Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Hear Greg Salmieri speak about "The Philosophy of the Producer" at OCON 2026. Details and registration at: https://hubs.la/Q04d-JS00
Hear Greg Salmieri speak about "The Philosophy of the Producer" at OCON 2026. Details and registration at: https://hubs.la/Q04d-JS00

![I’ve Read Ayn Rand. Now What?
In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Don Watkins, Onkar Ghate, and Keith Lockitch discuss the Institutes recently announced educational program on Objectivism: ARU Core.
• [0:00] Introduction:
• [01:10] Making Objectivism your own personal perspective
• [07:50] Personal vs professional value of philosophy
• [13:20] Expertise and gaining mastery
• [22:28] ARU program and benefits
Resources:
1. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
2. Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness
3. Leonard Peikoff, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
4. Ayn Rand “Through Your Most Grievous Fault” in The Voice of Reason
5. Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
This episode was recorded on July 30th, 2026.
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
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Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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![Does Success Require Sacrifice?
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.
• [0:00] Introduction
• [5:32] Examples of Sacrifice
• [18:40] Investment vs. Sacrifice
• [32:56] Value Hierarchy
• [45:21] How to Rank Values Objectively
• [51:25] ‘Sacrifice’ as a package deal
• [1:03:33] 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 (https://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/sacrifice.html)
This episode was recorded on December 30, 2025.
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AynRandInstitute
Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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![Ayn Rand, Immigrant: The Story of Her Journey to America
In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Agustina Vergara Cid and Brandon Lisi about their new article: “’I Chose to Be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.”
Topics include:
• [00:00] Introduction
• [01:00] Motivation for the article
• [03:37] Why Rand chose America
• [06:53] Obstacles Rand faced
• [14:33] How Rand pushed America to live up to its values
• [18:34] Archival resources consulted
• [23:46] Most surprising facts about Rand’s story
• [30:08] Impact of the article
Read the article here: “’I Chose to be an American:’ Ayn Rand’s Immigration Story.”
This episode was recorded on 02/23/2026.
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AynRandInstitute
Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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Visit ARI’s website for more about our content and programs: https://ari.aynrand.org/ Ayn Rand, Immigrant: The Story of Her Journey to America](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uDKszEjACFA/mqdefault.jpg)
![Is Atlas Shrugging? by Ayn Rand
Readers of Atlas Shrugged often notice striking parallels between the novel’s events and those of the contemporary world. As a result, Ayn Rand was often asked whether she meant it as a prophecy. In her 1964 Ford Hall Forum talk, “Is Atlas Shrugging?” [https://youtu.be/5tw-xvt-XBU] she answered plainly: “The purpose of this book is to prevent itself from becoming prophetic.”
Until now, only a poor-quality recording of the talk was available—and it was missing its opening minutes. Thanks to the Ayn Rand Archives’ discovery of a complete tape in the Boston Public Library, her full answer can be heard clearly for the first time.
In the talk, Rand surveys the culture of the 1960s, examining topics such as the “brain drain” of British scientists, socialized medicine, and egalitarian proposals for wealth redistribution. These, she argues, are not merely political incidents but the predictable outcome of altruism, which
demands its heaviest sacrifices from the most successful individuals. Society’s moral code, she shows, is draining the world of the mind, just as in her novel.
Yet despite the worrying similarities, Rand insists 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.” History, she explains, is not determined by fate: cultural trends can be reversed, and the future improved, if we commit to a philosophy that champions reason and individualism.
Among the topics covered:
· 0:00 Introduction;
· 1:09 Why Rand rejected both prophecy and history as the novel’s purpose;
· 6:49 How contemporary events reveal the culture’s intellectual decline;
· 24:12 How altruism punishes the successful for being successful;
· 38:26 How altruism counts on producers to keep on acting, even as it exploits them;
· 47:55 Why cultural trends can be reversed with the right philosophical ideas.
