Program
General Sessions
Concurrent Sessions
Social Events
Lunches
Anacostia Ballroom and Foyer
Meet and mingle with fellow attendees at the official opening of OCON 2022! This event is casual. Your fee includes two drinks and a cash bar is available. The opening reception and dinner are included in all in-person week passes.
Day Pass holders: Cost to attend: $150. Registration deadline is Friday, June 24.
Anacostia Ballroom
If this is your first OCON, come meet other first-timers, OCON speakers and ARI staff at this casual breakfast event.
Potomac Ballroom
If Samuel Alito’s leaked first draft of a potential majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a reliable indication, the Supreme Court will overturn (and may have already done so by the time of the conference) Roe v. Wade. Onkar Ghate will examine the arguments offered in Roe, good and bad, the vulnerabilities of the decision, and the case being made for its overturn
Anacostia Ballroom
The presentation is an introduction to ARI’s planned giving and Atlantis Legacy programs. Topics include minimizing taxes through charitable giving and providing future support for Ayn Rand’s world-changing ideas while achieving your estate-planning objectives. A casual lunch will be served, compliments of ARI. No RSVP is necessary.
Potomac Ballroom
Dr. Binswanger defends a radical position on immigration: the moral imperative to end all forms of governmental interference with freedom of travel. Crossing a national border, he argues, should be as free, unregulated, and unsupervised as crossing a state border. He takes on all the common objections to open borders, including: “Immigrants take our jobs away,” “Open borders abandon sovereignty,” “Immigration is harmful in a welfare state,” and “Immigrants will vote the wrong way.” He concludes by explaining why freedom of entry is of special importance to Objectivists.
River Birch Ballroom
Tertullian (ca. 160–220) and Thomas Aquinas (13th century) both defended faith as a justification for their Christian beliefs, but whereas Tertullian proudly defended faith even when it clashed with reason, Aquinas argued that there was a harmony between faith and reason — that the two could never clash. In this lecture, Dr. Mayhew will examine the views of each in detail and briefly discuss the continuing influence of their conceptions of faith and reason in the 21st century.
Potomac Ballroom
Ayn Rand’s distinctive view of values gives her a distinctive view of happiness. We will discuss:
- What happiness is
- Why it’s “the normal condition of man”
- The practical steps to move from unhappiness to happiness
Rock Creek Ballroom
Panel: From Students to “New Intellectuals”
The 2022 Ayn Rand Institute Gala will be an opportunity to socialize with like-minded people in an elegant setting, to get an insider look at the most up-to-date happenings at the Institute, to hear from prominent Objectivist intellectuals who are working to change the culture, and to witness the impact of your donations. You’ll have a chance to contribute by bidding on exciting auction items related to Ayn Rand, the Institute, and the Objectivist community. We invite you to join us for this year’s Gala, our annual fundraising event, July 2, 2022, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. For the second year, it will take place alongside the Objectivist summer conference (OCON). We hope you’ll join us for both. Funds raised at our Gala go to support ARI’s mission of fostering a culture whose guiding principles are reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and laissez-faire capitalism.
8:40AM – 9:40AMDon Watkins: Don’t Be Boring: Winning the Attention Game
River Birch Ballroom
There has never been more competition for people’s attention. And yet you can’t win the war of ideas unless you can cut through the noise and get your message heard. In this talk, Don Watkins looks at the theory and practice of capturing attention and how you can use that knowledge to promote Ayn Rand’s ideas.
8:40AM – 9:40AMThomas Shoebotham: Scott Joplin: American Genius, Part 1
Potomac Ballroom
Scott Joplin is history’s most famous ragtime composer. Using a combination of Afro-American folk music and European romanticism, he elevated the genre above its “cheap bordello” origins, and created a new art form, the classic rag. These presentations will examine Joplin’s achievements, in ragtime and other genres, such as ballet and opera. Listeners will come away with a deeper appreciation for a great composer who revolutionized American music, and whose influence on subsequent composers and future genres was immense.
