrust case equivocates political and economic power; Why we need to fight for the moral right of businesses to be successful. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s articles “The Age of Envy,” “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business,” and “Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” as well as our previous New Ideal podcast episode “Recent Antitrust Attacks on ‘Big Tech’.” The podcast premiered on September 25, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/pKCfFCED9XA Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Ben Bayer analyze the anti-American immigration platforms of both the Trump and Harris campaigns. Among the topics covered: The tribal and arbitrary nature of Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric; Why Republicans rely on fear-mongering to push their anti-immigration agenda; Harris’s shameful evasion of the immigration topic and the racism of her opponents; How both Democrats and Republicans share a collectivistic view of immigrants; The role of altruism in shaping the anti-American approach to immigration. Mentioned in this podcast are Vergara Cid’s essay “Rethink the Term ‘Illegal Immigrant,’” Ayn Rand’s essay “‘Extremism,’ or the Art of Smearing” and her answer to “Should There Be Open Immigration?” Also referenced are the New Ideal Live episodes “The Problem With Pro-Immigration Arguments,” “A Legal Crisis in Immigration,” and “Who Is a Communist?” The podcast was recorded on September 20, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/emKgc2aO7x8 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Agustina Vergara Cid interviews Gregory Salmieri about his essay “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life.” Among the topics covered: What free speech is and why a defense of it is needed; How to respond to acts of de-platforming and cancellation; Why the right to free speech is absolute; How public education violates free speech; Non-governmental violations of free speech; The difference between thought and action; When protests and civil disobedience are justified; How to promote a culture of free speech. Mentioned in this podcast are Gregory Salmieri’s essay “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life” and Tara Smith’s book The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom. The episode was released on September 18, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C-eEwx1jv0 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the question of whether Kamala Harris is a communist, and if not, what the real problem with her views is. Among the topics covered: The essence of the Marxist ideology; Why Harris is not a communist; How the “communist” label helps New Right tribalists hide their own anti-Americanism; The importance of using concepts precisely; How mislabeling someone as “communist” whitewashes real communism. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s article “The Left: Old and New” and Sotirakopoulos ’s lecture at AynRandCon Europe 2024 “Lessons From the Intellectual Success of Marxism.” The podcast was recorded on September 9, 2024 and released on September 14. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/FpjW9B8aE8Q Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss how the failure of American post-9/11 policy led to the October 7 attacks. Among the topics covered: How the failed American response to 9/11 paved the way for October 7; How religion and altruism undermined the response to Islamic totalitarianism; How the West lies to itself about the nature of Hamas; Why there are no voices articulating a positive strategy for the Middle East; The need to rethink the philosophic principles guiding American foreign policy. Recommended in this podcast are Ghate and Journo’s book Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11 and Journo’s Winning the Unwinnable War: America's Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism. The podcast premiered on September 11, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube Music. Watch archived podcasts here.

The new Right’s absurd positions cannot be explained by their adherence to any coherent ideology, but only by their tribal view of the world.

We must understand the philosophical foundations of the right to free speech to apply it to contemporary controversies.

https://youtu.be/sdNoDhkU_eA Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Harry Binswanger analyze Alexandra Popoff’s new biography, Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success, particularly its portrayal of Rand as a “Jewish thinker.” They address the false attempt to link Rand’s “ethnicity” to her philosophy. Among the topics covered: The determinism of labeling Rand as “influenced” by her ancestry vs. the central role of choice in her thought and life; The irrelevant evidence offered for Rand’s “ethnic” identity; Spurious evidence of Rand’s reaction to Soviet injustices in her political thinking; Why Rand’s novels put plot first and were not merely a vehicle for ideas; How The Fountainhead is Rand’s rejection of Nietzsche’s ideas; How Popoff’s book fails to engage with Rand’s rejection of the tribalism central to the concept “ethnicity”; Why Ayn Rand called herself a Jew in response to Antisemitism; How Popoff’s book rehashes the same errors of older flawed biographies. Mentioned in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “What Is Capitalism?” and her lecture “Global Balkanization.” The podcast was broadcast on September 6, 2024. Watch archived podcasts here.