The release of this rare recording exemplifies the Ayn Rand Archives’ mission to recover and restore Rand’s recorded legacy. If you’d like to support this work, consider becoming an ARI donor: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate/
Image Credits:
© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)
PhotoQuest via Getty Images
Heritage Images via Getty Images
Archive Photos via Getty Images
Steve Eason via Getty Images
James Leynse via Getty Images
Jimmy Sime via Getty Images
Central Press via Getty Images
Historical via Getty Images
© Leonard Peikoff (Ayn Rand Archives)
These images were added by the Ayn Rand Institute and were not part of Ayn Rands original presentation.
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
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Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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![Profit Without Apology: The Moral Case for Business
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 [https://a.co/d/dsrKzqK]. This book is the latest publication of ARI’s new initiative, Atlas Circle [https://www.atlascircle.com/], an intellectual project aimed at standing up for business and helping business stand up for itself.
Among the topics covered:
0:00 Introductions
1:15 Why Ayn Rand saw business as central to her moral defense of capitalism;
7:13 The philosophical roots of today’s anti-business culture;
17:44 How most people ignore the hard thinking that goes into business;
22:26 Why understanding the morality of the profit motive is essential to standing up for business;
30:11 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,” [https://www.atlascircle.com/p/profit-without-apology] the title essay of the book Profit Without Apology [https://a.co/d/dsrKzqK].
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://newideal.aynrand.org/podcasts/].
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AynRandInstitute
Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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![News Roundup: The Iran-Israel War, and Political Violence in the U.S.
In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two major recent events: Israel’s war against Iran and the political assassinations in Minnesota.
Among the topics covered:
· The Israel-Iran War
o Why Israels war against Iran is a positive development; [00:1:05]
o Why a self-interested American foreign policy must break from the legacy of 9/11; [00:08:35]
· The Minnesota assassinations
o How political violence is becoming a broader cultural trend; [00:17:24]
o How political violence is a tribal phenomenon. [00:21:17]
The podcast was recorded on June 19, 2025 and posted on June 20, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here: https://newideal.aynrand.org/podcasts/
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AynRandInstitute
Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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Visit ARI’s website for more about our content and programs: https://ari.aynrand.org/ News Roundup: The Iran-Israel War, and Political Violence in the U.S.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vDj_LhwM0Vw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Trump’s Authoritarian War on Trade
In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer examine the Trump administration’s recent tariff policy and the legal, economic, and political disruptions they create.
Among the topics covered:
● Why tariffs are not a proper foreign policy instrument to deter the threat from China;
● Why all justifications for tariffs are arbitrary and collectivistic in nature;
● How the obsession with trade deficits reveals outright ignorance of economic principles;
● How legal ambiguity has enabled the executive to wield authoritarian power;
● How Trump’s whim-driven rule is pushing the country toward authoritarianism;
● The economic chaos caused by the tariffs;
● What hopes exist for reversing the policy.
Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s articles “America’s Persecuted Minority: Big Business” [https://courses.aynrand.org/works/americas-persecuted-minority-big-business/?nab=0] and “The Moratorium on Brains” [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DPJCLFGN?binding=paperback].
The podcast was recorded on April 9, 2025 and posted on April 10, 2025.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:02:40 Tariffs won’t deter China
0:11:15 Arbitrary and collectivistic justifications for tariffs
0:28:04 Obsession with trade deficits
0:35:43 Legal ambiguity and authoritarian power
0:46:27 Trump’s whim-driven rule
0:50:52 The tariffs’ economic chaos
0:58:52 Hopes for reversing the policy
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=AynRandInstitute
Download or stream free courses on Ayn Rand’s works and ideas with the Ayn Rand Institute app:
– App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aynrandu
ARI is funded by donor contributions. You can support our work by becoming an ARI Member or making a one-time contribution: https://ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARIs online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: https://newideal.aynrand.org/
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