Potomac Ballroom
Mickey Spillane is one of the best-selling writers of all time, with estimated sales of 225 million copies. Mike Hammer, his most enduring hero, is a private detective who pursues justice with physical and moral courage. Mike uses his gun, his fists, and his mind to avenge the innocent, to destroy the evil, and to guard the good. Many reviewers dismissed or condemned Spillane’s writing; many readers, undeterred, have devoured the books anyway. Ayn Rand admired the Mike Hammer books and praised them publicly. This talk surveys the range of Spillane’s writing career (including his ideas for films starring his friend John Wayne), with emphasis on the voice and virtues of his crusading hero.
Rock Creek Ballroom
Ayn Rand was a great admirer of the novelist Mickey Spillane. In a 1961 interview, Mike Wallace spoke with both Rand and Spillane together about the art of writing—especially Spillane’s writing—and about the contemporary literary scene. In this exclusive, benefactors-only lunch event, we’ll hear an audio recording of this rare, hard-to-find interview. (Spoiler alert: Ayn Rand analyzes the psychological and philosophical meaning of the ending of Spillane’s novel I, the Jury.) Shoshana Milgram will give further insights about Rand and Spillane’s ongoing friendship, along with his comments on her work and her comments on the qualities of his prose, plots, and power.
RSVP by June 15 to David Gulbraa at 949-705-5632 or [email protected].
Potomac Ballroom
Charles Darwin was far from the first person to defend the idea that new species originate by a natural evolutionary process. Between 1750 and 1850 the idea had many defenders, including his grandfather. Why did Charles Darwin succeed in convincing his fellow naturalists, when many before him had failed? Based on a decades-long study of his private notebooks and correspondence, this lecture by James Lennox will describe the inductive method that lies behind Darwin’s brilliant presentation of the theory of evolution by natural selection presented in On the Origin of Species
River Birch Ballroom
Ayn Rand made abundantly clear that the morality of altruism had no basis in reason. Where then, if not from logical arguments, did it originate? It is not enough to point to irrational philosophies: the ultimate question is, where did philosophers get the idea? This talk will explore Ayn Rand’s own views on the motives that led thinkers to adopt this irrational morality. The talk will also examine how her views on this subject developed and deepened between the writing of The Fountainhead and her later nonfiction essays. It will also compare her views to Nietzsche’s views in The Genealogy of Morals, which are similar in certain respects but profoundly different in others.
Potomac Ballroom
Tal Tsfany, ARI’s president and CEO, will review ARI’s mission to spread Objectivism and the progress made during 2021-22. ARI’s strategy for the future will be presented together with many data points and insights, collected through newly implemented technologies and methodologies. Mr. Tsfany will answer questions about the direction ARI is taking.
Potomac Ballroom
A performance of dramatic confrontations from The Fountainhead brought to life by professional actors, directed by Ann Ciccolella with scenes selected by Dr. Shoshana Milgram from Ayn Rand’s original script adaptation — much of which was not used in the 1949 film. The show will feature a new scene with Dominique and Toohey walking together on the streets of New York. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Potomac Ballroom
Ayn Rand’s original screenplay for The Fountainhead was 283 pages long. The final screenplay for the 1949 film was less than half that length. Much of her work, therefore, has never been available to the public. The OCON program includes a performance of several scenes as originally planned and written. This follow-up talk provides additional information about Ayn Rand’s choices in the 1944 screenplay regarding the order and contexts of scenes and includes scenes rendered visually with no dialogue.
Potomac Ballroom
Our Fourth of July program includes patriotic songs accompanied by piano and trumpet, poems and other readings, including the Declaration of Independence.
