In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Onkar Ghate discuss whether heritage or creed is what defines American national identity.

• The American way and sense of life

• Un-American “Heritage Americanism”

• Irrelevant Anglo-Protestant “ethnicity”

• Superior “Creedal Americanism”

• History of “Creedal Americanism”

• The eroding American sense of life

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand, Don’t Let It Go, in Philosophy: Who Needs It

• Ayn Rand, “A Nation’s Unity”

• Onkar Ghate, “Atlas Shrugged: America’s Second Declaration of Independence” 

• Ben Bayer, “Our Iran Appeasement Reveals the Need to Declare Moral Independence,” New Ideal, July 1, 2026.

• Ben Bayer, “The Revolutionary, Secular Concept of Individual Rights” OCON 2024

This episode was recorded on July 10, 2026.  

Image credit:  Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Mike Mazza discuss two major developments in the AI industry: Bernie Sanders’ proposal for an AI wealth fund and the White House’s order to block access to Anthropic’s newest models.

Topics include:

• The Anthropic Ban

• Fear-Mongering About Security

• Fear-Mongering About Jobless Future

• Is there “Collective Knowledge”?

• Lack of Concern with Individual Rights

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, “Marketing AI without Empowering Resentment”

• Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, “Fear of Progress: The Quest to End Autonomous Driving”

This episode was recorded on June 16, 2026.

Image credits: Circuit: Tatiana Sviridova / Moment / via Gettuy Images
ChatGPT:  Silas Stein / picture alliance / via Getty Images
Cladue: Samuel Boivin / NurPhoto / via Getty Images
Trump: Jim Watson / AFP / via Getty Images
Sanders: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Connor O’Leary discuss Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical about AI.

Topics include:

• Valid questions, backwards approach

• Concerning near-universal acclaim

• Dependence on religious morality

• Faith-based moral concepts

• Appealing to fear and resentment

• Hostility to human intelligence

• We need a rational morality

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand, “Requiem for Man,” Capitalism the Unknown Ideal

• Anthropic vs. Trump: The Moral Responsibility of Tech Companies, Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, March 12, 2026

• Marketing AI Without Empowering Resentment, Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, April 23, 2026

• Ben Bayer, How to Build a Secular Morality, New Ideal, June 10, 2026 (just came out yesterday)

This episode was recorded on June 5, 2026.

Image credits: Pope: Carlos Alvarez / Contributor / via Getty Images; Circuit: haydenbird / E+ / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Elan Journo talks with Ben Bayer, Robertas Bakula, Alex Silverman, Audra Hilse, Sam Weaver, and Keith Lockitch about their upcoming talks at OCON 2026 in New Orleans.

Speakers include:

• Bayer: Ayn Rand on progress    

• Bakula: antitrust is anti-production    

• Silverman: metaphysics of productiveness

• Hilse: publishing We the Living

• Weaver: Milton’s Paradise Lost      

• Lockitch: Descartes and Newton on the rainbow    

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss Jeff Bezos' recent high-profile CNBC interview with Andrew Sorkin on wealth, attacks on billionaires, and government waste.

Topics include:

• Bezos’ Admirable Mind

• Trend of Villainizing Businessmen

• The Zero-Sum Fallacy

• The Incompetence of Government

• Collectivist Defense of Profit

• Inequality is not a bug

• The Role of Intellectuals

Resources: 

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

This episode was recorded on May 28, 2026.

Image credit: Michael M. Santiago / staff / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Tristan de Liège analyze Marc Andreesen’s recent controversial comments rejecting introspection.

Topics include:

• What introspection really is

• Introspection and success

• Introspection and moral responsibility

• Earned and unearned guilt

Resources: 

• The Ayn Rand Lexicon entry on Introspection

This episode was recorded on May 13, 2026.

Image credit: Michael Kovac / Stringer / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the war and subsequent negotiations with Iran, and Trump’s visit to China.

