Alex Epstein's Powerful Case for More Fossil Fuel Energy

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Keith Lockitch and Nikos Sotirakopoulos discuss Fossil Future, a powerful new book on energy and climate change written by former Ayn Rand Institute fellow Alex Epstein. The book argues that to achieve a better world, we need to expand our use of fossil fuel energy, not decrease it.

Among the topics covered:

Fossil Future in relation to other recent books challenging climate alarmism;
Epstein’s account of the widespread ignorance of the benefits of fossil fuels;
Epstein’s concept of a knowledge system by which expert knowledge is reached and disseminated (often inaccurately) to the public;
How problems in our knowledge system are caused by the acceptance of an “anti-impact” moral standard;
The human flourishing framework Epstein endorses as a positive alternative;
Objectivism’s influence on Epstein’s perspective on energy and climate;
The persuasive power of explicitly naming the moral ideas involved in a debate.

Mentioned in this podcast are Epstein’s book Fossil Future, Gregory Salmieri’s lecture “How to Be an Objective Consumer of Science,” Ayn Rand’s essay “The Anatomy of Compromise” from Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Lockitch’s review of Fossil Future, and other articles by Lockitch.

The podcast was recorded on June 1, 2022. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.