The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twCDUSXZMWw Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège discuss the confusions involved in the conventional conception of sacrifice. Topics include: Examples of Sacrifice; Investment vs. Sacrifice; Value Hierarchy; How to Rank Values Objectively; ‘Sacrifice’ as a package deal; The false appeal of sacrifice. Resources:  Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand’s book The Fountainhead Ayn Rand’s essay, “The Ethics of Emergencies” The Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on sacrifice This episode was recorded on December 30, 2025, and posted on January 29, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyYlYiLE7Y Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the implications of the killing of Renee Good for the rule of law. Among the topics covered: Topics include: ICE operations resembling military operations; The immediate aftermath of the shooting; The administration’s contempt for the rule of law; ICE is not real police; They way ICE conducts arrests; The argument that the Constitution doesn’t apply to immigrants; The administration playing to its base’s tribalism; The administration’s loyalty tests; The shooting of Ashli Babbitt; The future of America. Resources: Synchronized videos of Renee Good’s shooting The White House’s January 6 timeline   The shooting of Ashli Babbitt   Harry Binswanger’s essay “ICE vs. the rule of law, not of men”   Podcast episode: ICE Raids vs. Rule of Law: Interviewing Institute for Justice’s Josh Windham   This episode was recorded on January 21, 2026, and posted on January 22, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDnD9GWdLaI Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate examine why Iran’s ongoing uprising may be the regime’s most serious challenge yet — and why it deserves far more moral support from the free world. Topics include: The nature of the protests; Moral versus military support; Trump versus Obama and Biden; The benefits of a free Iran; The roots of Western silence. Resources: Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism What Justice Demands "The U.S. has Appeased Iran for Decades” This episode was recorded on January 13, 2026, and posted on January 14, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Carlos Jasso / AFP / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTl2m5StrvQ Podcast audio: The crimes of the French Revolution have long been regarded as indicting Enlightenment ideals. Its Reign of Terror has been seen as the product of an overconfident belief in reason, liberty, and human perfectibility. The American Revolution, by contrast, is said to have succeeded only because it was more moderate and traditional. In his 2025 OCON talk, “Enlightenment on Trial: The Real Lessons of the American and French Revolutions,” Don Watkins challenges this narrative. What history shows, Watkins contends, is that Enlightenment ideals in France were largely confined to intellectual elites within a rigid, hierarchical society. French culture was also shaped by powerful anti-Enlightenment currents — notably Rousseau’s elevation of passion and the collective over reason and the individual. These ideas later fueled the Terror. By contrast, many American colonists read thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, and Franklin and had long practiced self-government, giving Enlightenment ideals real cultural depth. Watkins highlights a further, crucial difference between the two revolutions. The French were fundamentally motivated by hatred towards the ancien régime. French mob violence was widespread and brutal, since it sought, above all else, to eradicate the nobility, the clergy, and every other symbol of the past. Similar unrest was relatively limited and contained in America, where Americans resisted British rule with a positive aim: to establish a government that protected individual rights. Among the topics covered: Narratives about the French Revolution; The rise and fall of the Revolution; Two Revolutions compared; Contrasting motivations. This talk was recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA, as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference, and is available on The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TpOvna_78 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate, Elan Journo and Ben Bayer discuss the recent American attack on Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro. Topics include: Invalid “international law” objections; An act of war; Drug, “narcoterrorism” and oil excuses; Nationalistic “spheres of influence”; The altruistic conception of “self-interest”; Contempt for the Constitution; Ayn Rand on the Roots of War. Resources:  Ayn Rand, "The Roots of War" ARI Podcast, "How Drug Boats Could Be Used to Rationalize an Unjust War with Venezuela," December 11  ARI Podcast, “Trump’s Anti-Capitalist Control Over Business,” Sept 18, 2025 Onkar Ghate, "Saving the Enlightenment," OCON 2025 This episode was recorded on January 7, 2026, and posted on January 8, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Tomas Ragina / iStock / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shwbIXkaZPs Podcast audio: This talk comparing Newton and Descartes approach to mathematics by David Bakker was recorded live on July 2nd in Boston, MA as part of the 2025 Objectivist Summer Conference and is available on the Ayn Rand Institute Podcast stream. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credits: Newton: GeorgiosArt / iStock / via Getty Images. Descartes: ilbusca / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClmXn3-j2t4 Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss a recent essay by Steven Pinker and Marian Tupy (“The Golden Age of Humanity? We’re Living In It”) that aims to offer a secular alternative to the recent resurgence in religious culture. Topics include: The Anti-Enlightenment Phenomenon; Pinker and Tupy’s secular strengths; A weak critique of Christian morality; Christian morality and antisemitism; Understanding the crisis of meaning; Unphilosophical moral foundations; Alternative, Pro-Enlightenment moral foundation. Resources:  “The Objectivist Ethics,” Ayn Rand “Finding Morality and Happiness Without God,” Onkar Ghate “Debunking the Supernaturalism That Haunts Secular Ethics,” Ben Bayer This episode was recorded on December 16, 2025, and posted on January 2, 2026. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here. Image Credit: Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP / via Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hJO4ofx6VU Podcast audio: In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, originally released on December 23, 2024, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid explore the true meaning of Christmas by examining the history and philosophical significance of our holiday practices. Among the topics covered: The secular meaning of Christmas; A proper view of Christmas’s commercial aspects;   Why some people are antagonistic towards the Christmas spirit;   How the doctrine of original sin undermines Christmas joy. Mentioned in this podcast are Ben Bayer’s articles “Give the Gift of a Guilt-Free Christmas” and “The Meaningful Delights of a Worldly Christmas"  and Onkar Ghate’s essay “An Atheist’s Tribute to Christmas”. This podcast was recorded on December 18, 2024 and released on December 23, 2024. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3qhwVi1Eg Podcast audio: In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Samantha Watkins interviews Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and a senior scholar at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, about the alarming trend of anti-vaccine irrationality coming from government leaders. Topics include: The state of vaccine science Hepatitis B vaccine Covid vaccine The cause of conspiracism The real-world impact of conspiracism A healthy culture’s approach to vaccine science Resources:  “A Pro-Freedom Approach to Infectious Disease” by Onkar Ghate, in which he shares ARI’s view of the role of government with respect to infectious disease This episode was recorded on December 15, 2025, and posted on December 18, 2025. Image Credit: Alex Wong / via Getty Images

Ben Bayer, a policy analyst from the Ayn Rand Institute, dives into the controversial U.S. strikes on drug boats linked to Venezuela. He questions the legitimacy of claims labeling the Venezuelan military a threat and explores how drug prohibition fuels militarized responses. The discussion critiques the application of international law and warns against expanding presidential power in military actions. Bayer argues that any intervention in Venezuela lacks justification and could escalate into an unjust conflict.