Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This talk was recorded live on July 3rd 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: newideal.aynrand.org/podcasts
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This talk was recorded live on July 3rd 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: newideal.aynrand.org/podcasts
Subscribe to ARI’s YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a video:
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 itunes.apple.com/us/app/ayn-rand-university/id1452535178?mt=8
– Google Play 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: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Explore these ideas further! ARI's online publication, New Ideal, explores pressing cultural issues from the perspective of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism: newideal.aynrand.org
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Keep in Touch! Sign up to receive email updates from ARI: aynrand.org/signup
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![Defending Embryo Screening from Irrational Opposition
In this Ayn Rand Institute Podcast episode, Mike Mazza and Samantha Watkins analyze objections to new embryo screening technology.
• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:01 Orchid’s new technology
• 07:19 Moral status of embryos
• 21:14 Genetic tradeoffs
• 28:57 The “Eugenics” smear
• 44:47 Views toward the disabled
• 50:56 Losing our humanity
Resources:
• Ayn Rand’s essay, “The Anti-Industrial Revolution” in The Return of the Primitive [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452011841/?bestFormat=true&k=return%20of%20the%20primitive&ref nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_k0_1_22_de&crid=2GW0VTT2V7MDI&sprefix=return%20of%20the%20primitiv]
• Ayn Rand’s essay, “Of Living Death” in The Voice of Reason [https://www.amazon.com/Voice-Reason-Objectivist-Thought-Library/dp/0452010462/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2WEXB5NTZA21F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WIX5k_ftBozPe0Q7I2F-cx6vtHX1DTTUPjCmpYMeNX5pHwtCTrQMXs9xNxva6USIn6FGzlL4sd1o_l-BrpE_7IO5OctD6NE8JduTROefr-83GO2y8d1Dc0dxexHTvlH9nJzc1C3ORDpF0Jbja_BfUg4xIuLO4ijKuvecuPFg-hA7-UDT2HS6T0rZtlbpFv1d2JnFunnIqYqWS9k4Z775uwO1Jz2684MethW20H8d84Q.lair2tlM5OKMXbNsnHfz0HXJrjfiwPM1aS8MMQELI94&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+voice+of+reason&qid=1760040405&sprefix=the+voice+of+reason%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-1]
• Ben Bayer’s essay, “The Absurdity at the Heart of the Alabama IVF Controversy” [https://newideal.aynrand.org/the-absurdity-at-the-heart-of-the-alabama-ivf-controversy/]
• Ben Bayer’s book, “Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct”. [https://www.amazon.com/Why-Right-Abortion-Sacrosanct-Bayer/dp/B0DTDQGN2X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HaucwTiJAjthmquSlqcqXQ.pFBOOBu6WyO6EqMo4Lbbh1ZSQXFw2oEX-vS2GkUMo20&qid=1760040334&sr=8-1]
This podcast was recorded on September 17, 2025.
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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/ Defending Embryo Screening from Irrational Opposition](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/m-L271Y9HPA/mqdefault.jpg)
![Why Is Israel Blamed for the Iran War?
In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss recent conspiracism about Israel’s role in the Iran war.
• [0:00] Introduction
• [1:30] Facts conspiracists distort
• [4:37] Facts conspiracists evade
• [10:40] The conspiracist mentality
• [18:27] An anti-conceptual culture
• [29:45] Decades of unprincipled foreign policy
• [34:31] Tribalism and conspiracism
• [40:59] Evading America’s deadly morality
Resources:
• Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on the anti-conceptual mentality, the arbitrary, and tribalism
[https://courses.aynrand.org/lexicon/anti-conceptual-mentality/]
[https://courses.aynrand.org/lexicon/arbitrary/]
[https://courses.aynrand.org/lexicon/tribalism/]
• Ayn Rand, “For the New Intellectual” in For the New Intellectual
[https://www.amazon.com/New-Intellectual-Philosophy-Rand-Anniversary/dp/0451163087]
This episode was recorded on April 8, 2026
Image Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images News / via Getty Images
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– 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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![Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process | Agustina Vergara Cid
While the Trump administrations immigration crackdown has made the headlines recently, Vergara Cid shows that the same lawlessness has spanned decades. The Obama administration, notorious for its record deportations, simply carried forward policies Congress had long codified.
Trump’s crackdowns threaten to further erode due process, which Vergara Cid identifies as the crucial legal safeguard which “stands between you and authoritarianism.” Today’s victims are peaceful immigrants; tomorrow, the target could be any American who dares to challenge the state.
Among the topics covered:
• 0:00 The immigration crackdown’s flagrant violation of due process;
• 7:20 Why everyone should care about due process;
• 12:17 How our authoritarian immigration system became normalized;
• 22:10 How, despite the bleak reality, America still welcomes immigrants.
(Since recording, the men sent to El Salvador’s CECOT were released to Venezuela in a prisoner swap on July 18, 2025, after four months of imprisonment. Several now allege torture, and at least one alleges sexual assault. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/31/venezuelans-deported-us-el-salvador-prison-cecot/])
Recorded live on July 5th in Boston, MA as part of OCON 2025
Want to join us next year?: https://events.aynrand.org/ocon/
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– 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/ Immigration Enforcement and the Betrayal of Due Process | Agustina Vergara Cid](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mkOadbwUP5s/mqdefault.jpg)