 Topics include:

• The war’s shifting purpose

• The Hormuz evasion

• Whim over strategy

• Evading Iran’s nature

• Stalemate as defeat

• Projecting weakness worldwide

• Abandoning American ideals

This episode was recorded on May 20th.

Image credits: Trump: Saul Loeb / AFP / via Getty Images; China and Iran Flags: Viacheslav Chernobrovin / iStock / via Getty Images

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Sam Weaver and Ben Bayer discuss the significance of President Trump’s efforts to construct new government monuments and put his name and face on federal buildings and documents.

Topics Include:

• Trump’s initiatives

• Why symbols matter

• Historical monument-building

• America’s distinctive history

• How Trump compares

• Relation to Trump’s policies

• Rand on monuments

• Trump’s pursuit of prestige

• Public response

Resources:

• “The Monument Builders” in The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand

• “Don’t Let It Go” in Philosophy: Who Needs It by Ayn Rand

• “The Anti-Intellectuality of Donald Trump” by Onkar Ghate

• “One Small Step for Dictatorship” by Onkar Ghate

This episode was recorded on May 8, 2026.

Image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Staff / via Getty Images

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss Ken Griffin’s reaction to Zohran Mamdami's attack on his wealth and life, and the appropriate stance that individuals in Griffin's position should take against such attacks.

Topics include:

• Mamdani’s Attack on Ken Griffin

• Real Threat to Griffin’s Life and Safety

• Griffin’s Courageous Defense of the American Dream

• Griffin’s Concession

• Sanction of the Victim

• Animal Farm is Pro-Socialism

• Anthem and Atlas Shrugged as Better Alternatives

• A Principled Stance vs. Martyrdom

Resources:

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

• Anthem by Ayn Rand

• The Sanction of the Victim by Ayn Rand

This episode was recorded on May 11, 2026.

Image credits: Griffin: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / via Getty Images; Mamdani: Spencer Platt / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer interviews Professor Bart Ehrman about his new book on the Christian roots of altruist ethics.

• Christian vs. pagan ethics

• The true meaning of Christian “love”

• Apocalyptic roots of Christian ethics

• Are Christian ethics rational?

• Ehrman’s work

Resources: 

• Bart Ehrman, Love Thy Stranger: How Christianity Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West

• Ben Bayer, “How Christianity Polluted the Moral Atmosphere of the West,” New Ideal, February 5, 2025.

This episode was recorded on April 22, 2026.

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Robertas Bakula and Ben Bayer discuss the viral Red vs. Blue Button dilemma.

Topics include:

• The Viral Dilemma

• The Case for Red

• The Case for Blue

• The False Choice

• Comparison to the Trolley Problem

• Ayn Rand’s Alternative Approach to Morality

Resources:

• “Ethics of Emergencies,” Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness 

• “Why Today’s Ethics Offers No Real Guidance,” Ben Bayer, New Ideal, November 18, 2020

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

This episode was recorded on April 24, 2026.

Image Credit: traffic_analyzer / DigitalVision Vectors / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Tristan de Liège discuss the military draft in light of recent changes to the Selective Service System.

• Debating Selective Service System changes

• Unconstitutionality of the draft

• The immorality of the draft

• The impracticality of the draft

• Palantir’s endorsement of the draft

Resources: 

• Against The Un-American Call for National Service, ARI Podcast

• A Central Planner's Trojan Horse: The Technological Republic, ARI Podcast

• Ayn Rand, entry on the Draft, Ayn Rand Lexicon 

• Ayn Rand, “Wreckage of the Consensus” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

This episode was recorded on April 22, 2026.

Image credit: Andrew Harnik / staff / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer and Robertas Bakula discuss the recent New York Times podcast justifying the “microlooting” of big corporations.