Potomac Ballroom
Cellist Thomas Shoebotham and pianist Sam Jacobs present a recital of timeless works by Clara Schumann, J. S. Bach, and Frédéric Chopin. Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, op. 22, were written in 1853 and were soon performed all over Europe, including before King George V of England, who was, in the words of one observer, “completely ecstatic” upon hearing them. Bach’s Cello Suite no. 1 (Solo) is part of his cycle Six Suites for Cello, which languished in obscurity until it was brought to light by Pablo Casals in the early 20th century. Chopin’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, written in 1846 for his friend the cellist Auguste Franchomme, was the last of his works to be published in his lifetime.
The musicians are volunteering their time for this very special recital and are asking for donations, in any amount, from those who attend, in order to fund student scholarships for OCON 2023. Donations are to be collected at the door or can be made online at aynrand.org/donate.
River Birch Ballroom
Mr. Douglas will describe how federal laws regulating securities markets criminalize several forms of economic inequality. Focusing on insider trading laws, Douglas will explain how the “mandatory disclosure” approach to securities regulation undermines the usefulness of information for its owners and treats less informed investors as victims of investors with information advantages. The result is a system of regulation that actively redistributes and even nullifies investors’ wealth.
Potomac Ballroom
Scott Joplin is history’s most famous ragtime composer. Using a combination of Afro-American folk music and European romanticism, he elevated the genre above its “cheap bordello” origins, and created a new art form, the classic rag. These presentations will examine Joplin’s achievements, in ragtime and other genres, such as ballet and opera. Listeners will come away with a deeper appreciation for a great composer who revolutionized American music, and whose influence on subsequent composers and future genres was immense.
Potomac Ballroom
The Objectivist ethics is grounded in the nature of life. Spanning meta-ethics to politics, this talk surveys the implications for this ethics of an aspect of life about which Rand said little: reproduction. Topics include what it means for an organism’s life to be its ultimate value, whether (and when) having children is egoistic, and the rights of parents and children.
Rock Creek Ballroom
In 2020, as part of the Ayn Rand University growth strategy, we began to greatly expand ARI’s Junior Fellows Program. The fellows are both students in our advanced programs being trained as professional intellectuals, and as contributors to ARI’s intellectual product through their work as teaching assistants, writers, podcast presenters, and others. At this lunch event, you’ll meet some of our junior fellows and hear about the work they’re doing for ARI and how the Junior Fellows Program is helping them to advance in their careers as professional intellectuals. Cost to attend: $100. Registration deadline is Friday, June 24.
Potomac Ballroom
Emil Kocher, Swiss surgeon in the late 1800s, is known mostly for revolutionizing surgery of the thyroid. In his hands, the mortality rate of thyroid removal dropped from 50% to less than 1%. But tragedy soon followed triumph: before Kocher, no one could take out the thyroid gland. So no one asked if you should. The consequence of his surgical genius was the belated realization that the thyroid plays a crucial role in growth and development — much to the dismay of his young patients. This is the story of one man’s professional crisis, and how he met the challenge.
River Birch Ballroom
Having spent much of the past two years offering psychological support to entrepreneurs, Dr. Gorlin has witnessed how much support the most ambitious people need—even, sometimes especially, when they already have the right philosophy. This talk will recount what she has learned about the psychological needs and challenges of entrepreneurs, and what this has taught her about the work we all need to do on ourselves in order to build the lives and careers of our choosing.
Potomac Ballroom
Mr. Scott, restorer of the film classic We the Living, will give a talk celebrating the movie’s astonishing 80-year journey—from 1942 to 2022. Scott will vividly describe the many controversies and intrigues surrounding the film’s production in war-time Italy; the heroic efforts to save the film after dictator Mussolini ordered the film destroyed; Scott’s personal experiences working alongside Ayn Rand on the initial restoration of the rediscovered movie; and the meticulous new restoration that screens at 7 p.m. tonight.