The West is free today because it didn’t allow even the death of innocents to impede its right to self-defense.

Cartels thrive on the criminalization of immigration that allows them to prey on migrants at the border.

The U.S. the US withdrew from Afghanistan 3 years ago on August 26, 2021. Blame our political and intellectual leaders, across two decades, for evading the ideological nature of the enemy and, consequently, miring U.S. forces in a “no-win” war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBhhQHNCAFI Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 Platform. Among the topics covered: The ambiguity of “freedom” in the Democrats’ rhetoric; How the platform packages legitimate freedom with the “freedom” to take from others; How the platform packages equality of rights with metaphysical equality; How the platform’s egalitarianism is racist and infantilizing; How altruism and Marxist economics drive the platform’s call for the wealthy to pay their “fair share” in taxes; What a principled opposition to the DNC platform would look like. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “Man’s Rights” and the July 25 New Ideal podcast episode “Why Socialists Fear the Republican Party Platform.” The podcast premiered on August 29, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics.” In that essay, he examines secular thinkers' approach towards ethics. As he argues, scientists like Richard Dawkins accept ethical claims that are fundamentally based on religious thinking. To combat this approach to ethics, we need a naturalistic alternative: and one has been offered by Ayn Rand. Bayer’s article was originally published in New Ideal, the Ayn Rand Institute’s journal, on October 11, 2023.

ARI’s new educational products help you learn Objectivism from experts at your own pace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjAt5kXxxBs Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid criticize various pro-immigration arguments and discuss how they undermine a proper moral defense of immigration. Among the topics covered: How conventional pro-immigration arguments are based on altruism and collectivism; How altruism leads to the infantilization of refugees and failure to advocate for economic migrants; How diversity quotas perpetuate racism in the name of fighting it; How the “economic case” for immigration reduces immigrants to servants; The false assumption that the interests of Americans and immigrants are inherently at odds; How anti-immigrant advocates have set the terms of the immigration debate; How to think about the claim that pro-immigration advocates are seeking to dilute American values. The podcast premiered on August 22, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/fC2PeuDuR5E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Paul Taske, associate director of litigation at NetChoice, to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice decision and what it means for the future of free speech in America. Among the topics covered: The Supreme Court’s decision to send the question about regulating social media platforms back to the federal district courts; Why content moderation is not censorship; How NetChoice responds to objections from the Court’s minority; How the Florida and Texas laws violate the right not to speak; Why NetChoice chose to make a facial challenge to the laws; How NetChoice responds to the idea that social media platforms are common carriers; How to think about the issue of whether the government has an interest in regulating social media platforms; How to evaluate other disagreements between the majority and the minority. Recommended in this podcast are Greg Salmieri’s article “Free Speech as a Right and a Way of Life” in Tara Smith’s The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom and the previous New Ideal podcast episode “Does Social Media Censor?: A Conversation with Steve Simpson.” The podcast premiered on August 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/lOPRUlOyTMU Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Mike Mazza discuss why the trans movement is essentially religious and unscientific. Among the topics covered: The religious character of the trans movement; Why many of its scientific claims are dishonest; How religious conservatives reinforce the movement’s irrationality; Why debates about gender have become so contentious; How the movement relies on force and smears to advance its agenda; Evidence that the movement is uninterested in trans people's well-being; Why the science about gender dysphoria is far from settled. Recommended in this podcast are the previous New Ideal Live episodes on “Kathleen Stock’s Reasoned Critique of Gender Ideology” and “‘What Is a Woman?’ and Gender War Tribalism.” The podcast was released on August 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credits: Smallman / Getty Images News via Getty Images, Alec Perkins / Wikimedia Commons / image on top with a white glowing effect.

