"Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well." - Andrew Ryan
In 2007 video game designer Ken Levine and his studio Irrational Games released BioShock to near universal praise. In an industry arguably more driven by sequels than even Hollywood, it won accolades for its original story, immersive setting, and incorporation of role-playing and survival elements into a first-person shooter. Both the original and its sequel (surprise!) are fantastic games, and any gamer worth their salt should play through them. But this is Gaming and Politics, so I'm here to discuss the interesting philosophical underpinnings of the city of Rapture. (Note - this is based on my experiences playing both games, a bit of web research, and reading the prequel novel Rapture by John Shirley, which unlike most books based on games is actually enjoyable.)
The man presented as the main antagonist in the game is Andrew Ryan, who is very obviously modeled after real-life objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand, down to the initials. Like Rand, Ryan immigrated as a child to the US from Russia after the Revolution. Instead of philosophy, however, Ryan was a man of action like a character from Rand's novels, launching a successful career in construction. He became increasingly appalled as what he saw as Marxist influences came over from the land he had escaped to shape New Deal policies. The ideological struggles of World War II further cemented his belief that all governments were hopelessly corrupt and only existed to constrain the potential of true achievers and sustain the "parasites." With the detonation of the atomic bomb and emergence of a global ideological clash that could obliterate human life, Ryan concluded that civilization had gone off the deep end. The only hope to succeed was to escape.
And so he launched an ambitious plan to create his own world under the waves of the North Atlantic. He utilized his massive resources to construct an underwater city and recruited who he believed were the best and brightest of society to populate it. He named the city Rapture, an obvious reference to the apocalyptic event that whisks away the true believers to heaven. An interesting choice given his hatred of religion.
In Rapture there were no government regulations and hardly any government at all. Can't afford the privately-run trash pickup service? Tough - deal with your own garbage. Capitalists were free of all constraints to make money however they were able. Artists and scientists could pursue whatever projects they wished, regardless of any pesky notions of morality, religiously-inspired or otherwise.
It was fairly smooth going at first. A miracle breakthrough came when Rapture's progress-driven scientists devised a way to use a substance from certain sea slugs to alter people's genetics at will, effectively giving them "magic powers" such as the ability to shoot lightning or move objects with their mind. These "plasmids" became all the rage in town, until it was discovered that abusing them turned users into insane addicts known as "splicers." With little government to do anything about it, the splicers kept on splicing, until a significantly portion of Rapture's population was running amok. Other problems tore at Rapture's societal seams. A very rigid class structure emerged. Those at the top lived in an elegant underwater paradise. On the low end, workers brought in for maintenance and other duties found they were forced to live in abject squalor with little opportunity for advancement, not being allowed to leave either. Ironically enough, a Marxist organizer started rallying this proletariat to her cause, and Ryan, as a firm believer in free speech and the hands-off exchange of ideas, was hesitant to do anything about it.
On the other hand, a career criminal named Frank Fontaine who had weaseled his way into Rapture was more than happy to take advantage of any discord he could to emerge as Ryan's nemesis in the fight for control of Rapture. Ryan was forced to implement more and more of the thing he hated most - government - and began to show signs of megalomania. Freedom of speech was restricted. Curfews were implemented. Rapture, once a libertarian utopia, became a police state. All to no avail. By New Year's Eve 1959, the city was in the midst of civil war.
The events of BioShock take place a year later and open with the protagonist Jack emerging from a plane crash in the North Atlantic. He is able to swim to a strange platform in the ocean and is lowered into the depths, thus to discover the wonders of Rapture, which by now has become a wrecked graveyard only populated by crazed splicers. Jack establishes radio contact with a nice Irish fellow named Atlas (a reference to Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged) who says he can help Jack escape if Jack will in turn help free Atlas and his family from Ryan's clutches. Jack agrees and performs a number of favors for Atlas all while working toward the end goal of escape.
What follows in the game is an exciting, breathtaking tour of the ruined underwater city. Jack acquires plasmids and employs them in his struggles against the splicer gangs. He finds audio logs in which various characters - Ryan, Fontaine, and others - reveal the backstory of what has transpired in Rapture. The city itself is a wonder of design. Having been isolated from the rest of the world since the 1940s, the culture and architecture is still immersed in that era - modified for underwater purpose, altered by plasmids and other technologies, and partially destroyed by civil war to create a place unknown to anyone on the surface.
The game reaches its climax in a confrontation between Jack and Ryan, in which it is revealed that Jack is actually Ryan's illegitimate son, genetically altered to perform any action requested by the phrase "Would you kindly...?" A flashback reminds the player that Atlas, who was in fact Fontaine, had been using this phrase to guide Jack's actions throughout the game. This is BioShock's masterful trick in playing with the conventions of player agency and choice. In this libertarian paradise, ultimately there was no freedom of choice. Ryan, apparently resigned to his fate, orders Jack to "kindly" kill him with a golf club. All that remains is a final confrontation with Fontaine and and ultimate escape from the city.
"In the end, what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No... A man chooses, a slave obeys." - Andrew Ryan
Ryan, Rand, and ... Ryan
Ryan's comparisons to Ayn Rand run even deeper than what I've detailed here. BioShock's writers were definitely up on their objectivism. Consider these two quotes:
What is the difference between a man and a parasite? A man builds. A parasite asks 'Where is my share?' A man creates. A parasite says, 'What will the neighbors think?' A man invents. A parasite says, 'Watch out, or you might tread on the toes of God... ' - Andrew Ryan
“The man who attempts to live for others is a dependent. He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves. The relationship produces nothing but mutual corruption. It is impossible in concept. The nearest approach to it in reality -- the man who lives to serve others -- is the slave. - Ayn Rand
Ryan's words are catchier, but the message is the same. Objectivism proudly declares that greed is good, altruism is evil, and anyone who dares to suggest otherwise is a parasite. Both government and religion are obstacles to progress and achievement by advancing phony ideas such as social justice and "helping thy neighbor." The only true help is freedom. How influential is Rand's school of thought? Thirty years after her death, it echoes from the mouths of leading libertarian and conservative politicians and publications. It is the philosophical underpinning for the argument to dismantle the New Deal.
In 2012 the most famous Randian ironically shared Andrew Ryan's surname - Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan. As recently as 2005 Ryan praised Rand's ideas and declared that her novels were required reading for his Congressional staff. This year he had to backpedal from such lofty words, mainly because Rand's atheism directly conflicts with his devout Catholicism. This is much more than "well, she just happens to be an atheist." Atheism is central to Rand's philosophy, as religion is a bogus force that promotes altruism and limits freedom. And while Ryan may have stopped paying lip service to objectivism, his budget policies advocating radical cuts to social welfare programs reveal Rand's invisible hand at work.
As for Rand, late in her life, lacking funds and in poor health, she went on Social Security and Medicare. In the end, perhaps, we are all parasites.
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