
The Atlas Society Presents - Objectively Speaking
We promote open Objectivism: the philosophy of reason, achievement, individualism, and freedom.
Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism was set forth in such works as her epic novel Atlas Shrugged, and in her brilliant non-fiction essays. Objectivism is designed as a guide to life, and celebrates the remarkable potential and power of the individual. Objectivism also challenges the doctrines of irrationalism, self-sacrifice, brute force, and collectivism that have brought centuries of chaos and misery into the lives of millions of individuals. It provides fascinating insights into the world of politics, art, education, foreign policy, science, and more, rewarding you with a rich understanding of how ideas shape your world. Those who discover Objectivism often describe the experience as life-changing and liberating.
Ayn Rand's philosophical works have been praised as presenting historic breakthroughs in thinking. At the Atlas Society, our scholars work to further develop this philosophy born in the mid-twentieth century. We present the empowering principles of Objectivism to a global audience, and offer those principles as a rational and moral alternative in the marketplace of philosophical ideas.
Latest episodes

Apr 10, 2024 • 56min
Climate Uncertainty and Risk: The Atlas Society Asks Dr. Judith Curry
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.

Apr 3, 2024 • 1h 1min
The Breakdown of Higher Education: The Atlas Society Asks John M. Ellis
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.

Mar 27, 2024 • 1h 3min
Gun Control Myths: The Atlas Society Asks John R. Lott Jr.
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.

Mar 21, 2024 • 60min
No Apologies: The Atlas Society Asks Katherine Brodsky
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

Mar 13, 2024 • 57min
Big Intel: The Atlas Society Asks J. Michael Waller
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.

Mar 6, 2024 • 56min
Conformity Colleges: The Atlas Society Asks David Barnhizer
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.

Feb 29, 2024 • 1h 2min
Is the ‘Naturalistic Fallacy’ a Fallacy? The Case of Economics with Hicks & Salsman
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?”

Feb 21, 2024 • 58min
Men on Strike: The Atlas Society Asks Dr. Helen Smith
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.”

Feb 14, 2024 • 58min
The Atlas Society Asks Jennifer Burns
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.

Feb 7, 2024 • 1h 1min
Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire: The Atlas Society Asks Jens Heycke
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.