https://youtu.be/WSCTJ5fxqq8 Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss how the introduction of both the Ten Commandments and DEI into the public school system represents an assault on intellectual freedom. Among the topics covered: How recent public-school mandates in Louisiana and Oklahoma use force to promote religion; Why the mandates are an assault on the First Amendment and our founding ideals; How the left pushes its ideas in public schools; Why efforts on both sides should be understood as an assault on intellectual freedom; Why the public education system necessarily leads to ideological disputes; How tribalism drives religious mandates. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Establishing of an Establishment” in Philosophy: Who Needs It, Tara Smith’s book The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom, Harry Binswanger’s article “The Ten Commandments vs. America,” and the New Ideal Live episode on “What’s Wrong with California’s Ethnic Studies Mandate?” The podcast was recorded on August 7, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credit: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock.com.

https://youtu.be/1UvPyAQ6s5E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer examines a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, explaining why so-called secular humanists have been unable to offer a rational moral alternative to religion. Among the topics covered: Ali's rationalizations for her religious conversion; Why Western civilization is not purely Christian; How religious belief relies on arbitrary claims; Dawkins’ failure to offer a rational moral alternative to Christianity; Why a rational morality requires an uncompromising commitment to truth. Mentioned in this podcast are Bayer’s articles “The Old Morality of New Religions,” “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics,” and Onkar Ghate’s essay “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God.” The podcast was recorded on July 31, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credits: Getty Images/Christian Marquardt; Getty Images/David Levenson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHXGamIEZ6g Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss how the Republican National Convention’s platform has turned away from its traditional appeal to small government and turned instead towards adopting many of the big government policies that socialists envy. Among the topics covered: The RNC platform on energy policy, regulations, and Israel; The RNC platform on entitlement programs, industrial policy, and tariffs; The Republican Party’s unprincipled view of political and economic freedom; JD Vance as a symbol of the Republican Party’s turn away from freedom; How much the Republican Party has turned away from freedom in twelve years; The new Republican Party’s turn to collectivism and central planning. Mentioned in this podcast is the New Ideal article, “Meet the Conservative Authoritarians” by Elan Journo. The podcast premiered on July 25, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/4ivJl__LyWw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the Trump assassination attempt and the violent climate of tribalism in our culture. Among the topics covered: The evil of using physical force to settle political disagreements; Why it’s important to comment on this event; The increasing normalization of political violence in our culture; Why it is important to discuss Trump’s failure to discourage political violence; The philosophical root of today’s climate – tribalism; How tribalism is fueled by the mixed economy and attacks on reason; Manifestations of political tribalism in responses to the assassination attempt; How tribal thinking differs from the rational pursuit of truth; The role of emotions and conspiracies in tribal thinking; How to be objective in one’s thinking about political events; Why the cause of rising tribalism is philosophical, not political; The advantages of one-on-one conversations compared to group conversations. Mentioned in the discussion are Ayn Rand’s essay “The Missing Link,” and her Ford Hall Forum lectures “Global Balkanization” and “A Nation’s Unity.” This episode was recorded on July 17, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Watch previous episodes here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPEzaQP0SyU&t=1s Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss historian Niall Ferguson’s “We’re All Soviets Now,” a viral essay about American economic and cultural decline. Among the topics covered: Ferguson’s argument that America is following the path of the late USSR; The disanalogies between America and the Soviet Union; Ferguson’s blindness to the role of ideas in his comparative analysis; How Ferguson’s doomsaying prepares the grounds for authoritarianism; How some of Ferguson’s valid criticisms misidentify root causes of American decline. The podcast premiered on July 11, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/GdlePIECjGc Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Adi Dynar discuss the Supreme Court's overturning of its 1984 Chevron doctrine, which held that courts should sometimes defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of a vague law. Among the topics covered: How Chevron gave the executive