Ayn Rand Centre UK Podcast

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/And find out more about Joanna Williams’s think tank: https://www.cieo.org.uk/As could’ve been expected, culture wars have reached new levels of tension during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the battles around the importance of free speech. YouTube has deleted videos related to the virus that contain questionable ‘information’. One case that entered the spotlight was the removal of a London Real interview with antisemitic conspiracy theorist David Icke. Since then, the program’s host Brian Rose has been claiming that the removal of the video is a violation of his rights, and that he has been censored. At the same time, there has been harsh criticism, and often bitter accusations, against people in the public sphere who have been critical of the lockdown, and suggestive of an alternative approach.Why is there so much confusion on what does and what does not constitute free speech, and a violation of it? Are the deplatforming of conspiracy theorists or the twitter mobs a threat to free speech? And what are the prospects for free speech and an open dialogue during times of fear and crisis?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/“The function of the package deal is to combine into a unified concept things that are essentially different, and that function is made possible only when a nonessential characteristic is employed to define the concept.” Peter Schwartz, Integration by EssentialsIn this series of Meetups we examine how certain package deals have gained such widespread acceptance, so as to alter the meaning of the concepts in most people’s minds, a fact that is reflected in public discourse. This week, we will deal with the concept of ‘profiteering’.According to the Cambridge dictionary, profiteering means ‘the act of taking advantage of a situation in order to make a profit, usually by charging high prices for things people need’. It is a term that comes back to fashion in every crisis, in order to shame, or even to suggest legal action, against traders who ‘unfairly’ charge a higher price to products that are under a very high demand. Recently, we have seen the rise in the price of masks and sanitizers being declared as ‘profiteering’, and in many countries deemed illegal. Is the slamming of profiteering by its critics linked to a disdain for the morality of profit as such? Are there activities that should indeed be named and shamed as profiteering, and how should one react against them?Andrew Bernstein is a philosopher and novelist. He is the author of several books, including The Capitalist Manifesto, Capitalism Unbound, and the recently-published Heroes, Legends, Champions: Why Heroism Matters.Robert Van Dortmond is a coach of student start-ups at the minor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Amsterdam/Centre for Entrepreneurship. He has 27 years experience working with Egon Zehnder International (leading global executive search firm, partnership), and as an executive coach and advisor on career and organisational development.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Productivity is one of the skills that are essential to everyone’s life, irrespective of their career goals, skills, or interests. There have been hundreds of books and thousands of hours with productivity tips and shortcuts. And yet, even during the COVID lockdown, when many people find themselves with more free time than they were used to, productivity is still a struggle for many of us.Is it more difficult to be productive in our modern era, with the countless destructions and the shorter attention spans? Are some people more gifted with a talent in productivity? Or is it that all that is needed is a to pull ourselves together and get the work done? Psychologist Josh Dickson will shed some light on the psychological mechanisms behind productivity (and the lack of it).

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/In this week’s psychology event, ARCUK Psychology Fellow Josh Dickson will answer questions on how to cope with COVID-19 in the context of trauma recovery and positive psychology.

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Read more from Robert Tracinski: http://tracinskiletter.com/And support Andrew Bernstein on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=26987211Many have claimed that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has led us to a world similar to Part 3 of Atlas Shrugged: governments enforcing draconian measures, state control of the economy, widespread pessimism and gloom, and rapid economic decline. Is this the case, or is it that those concerned about individual freedom are perhaps over-reacting and life will gradually go back to normal?In her lecture ‘Is Atlas Shrugging?’ in 1964, Ayn Rand claimed that ‘Atlas Shrugged is not a prophecy of our unavoidable destruction, but a manifesto of our power to avoid it, if we choose to change our course’. Do we still have time to do so, or is it too late?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Romance, much like everything else, is not what it used to be just a few weeks ago. Whether you’re self-isolating apart from your significant other, living together with a partner, but not used to spending 24 hours a day with them, or trying to figure out Zoom-dating, your love life has probably entered uncharted territory.How will the pandemic and the lockdown affect romantic relationships? Will dating change by the time this is over?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/In the Fountainhead, Ayn Rand deals with the topics of independent, first hand thought, and the effects of collectivism ‘not in politics, but in man’s soul’. But the novel is also remembered, and is also considered controversial, for Rand’s depiction of romantic love, and of the intense, on and off, relationship between Howard Roark with Dominique Francon.What can ‘The Fountainhead’ tell us about romance and sex? Does it provide any insights on the nature of masculinity and femininity, if such a nature exists? Is it realistic to expect an intensity of feelings like the ones overwhelming Roark and Dominique?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/According to Ayn Rand, ‘to laugh at the contemptible, is a virtue; to laugh at the good, is a hideous vice’. But does this mean that humour and laughter can be the subject of philosophy? After all, different people laugh at different things. What about laughing at ourselves, and generally ‘not taking our life too seriously’, as a mantra of our era tells us?And what about comedy? If we laugh out loud with films like ‘Dumb and Dumber’ or ‘The Hangover’, does it indicate something about our sense of life? Or is it that comedy should be taken lightly and one should just go with the flow?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/See Craig and many other speakers at TOS-Con 2020 - Philosophy for Freedom and Flourishing (scholarships available for students & young adults): https://tos-con.com/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/How can you live as fully as possible amid the social chaos, government interventions, and general uncertainty surrounding COVID-19? What are your basic options? What are your responsibilities to yourself and others? How can you—or anyone—know the proper role of government in this situation? And what can you do in this context to defend the freedom on which human flourishing depends?

Sign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Read more from Brendan O'Neill on Spiked: https://www.spiked-online.com/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Over the past few weeks we’ve seen governments across the world enacting increasingly severe restrictions on individual freedom, in an attempt to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Are such measures justified? Can we trust politicians to give up on the additional powers they’ve granted themselves? And what would be a proper response by the government to the global pandemic?Brendan O’Neill, editor of Spiked Online, and Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Ayn Rand Centre UK Academic Advisor, discuss in this London Ayn Rand Meetup event.