Potomac Ballroom
An exclusive, pre-release, sneak preview of We the Living: The 80th Anniversary Edition, the new, meticulously restored and rejuvenated high-definition edition of the epic film. Based on Ayn Rand’s semi-autobiographical first novel, We the Living premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1942. Later it was banned, then lost, then rediscovered. Presented by Duncan Scott; a brief Q&A will follow.
River Birch Ballroom
The most significant figure in the history of logic after Aristotle is 19th-century German philosopher Gottlob Frege. Frege’s work in logic and philosophy is foundational to the “analytic” tradition in philosophy and has had a strong influence on mathematics and computer science. This lecture discusses his revolution in logic and critiques its philosophical foundations.
Potomac Ballroom
During the seventy-plus-year history of the People’s Republic of China, it has transformed from a Leninist state, through chaos and technocrats, to what has been dubbed “market authoritarianism.” How can this change be accounted for under the continued reign of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? This talk will explore the consistencies and inconsistencies in the CCP’s governance that have brought us to today and lay the groundwork for exploring what it will become tomorrow.
Potomac Ballroom
Victor Hugo’s Hernani was more than a play. It was “the rehearsal of a revolution,” a bold theatrical rebellion that defied Classical dogmas and made way for a new Romanticism. On the centenary of Hugo’s birth, writer Edmond Rostand would pay worshipful tribute to his hero with a poem called Un Soir à Hernani. In this lecture, I will tell the thrilling story of Hernani, share excerpts from Rostand’s never-translated tribute, and highlight all that Hugo and Rostand have to show us about how to be a Romantic.
Rock Creek Ballroom
New Ideal Live is ARI’s weekly podcast in which ARI intellectuals analyze the cultural-political issues of the day through the lens of Objectivist philosophy and then answer your questions. This year, we’ll be broadcasting live from OCON in Washington, D.C. Don’t miss your chance to watch New Ideal Live – live! Cost to attend: $100. Registration deadline is Friday, June 24.
Potomac Ballroom
In this talk, Dr. Adalja will discuss the science behind vaccine platform technologies such as the mRNA vaccines. He will also describe how changes in the scientific context impact the role of vaccines, the misconception of science as omniscient, and how the arbitrary must play no role in scientific-medical matters.
Potomac Ballroom
Rapid economic opening and growth since the 1980s led many to expect the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to undergo political liberalization and assume a business-friendly environment. This panel will explore contemporary conditions in the Communist Party–ruled state and seek answers to the coming challenges posed by its approach to economics: What are the implications for foreign corporations investing in the PRC? What risks do they face to their intellectual property? How is the Party leveraging technology for geopolitical gain?
River Birch Ballroom
Ayn Rand was rarely in Washington, D.C., but her ideas have impacted America’s political scene for nearly a century. Join archivists Jeff Britting and Audra Hilse for an in-person look at a few of the artifacts that chronicle this impact. The panel will be followed by an extended Q&A about these and other materials in the Ayn Rand Archives.
Rock Creek Ballroom
Objectivist Academic Center students, auditors and alumni (1+ years) are invited to meet, mingle and raise a toast to this year’s graduates. A light fare will be served.
Potomac Ballroom
This concert for small orchestra presents the works of three great American composers, Scott Joplin, George Gershwin and Aaron Copland. The Joplin consists of five selections from his only surviving opera Treemonisha, arranged for string ensemble. Gershwin wrote Lullaby, one of his first “serious” compositions, as a student exercise in about 1919. Conceived at the piano and composed in full harmony, the one-movement work was scored originally for string quartet and later for an expanded string orchestra. Copland’s Appalachian Spring is one of the most famous pieces in all American music, with its infectious rhythmic vitality and quotation of the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts.”
Rock Creek Ballroom
Join board members, speakers and fellow attendees for a Texas hold ’em poker tournament and/or a blackjack competition. Bragging rights and non-cash prizes to winners and an evening of fun memories for everyone, with funds going to support the mission of the Ayn Rand Institute. Register ($100 required) by June 20 to receive a chip bonus. Seating is limited.