branch the power to make law, thereby incentivizing the passing of vague laws; How Chevron made it harder for individuals to challenge regulations; The majority opinion’s insufficient stress on the issue of the separation of powers; Why the argument that courts lack factual expertise is a smokescreen; How the practice of deference relies on a presumption in favor of government power; The Court's failure to articulate the principle of the rule of law; Why it is unlikely that this decision will cause legal chaos. The podcast was recorded on July 3, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEKVbWwlqhM Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal, Mike Mazza responds to an episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk, in which neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky argues against the existence of free will. Among the topics covered: The meaning and stakes of the free will debate; Why determinists are wrong to focus on atomistic choices about preferences: How free will is established philosophically and presupposed by science. The podcast premiered on June 27, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/hGoQ52C0PAg Podcast audio: In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Robert Mayhew, Tara Smith, and Greg Salmieri at the Objectivist summer conference in Anaheim, California. They celebrate the release of Smith's new book on the First Amendment and the republication of the essays in Mayhew's series on Ayn Rand's novels, discussing the importance of written content in advancing an intellectual movement. Among the topics covered: The role of books in fueling an intellectual movement; How the essay collections came about and its importance in Rand scholarship; Notable pieces from the essay collections; Celebrating Smith’s book on the First Amendment; The failures of the free speech movement; Rand’s distinctive perspective on intellectual freedom; The future of Objectivist intellectual work; Questions on pursuing an intellectual career, studying Rand, and the First Amendment. Mentioned in this podcast are Smith’s book The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom and Mayhew’s essay collections on Rand’s novels. The podcast was recorded on June 16, 2024. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/LaS-oLBiRbI Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo interviews Tara Smith about her new book Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics. Among the topics covered: What Rand means (and doesn't mean) by egoism and the virtues; Why having desires and owning your emotions are crucial to having a good life, even though emotionalism is bad; Why the independent person does not seek permission for pursuing his happiness; Why self-esteem must be earned and sustained; Why self-interest means being interested in one’s values; How egoists can still fall prey to accidental sacrifices; The importance of introspection for egoism and flourishing; Smith’s message in Egoism Without Permission. Mentioned in the discussion are Tara Smith’s books Egoism Without Permission: The Moral Psychology of Ayn Rand’s Ethics and Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist and Leonard Peikoff’s Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. The podcast premiered on June 12, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/z5ptDg7iHlA Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Robertas Bakula interviews three of ARI's fellows to discuss their upcoming talks at Objectivist Summer Conference in Anaheim, California, which is being held from June 13 to 18. Among the topics covered: Jason Rheins’ talk “Socratic Wisdom,” concerning the value of knowing your own ignorance; Tristan de Liège’s talk “How to Value Friendship,” which will explore how the principles of Objectivism can help us deepen our friendships; Mike Mazza’s talk “Karl Popper’s Rejection of Induction,” which will address how Popper’s widely embraced philosophy of science actually undercuts the rationality of science. Virtual passes to the conference remain open for purchase through June 18. The podcast premiered on June 7, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/N3B8VRLXjeg Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Onkar Ghate discuss the nature and significance of the Trump phenomenon. Among the topics covered: Why Trump’s base of support is significant; Why it’s important to study the Trump phenomenon; The meaning and consequences of Trump’s 2016 election Trump’s anti-intellectual character; Understanding Trump’s persistent support; Analyzing Trump’s presidency; The current state of political violence in America; How Democrats and tribalism enable Trump; Bernie Sanders, Trump, and the resurgence of populism. Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate’s articles "One Small Step for Dictatorship” and “The Anti-Intellectuality of Donald Trump: Why Ayn Rand Would Have Despised a President Trump,” and two podcast episodes: “The Storming of the Capitol” and “The 2024 Elections.” The podcast was recorded on June 5, 2024 . Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here. ARI has a philosophical mission, and as such its function is to analyze current events from that framework. Given our 501c3 status, our function is not to advocate for or against particular candidates.

