New Ideal, from the Ayn Rand Institute

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss Europe’s immigration policies, its failure to assimilate immigrants and adopt rational policies toward them, and what America needs to learn from Europe’s failures to avoid these problems.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Dan Schwartz and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the significance of Dr. Peter Attia’s new book Outlive and challenge some common arguments against life extension.

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In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Religious Skeptics Should Question Their Moral Theology.” In that essay, he argues that even though more secular people have rejected God and religion as such, they should take one more step and reject the conventional morality that comes from traditional religious beliefs.

In this special episode, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo preview the release of scores of in-depth historical, literary, and philosophical essays on Ayn Rand’s novels. Originally included in a series of books edited by Robert Mayhew, these articles are a tremendous educational resource that can greatly add to the public understanding of Rand as a novelist and seminal philosopher.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Mike Mazza and Aaron Smith discuss What’s the Use of Philosophy?, a recent book by leading philosopher Philip Kitcher, in which Kitcher calls out academic philosophy for its useless work and corrupt methods.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Matt Walsh’s film What Is a Woman? and how it reflects a deeper tribalism about sex and gender roles within the so-called culture wars and our current political climate.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ziemowit Gowin and Tristan de Liège defend self-esteem against attacks and misrepresentations by presenting Ayn Rand’s distinctive view of self-esteem as a psychological and moral necessity for successful living.

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When discussing the impact of immigration on national security, most anti-immigration advocates focus on the alleged risks: foreign terrorists and spies living among us. But they rarely consider the positive contributions immigrants make to our national security. How do immigrants impact national security? Why is the debate on this topic biased against immigrants?

The Objectivist Summer Conference 2023 is just around the corner, so join us for a preview of some of the talks the attendees will enjoy. Meet some of our first-time speakers and hear what animates them ahead of the biggest Objectivist event of the year. Presenters include Agustina Vergara Cid, Elan Journo, Dan Schwartz, Nikos Sotirakopoulos, and Sam Weaver.

A recently published paper, “In Defense of Merit in Science,” documents the growing influence of “Critical Social Justice” ideology in major scientific institutions. This ideology opposes the idea that we can acquire objective knowledge about reality using scientific methods. Major universities and prominent scientific journals are setting policies based on this ideology and are pressuring scientists to conform to its tenets.

The idea of an “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” is misleading. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Israel has faced many different enemies: monarchies, military juntas, nationalists, Marxist-Leninists, theocrats, and jihadists. Its enemies’ identity and ideas change, but the central goal is the same: to fight and destroy Israel. Why have such a variety of movements and regimes targeted Israel?

In this episode, we read aloud Elan Journo’s article, “Ayn Rand’s Devastating Critique of ‘Liberals’.” In that essay, he presents Rand’s analysis of liberals’ most fundamental moral-political goals, and their consequences. Journo shows that part of the strength of Rand’s analysis is that she engaged with liberals’ ideas seriously and, above all, objectively.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer is joined by professor and clinical psychologist Gena Gorlin to discuss the widespread notion that “intellectual humility” is the rational antidote to dogmatism.

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From Tucker Carlson to National Conservatives, there are growing conservative calls to resist technological and economic progress in the name of preserving familiar jobs. Some advocate for “industrial policy” to regulate business and protect workers. What philosophic ideas underlie this demand for economic and social stasis? Can humans flourish in such an environment?

Especially since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the topic of “artificial intelligence” has entered the public consciousness and generated controversy. How powerful can we expect AI to become? Will it pose some kind of threat to human beings? What about the value we can expect it to add to human life?

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo explore the moral and political lessons of the Iraq War.

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In this episode, Ben Bayer reads aloud his article, “Effective Altruism’s Faith-Based Sacrifice for the Future.” In that essay, he examines “longtermist” philosophy and its relation to “effective altruism.” Bayer notices that “the more we learn about the causes the effective altruist leadership has embraced, the more we should question the moral foundation of the movement.” The moral foundation of the movement, and the real source of its absurdities, is altruism.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss the libertarian support for Putin and other authoritarian regimes. They explore the libertarian movement’s decades-long sympathy for evil regimes, its anti-state, anti-American foreign policy, and how the movement’s rejection of morality has led to sanctioning tyrants.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Elan Journo discuss Ayn Rand’s philosophic analysis and critique of “liberals.” They explain what makes Rand’s evaluation of “liberalism” different from that of “conservatives,” why she thought “liberals” began concealing their collectivist goals, and how today’s “liberals” are different from (and worse than) those of Rand’s time.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Agustina Vergara Cid and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge Robert Reich’s unjust crusade against billionaires. Agustina and Nikos unpack the pernicious motivations behind the attacks against successful billionaire producers and give an impassioned moral defense of their right to the wealth they have created.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer, Ziemowit Gowin, Harry Binswanger, Shoshana Milgram, and Don Watkins discuss new course offerings at the Ayn Rand University (ARU).