• “Microlooting” and Macrolooting

• Marxist rationalizations

• Signs of nihilism

• Anti-intellectual tribal signaling

• Hypocrisy and altruism

• Justifying murder

Resources: 

• Profit without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business, Onkar Ghate and Don Watkins 

• The Marxists’ Exploitation Myth, ARI Podcast, Feb 26, 2025

• Charlie Kirk’s Murder: Who Normalized Political Violence?, ARI Podcast, Sept 12, 2025

This episode was recorded on April 27, 2026.  

Image credit: AndreyPopov / iStock / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza, and Tristan de Liège discuss major publicity campaigns launched by AI companies to combat uncertainty and fear about the disruptive power of AI.

• The AI PR problem

• Valid marketing problems

• Valid marketing solutions

• Special problems re: misuse

• The invalid inequality concern

• Invalid regulatory concerns

• Altruism as appeasement

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand, “What is Capitalism?” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal,  “The Age of Envy” in Return of the Primitive, and “Altruism as Appeasement” in The Voice of Reason. 

• Threats to Regulate Artificial Intelligence, ARI Podcast, May 12, 2023

• Anthropic vs. Trump: The Moral Responsibility of Tech Companies, ARI Podcast, 3/12/26

• Don Watkins and Yaron Brook, Equal is Unfair

This episode was recorded on April 17, 2026

Image credits: Altman: Anna Moneymaker / via Getty Images; Amodei: Chance Yeh / Stringer / via Getty Images

This talk by Mike Mazza 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.

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate discuss Ayn Rand’s view of evil as fundamentally impotent, and what it reveals about Soviet Russia, Iran, and the failures of American foreign policy.

• The standard view of evil

• Evil as impotent

• Paradox of Soviet danger

• Illusion of Soviet technology

• Overstating Iran’s power

• Altruism empowering evil

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand, Lexicon entry on Evil and Sanction of the Victim

• Ayn Rand, “Galt’s Speech” in For the New Intellectual

• Ayn Rand, “Altruism as Appeasement” in The Voice of Reason

• Ayn Rand, “The Anatomy of Compromise” in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

• Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo’s, Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11

• Elan Journo, Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism

This episode was recorded on 04/10/2026.

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.

Topics include:

• Facts conspiracists distort

• Facts conspiracists evade

• The conspiracist mentality     

• An anti-conceptual culture

• Decades of unprincipled foreign policy

• Tribalism and conspiracism

• Evading America’s deadly morality

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on the anti-conceptual mentality, the arbitrary, and tribalism

• Ayn Rand, “For the New Intellectual” in For the New Intellectual

This episode was recorded on April 8, 2026.

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.

• Facts conspiracists distort

• Facts conspiracists evade

• The conspiracist mentality     

• An anti-conceptual culture

• Decades of unprincipled foreign policy

• Tribalism and conspiracism

• Evading America’s deadly morality

Resources: 

• Ayn Rand Lexicon entries on the anti-conceptual mentality, the arbitrary, and tribalism

• Ayn Rand, “For the New Intellectual” in For the New Intellectual

This episode was recorded on April 8, 2026

Image credit: STR / AFP / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Agustina Vergara Cid and Mike Mazza discuss the launch of Artemis II and the future of space exploration.

Topics covered:

• The cultural reaction the launch of Artemis II

• Why it took 50 years to go back to lunar space

• The reactions to the achievements of private space companies

• How NASA is slowing down progress in space

Mentioned in the discussion were Mike Mazza’s articles “Freedom to Launch: How Deregulation Created a Space Renaissance,” “Space Renaissance: How Freedom Created Progress in the Space Industry,” and “NASA’s Plan to Impede Space Commercialization.”

This episode was recorded on April 2, 2026.

Image credit: Chip Somodevilla / via Getty Images

In this episode of the Ayn Rand Institute podcast, Robertas Bakula and Onkar Ghate discuss California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax proposal.

• California’s budget and welfare crisis

• Challenging the "fair share" narrative

• Injustice of retroactive taxation

• Productive ability vs. the welfare state

• The role of business visionaries

This episode was recorded on March 19, 2026.

Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / via Getty Images