https://youtu.be/LJ20jmhEE7s Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the Libertarian Party’s (LP) convention, especially the speeches by Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and what it reveals about the nature of the libertarian movement. Among the topics covered: Why chaos in the Libertarian Party is a result of disunity about what liberty even is; Why the one point of unity in the LP is their stance against Israel’s war in Gaza; How the libertarian movement’s lack of a coherent positive ideology led to the LP’s decision to invite Trump and Kennedy; How the LP’s acceptance of Kennedy despite his advocacy of statist policies reveals the libertarian movement’s lack of a coherent set of pro-freedom policies; How Trump’s convention speech reveals a willingness to support anarchistic authoritarianism within the LP; How Americans who believe in liberty are betrayed by the LP. Recommended in this podcast are the New Ideal Live episodes “Libertarian Apologists for Putin” and “Libertarianism: Big Tent or Big Mess?” ARI has a philosophical mission, and as such its function is to analyze current events from that framework. Given our 501c3 status, our function is not to advocate for or against particular candidates. The podcast was recorded on May 30, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_yz-9X11ck Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss why and how DEI has become so dominant in American institutions, from universities to corporate businesses, despite its questionable nature. Among the topics covered: How DEI is sold as a form of justice for historically marginalized groups; How “diversity” relies on a package deal; How “inclusion” results in moral relativism; How “equity” means equality of results irrespective of merit; Why business leaders are unable to resist DEI despite its impracticality. This episode was broadcast live on May 22, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXGhis0_6Jw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer interviews Harry Binswanger, a philosopher and longtime friend of Ayn Rand’s, about his observations as a graduate student at Columbia during the 1968 protests and how those protests compare to those taking place now at Columbia and other campuses. Among the topics covered: How the 1968 protesters hoped to bring about a communist revolution; Why the university tolerated the protesters and ceded to their demands; Binswanger’s role in opposing the activists; Ayn Rand’s analysis of the student protest phenomenon; The long-term legacy of the student protests; Why today’s protests are worse than the 1968 protests. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s 1968 radio commentary “The Student Rebellion at Columbia” and Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate’s article “Ending Campus Protests Protects Free Speech.” The podcast premiered on May 15, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/8NdmIOYTB4s Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is interviewed by Ziemowit Gowin about his article on the phenomenon of academic plagiarism following the resignation of Harvard University president, Claudine Gay. They discuss why academia’s greater interest in combating issues such as sexism and racism over academic dishonesty is consistent with their deeper view of morality. Among the topics covered: Bayer's personal experience combating student plagiarism as a former professor; How the morality of altruism creates an indifference to academic dishonesty; How plagiarists cheat themselves of the value of knowing and living in reality; How altruism prevents us from seeing how plagiarists harm those they deceive; Why we need moral virtues, like honesty, for achieving personal values in life; How academic plagiarism relates to the deeper topic of individual value creation. Recommended in this podcast are Bayer’s “The Real Problem with Plagiarism,” “Why Scientific Progress in Ethics Is Frozen,” and “The Old Morality of the New Religions,” and the Ayn Rand Lexicon’s entry on “Honesty.” The podcast was recorded on May 16, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/RGhQLpYXo6Y Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the ongoing anti-Israel campus protests and analyze the demand that universities divest from Israel. Among the topics covered: How the divestment crusade is animated by hatred of Israel, not concern for the Palestinians; The dishonest claim that Israel practices apartheid; How the protesters whitewash Hamas' vicious treatment of homosexuals; Why Christianity is the root of the celebration of Palestinian weakness and the hatred of Israeli prosperity; The US government's outrageous financial support for corrupt organizations; Why the violation of Palestinians’ rights by some fanatical Jews doesn’t amount to apartheid. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and her essays “For the New Intellectual” and “The Age of Envy,” Peter Schwartz’s “Hamas and the Tyranny of Need,” and Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The podcast was recorded on May 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here. Image credit: KelseyJ/Shutterstock.com.