Potomac Ballroom
The Bolsheviks began as an insignificant, minority group that seized power in 1917, yet they maintained it for seven decades and established an empire with global reach. The regime struggled from day one, and yet it managed to sustain itself and expand. There are useful lessons to draw from this for the student of history and ideas. What does the Soviet Union’s history teach us about the nature of evil? How does it survive, and how important is the role played by the sanction of the good?
River Birch Ballroom
In the last few years, a new intellectual community and movement has arisen, centered on the value of scientific, technological, industrial, and economic progress. These ideas have caught the attention of business leaders, academic economists, and prominent journalists. Where did this movement come from? Why is it gaining traction? And what are the key steps to maximize its positive impact? Crawford will give his viewpoint as someone who has been inside the epicenter of this movement since its beginning.
Potomac Ballroom
How do we judge viewpoints — political movements, ideologies, philosophies — that seem to contain mixtures of good and bad ideas? How do we determine whether any specific element of a broader framework is good or bad? This talk discusses a range of viewpoints, from environmentalism to religion to Black Lives Matter, and examines the means by which their concrete positions should be assessed. It explains how to identify the fundamental of any systematic viewpoint, and how that must shape our judgment of those concrete positions.
Rock Creek Ballroom
The Institute hosts its annual thank-you event for participants in the Atlantis Legacy, ARI‘s planned giving program. Dr. Ellen Kenner, psychologist and co-author (with Dr. Edwin A. Locke) of The Selfish Path to Romance, will be our special guest, sharing her experiences in the movement and her thoughts on the life-enhancing importance to her of the Institute’s mission. Invitations will be extended to those who have included the Institute in their estate plan and informed ARI that they have done so.
RSVP by June 15 to David Gulbraa at 949-705-5632 or [email protected].
Potomac Ballroom
Biopharmaceutical innovators responded heroically to the COVID-19 pandemic. In unprecedented time and with cutting-edge technologies, they created vaccines and other medical treatments that saved millions of lives around the world. For this extraordinary achievement, leftists and libertarians have vilified them, and politicians are actively seeking to confiscate their patents. This talk explains how patents made possible the unprecedented response to the pandemic and why these vital property rights have been wrongly attacked.
River Birch Ballroom
For Rand, the good life consists in being an independent, impassioned valuer. It is notable that Rand regarded an individual’s capacity to value as, in significant part, a developmental issue, and discussed at some length what parents and educators can do to thwart or nurture this capacity in a young human being. In this talk, we’ll argue that nurturing the capacity to value is a central function of a good education, and we’ll discuss how specifically an education can do this. In particular, we’ll look at Montessori’s excellent approach to this topic, in early childhood and far beyond.
Potomac Ballroom
It’s difficult not to be discouraged at the state of today’s world: our dysfunctional politics, our battered economy, and a culture sinking deeper and deeper into irrationality and nihilism. In this talk, Yaron Brook will explain why despite all of this, he is still optimistic. The signs of hope don’t make the headlines, but they’re all around us: from the continued innovation of the tech sector to the continued functioning of markets and businesses as engines of wealth- and job-creation, to the outraged backlash against the nuttiest ideas, to the persistent, gradual rise of Objectivism as it continues to reach more people and change more lives.
Potomac Ballroom
We’ll close OCON with a reception, seated dinner and dance. Your fee includes two drinks and a cash bar will be available. Come and enjoy the company of old and new friends and dance the night away! This event is dressy; coats and ties for gentlemen, evening wear for ladies, please. The closing event is included in all in-person week passes.
Day Pass holders: Cost to attend: $175. Registration deadline is Friday, June 24.
Objectivist Conferences / Ayn Rand® Institute reserves the right to make necessary adjustments to the schedule. Speakers, talks and events will be added periodically, as they are confirmed. For OCON updates, sign up here.