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In this episode, we read aloud “Why Nationalism Is Hostile to America,” an article written by Yaron Brook and Elan Journo. In that essay, they examine the true nature and consequences of the rise of nationalism in America, especially the so-called national conservatism. Brook and Journo argue that the principles and ideas of the advocates of national conservatism are ultimately anti-American, as they reject the founding principles of America: the individual rights.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss the heckling and public shaming of Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan by Stanford Law School (SLS) students and the school’s associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at a Federalist Society (FedSoc) event. Ghate and Journo delve into the viral video of the event, Stanford’s letter apologizing to the judge, and the philosophic implications of both.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Mike Mazza respond to several common and plausible philosophic objections to Objectivism that were sent in by viewers.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Agustina Vergara Cid discuss the immigration debate from a philosophical perspective. They address questions such as whether foreigners have a right to immigrate to America, whether immigration or its curtailment violates the rights of American citizens, and what role government has in relation to immigration.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two landmark cases before the Supreme Court of the United States on the legality of using race in college admissions. They explain how collectivist thinking and state involvement in higher education have created policies that are fundamentally at odds with America’s history of individualism.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Ben Bayer discuss the pervasive influence of altruism on the culture and draw lessons from it about the systemic racism debate.

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American popular culture is filled with pieces that gently mock, satirize and ridicule religion, especially Judeo-Christian beliefs. To cite but three instances, Stephen Colbert’s periodic Late Show conversations with God, the character of Ned Flanders on The Simpsons, and the musical The Book of Mormon.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ziemowit Gowin mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine by discussing European attitudes towards Russia before and after the launch of the all-out campaign.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Ben Bayer and Sam Weaver discuss Ron DeSantis’ push to ideologically transform Florida colleges, and evaluate its potential to bring about greater freedom in the realm of education. While some of DeSantis’ actions should be evaluated as positive, there are ominous signs that they could also entrench further state control of education.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Sam Weaver discuss Natalie Wexler’s argument that many American elementary schools have abandoned the responsibility of teaching factual content, and that this rejection of the importance of knowledge is exacerbating the nation’s reading crisis.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Aaron Smith interviews Harry Binswanger on Ayn Rand’s distinctive value-centered approach to philosophy — and to living life. As a long-time student of Rand and close friend in her final years, Binswanger shares his recollections of Rand’s passionate quest of values, both as presented in her works and ideas and in her personal life.

Why does the “antiracist” movement mobilize to deplatform or fire anyone who slights or asks the wrong questions about the dominant views of “social justice”? What explains the irrational fervor of the “woke”? John McWhorter, noteworthy Columbia linguistics professor and New York Times columnist, grapples with this question in his recent book, Woke Racism.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Mike Mazza are joined by Dr. Amesh Adalja to discuss the phenomenon of skepticism towards COVID-19 vaccines. They argue that this skepticism is based on arbitrary claims made in disregard of actual evidence and explain how to assess and respond to such claims.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Aaron Smith discuss the recent incident at Hamline University, where art history professor Erika López Prater was dismissed for showing her students a fourteenth-century painting of the prophet Mohammed. They analyze the administrators’ charge of “Islamophobia,” the issue of “academic freedom” in terms of which the controversy has been viewed, and how the aversion to teaching allegedly offensive topics is destroying higher education.

Our experts take your questions on arguments for God, whether morality depends on religion, and other issues related to religion.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Nikos Sotirakopoulos and Ziemowit Gowin discuss the political philosophy of Alexander Dugin, a Russian philosopher whose collectivist theory has been influential in empowering the opposition to Western liberalism in Russian culture.

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On May 7, 1943, as World War II raged across the globe, Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead was published in America. Due to sparse reviews and minimal publicity, sales were initially low. Then an unusual thing happened, paralleling Rand’s description of the gradual success of the novel’s hero, Howard Roark: “It was as if an underground stream flowed through the country and broke out in sudden springs that shot to the surface at random, in unpredictable places.” As word-of-mouth readership spread, Rand’s novel began appearing on best-seller lists more than a year after publication.

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Don Watkins and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss New Year’s resolutions, what makes them difficult to maintain, and how integrated, contextual thinking can help automatize good habits.

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In this episode of New Ideal Live, Onkar Ghate and Elan Journo discuss two recent news stories: Elon Musk’s controversial management of Twitter and Brittney Griner’s return from captivity in Russia. They first analyze what Musk’s management and its public reception foretells for the future of freedom of speech in America; they then examine what the Biden administration’s deal to secure Griner’s freedom by releasing Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer, reveals about our foreign policy.