https://youtu.be/Bg9BFE1-49Y Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Milton Friedman’s impact as a public intellectual and how his advocacy of the free market differed from Ayn Rand’s radical philosophical case for capitalism. Among the topics covered: Why Milton Friedman is an essentially positive influence on free market thought; How Friedman’s moral conventionality reinforced the ideas he tried to oppose; The importance of stating the ideal when advocating for gradual reform; Why questions of morality are at the root of economic issues; How Friedman’s amoralism and pragmatism blinded him to the statists’ motivation; Ayn Rand’s critical evaluation of Friedman; Why the abolitionist movement is a model for moving the world toward freedom. Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate and Yaron Brook’s course “Cultural Movements: Creating Change” and Ayn Rand’s essay “Tax Credits for Education.” The podcast was recorded on May 2, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O0HkJbbj4E Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the protests on university campuses against Israel’s war of self-defense and what they say about the state of our culture. Among the topics covered: Why the anti-Israeli campus protests are rightly labelled as being pro-Hamas; How there is a double standard in the public’s response to mass protests in general; How the anti-Israeli protests are motivated by altruism and hatred of Israel’s success; Why the campus protests are a crisis of education rather than of free speech; How the mass occupation of public spaces violate our rights. Mentioned in this podcast is Ayn Rand’s 1968 radio talk “The Student “Rebellion” at Columbia University.” The podcast was recorded on April 24, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/FjsC7I-Qa4A Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Mike Mazza and Aaron Smith discuss Mazza’s recently published article about why academic philosophers tend to get Rand’s ideas wrong so frequently and the parochialism involved in many of their critiques. Among the topics covered: What Mazza aimed to explain in this article; Why responding to academic critics is important; What it means for philosophers to engage in parochialism; How the methods of academic philosophers are poorly suited to understanding Rand; The inductive structure of Rand’s arguments; The multiple factors behind philosophers’ dismissal of Rand’s ideas; Why the parochialism issue is particularly important to identify; Why historians of philosophy tend not to make the mistake of parochialism; How even Objectivists can be parochial and what they should do to avoid it. Mentioned in this podcast are the New Ideal articles “Why Can’t Professional Philosophers Get Rand Right?” by Mazza and “Why Massimo Pigliucci Gets Ayn Rand Wrong” by Smith, plus the book A Companion to Ayn Rand edited by Allan Gotthelf and Gregory Salmieri (specifically Chapter 1, “An Introduction to the Study of Ayn Rand”). The podcast was recorded on April 18, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Lm2YpZvyI Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo offers initial commentary on Iran’s April 13 attack on Israel. Among the topics covered: How Iran’s attack on Israel is a consequence of its Islamic and imperial nature; How America’s failure to recognise and confront Iran’s nature emboldens it; Why America and Israel are morally justified in replacing Iran’s evil regime. Mentioned in this podcast are Elan Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo’s edited collection of essays Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: from George W. Bush to Barrack Obama and Beyond, and Leonard Peikoff’s article “’End States Who Sponsor Terrorism’.” The podcast was recorded on April 13, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeuU6AbIDOo Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo give a preview of ARI’s 2024 presidential election coverage and comment on some of the major political issues at stake in the election. Among the topics covered: How ARI uses Objectivism to analyze elections and the wider political culture; What the Trump phenomenon says about the state of our political culture; The unprincipled nature of the political responses to recent domestic and foreign crises; Symptoms of growing political tribalism, such as people’s increasing willingness to protest; How bipartisan attacks on tech companies reveal a deeper turn against producers. Mentioned in this podcast is Onkar Ghate’s New Ideal article “One Small Step for Dictatorship." The podcast was recorded on April 11, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/UmxjJI50gss Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo analyze Argentinian President Javier Milei’s interview at AynRandCon in Buenos Aires. Among the topics covered: How the event fell short of ARI’s goal of illuminating points of agreement and disagreement with Milei; How to evaluate Milei as a President, considering his strange statements about abortion and mysticism; The contradiction between Milei’s ostensible rejection of collectivism and his administration's position on a military draft; How Milei’s motivation for anarchism is easier to excuse than that of other libertarians; Milei’s troubling rhetoric targeting journalists and dismissal of criticism; What is right and wrong about Milei’s defense of producers; Ayn Rand’s possible influence on Milei’s thinking about the nihilistic motivation of socialism. The podcast was recorded on April 8, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here. Note: The original version of this podcast (which still appears on some platforms) relayed statements of facts about some of Milei's personal beliefs and positions that were not born out by the facts. These have been cut from the YouTube version. We regret the error. Also, Milei's position on the draft is not necessarily the same as that discussed by his ministers.

https://youtu.be/Xh0xF5hACkw Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Sam Weaver and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the recent California ethnic studies mandate. They evaluate the ideological nature of the curriculum and its assault on knowledge, the philosophical ideas that made it possible, and why it must be opposed intellectually. Among the topics covered: How ethnic studies emerged from an activist assault on the idea of objective truth; Evidence that the proposed curriculum is non-objective; How lessons on "narratives" encourage prejudice among students; The egalitarian roots of the curriculum and its elevation of the primitive over science; Why the government monopoly on education causes violations of intellectual freedom. Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “Global Balkanization,” “The Age of Envy,” and “Fairness Doctrine for Education,” as well as the previous podcast episode “Political Battles Over Education.” The podcast was recorded on April 4, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/L3RBJNhglek Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss the recent United Nations “ceasefire” resolution. They argue it is yet another example of the West’s moral reluctance to condemn evil regimes and to provide a principled defense of Israel’s right to self-defense. Among the topics covered: The fact that Hamas seeks to destroy Israel because it is a bastion of civilization; Why the UN resolution is a pro-Hamas document; How the UN’s policy of moral neutrality enables evil regimes; Why the United States is morally complicit in whitewashing Hamas; Trump and Biden’s unprincipled support for Israel; Why defeating Hamas requires the ideological deprogramming of the Palestinian population. Mentioned in this podcast are Journo’s book What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Agustina Vergara Cid’s essay “Ayn Rand’s Radical View of the United Nations,” and Bayer’s “We Ignore the Unconditional Right to Self-Defense at Our Peril.” The podcast was recorded on March 26, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/UPHqvTkKFcA Podcast audio: In this special episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the recent announcement of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Apple and analyze the injustice of criminalizing a company for giving customers an experience they want. Among the topics covered: Why the DOJ’s antitrust case against Apple is significant to all American business; How Apple is targeted because of its business success, not its failures; How antitrust is destructive by design and how it stifled Microsoft; Ayn Rand’s analysis of antitrust as the “rule of unreason”; Why you should call your legislator if you support businesses like Apple. Mentioned in this podcast are Onkar Ghate’s essay “Drop the Antitrust Case Against Microsoft” and the New Ideal Live episode “Recent Antitrust Attacks on "Big Tech,” Ayn Rand’s lecture “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” (also available in essay form in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal) and her essay “Antitrust: The Rule of Unreason,” which can be found in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought. The podcast was recorded on March 22, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://youtu.be/07j7MQNdJhQ Podcast audio: In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the state of the immigration debate between Democrats and Republicans. They show how both parties appeal to fear and collectivism in their opposition to immigration, and explain why a proper solution to the border crisis requires policies that favor free economic migration. Among the topics covered: How both Democrats and Republicans are hostile to immigration; How the rights of American citizens are infringed by the immigration system; How Americans, individually, welcome immigrants despite political fearmongering; Biden's unserious focus on tougher security over free economic migration; Why a concern with individual criminals entering the country is not an argument for restricting legal immigration; The calculated dishonesty of Senator Katie Britt's response to Biden’s State of the Union Address; Why Americans should work hard to protect their own thinking from tribalism. The podcast was recorded on March 21, 2024. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.