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“I am Andrew Ryan. And I'm hear to ask you a question"
"Is not a man 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."
Bioshock is a critically acclaimed first person shooter game developed by 2k Boston.
It was released in 2008 and is known among gamers everywhere.
Due to it’s success, it has released multiple spin offs including Bioshock 2, BioShock Infinite and the Burial at Sea expansion packs.
Bioshock was loved for its game mechanics, it’s engaging story and it’s attention to detail.
People who have played it will remember it’s art deco environments and it’s original characters
which was all set in the underwater city of Rapture.
While this game blends elements of survival horror, fps shooters and roleplaying decisions
players were also exposed to complex intellectual commentaries and political ideas - things that are rarely seen in modern games today.
Many people were introduced to libertarianism in their first playthroughs of Bioshock.
For example, “The sweat of the brow” refers to the concept of self-ownership and property rights
which are foundational concepts to capitalism.
There are many similar concepts expressed in the game, communicated in audio logs and radio messages, if you know where to look.
Kev Levine, the creative lead of Irrational games, based most of the themes of Rapture off of Objectivism
a philosophy that was developed by Ayn Rand.
She was a world renowned philosopher of the 20th century
author of the books Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead.
The city of Rapture embodies much of the philosophy Ayn Rand talks about
favouring liberty, rationality, capitalism and small limited government above all else
Some of the character aspects of Andrew Ryan was based on the philosopher Rand herself.
And so while most gamers might not be aware of the works of Ayn Rand and objectivism
if they have played this game, then they have probably have a good understanding of the ideas indirectly.
Because of this, Bioshock stands as the only video game in popular culture
that has introduced the core components of libertarianism and objectivism into gamers worldwide.
But what exactly are the components of objectivism?
How did objectivism and capitalism cause Rapture to fail?
And what philosophical lessons could be learnt from this game and the fictional characters in it?
This is love life and anarchy and I’ll be doing an in depth presentation of the philosophy of bioshock.
“On the surface, I once bought a forest."
"The parasites claimed that the land belong to God and demanded that I established a public park there."
"Why?"
"So the ramble could stare slack jawed on to the canopy and pretend it was paradise earned."
"When Congress moved to nationalise my forest, I burnt it to the ground."
"God did not plant the seeds of this Arcadia"
" I did.”
Andrew Ryan is the main outlet of objectivism in this game, and the primary antagonist of the first half of Bioshock.
He is described as a business magnate that is a firm supporter of individual rights and free market principles.
He is aware that no such society exists in the world for people like him, and so he had one created.
He ordered the secret construction of the underwater city Rapture to express those rights, and to attract a community that shared his ideas.
A city that is outside of government control and a place where politicians could not rule.
Andrew Ryan shared many similarities to Ayn Rand’s own life story.
In fact, his name is an anagram of hers.
Both Andrew Ryan and Ayn Rand were born in Russia and experienced the Russian Revolution
known as Red October, when the Bolsheviks got into power.
The Bolshevists were Marxists and became the communist party of Russia
in which they they confiscated businesses and seized the means of production from the capitalist class.
Both Andrew Ryan and Ayn Rand discovered the horrors of totalitarian governments first hand when their property and wealth were seized
and could only watch as their community fell deeper into despair.
They fled to America in the 1920s, seeing it as a country of freedom and posterity.
The economic freedom the country embraced meant their intellect and determination was rewarded with wealth and stability from the free market.
However, both Ryan and Rand saw how the US government was increasingly adopting socialist policies
such as Franklin Roosevelt’s The New Deal
and feared America would eventually suffer the same fate as Russia
When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb wielded by the US government
Andrew Ryan saw that as the ultimate betrayal of his ideals and the death of his nation.
The government had used science and the wealth of others to create a weapon that could destroy anything they could not control.
This is what finally motivated Andrew Ryan to found the city of Rapture
and secretly invited the world’s best and brightest to retreat there with him.
The backstory of Rapture was heavily inspired by Ayn Rand’s book: Atlas Shrugged.
The book depicts a dystopian society sliding in economic destruction due totalitarianism and excess government regulation.
Industry leaders and entrepreneurs began to disappear from society, leaving behind their businesses and capital investments.
As new laws and regulation continue to strangle the industries of the world
vital services such as transport, food production and energy services began to decline or halt.
We learn that the people who are responsible for these industries were encouraged to strike as a form of political protest against the government.
They build a secret city known as Galt’s Gulch
a free society made by people who value the ideas of freedom, liberty and capitalism.
Eventually the government collapses on the outside world
and the industry leaders return from their hiding in Galt’s Gulch to build a better world without the government’s involvement.
The city of Rapture was modelled after Galt Gulch, which were both built on the ideas of Objectivism.
What are the ideas of objectivism?
Briefly, objectivism is a guide to living a virtuous life based on reason.
It starts with metaphysics.
Objectivism states that reality exists, and it exists independently of us and our consciousness.
That means we discover reality through our senses, not through faith or mysticism.
This leads to the rejection of religion, the supernatural and anything else that can not be empirically verified.
This is why both Andrew Ryan and Ayn Rand were atheists and rejected the idea of God, favouring reality or reason above all else.
"You don't approve of religion because?"
"Because it's mystical. Because it is based on faith"
"Not on reason and facts."
The objectivist view on happiness is based on the Aristotelian view on happiness.
Aristotle argued that happiness comes from ourselves
and that it was based on rational self interest and self fulfilment.
Aristotle argued that self-love was the highest form of love and that self-love was needed for virtuous living.
Because of this, serving other people’s happiness can only come after serving your own happiness.
Or said another way, saying “I love you” only has real meaning when you use the word “I”.
This was later fleshed out in objectivism to ultimately reject Altruism
which can be heard in some of Andrew Ryan’s speeches.
Altruism is defined as self-sacrifice being the highest form of moral value.
That serving others is the only justification of existence
and that you have no right to exist for your sake, but only exist for the needs of others.
Both Ayn Rand and Andrew Ryan believe that most, if not all, evils of the world
was due to people being manipulated by altruism and the emotional prejudices that altruism enables.
That evil is enabled not by selfishness, but by wanting to serve others before yourself.
And that the world would be a better place if people put their self-interest above self-sacrifice.
“Whenever anyone wants others to do their work, they call upon their altruism."
"Never mind your own needs, they say, think if the needs of..."
"The state, the poor, of the army, of the king, of God."
"How many catastrophes were launched with the words 'think of yourself'?"
"It’s the king and country crowd who light the torch of destruction”
“I’m challenging the moral code of altruism."
"The precept that man’s moral duty is to live for others."
"That man must sacrifice himself to others."
"Which is, the present day morality.”
Altruism is not to be confused with kindness, good will or respect for others
but the rejection of oneself for the happiness of others.
Giving to charity or helping others should be seen as something you want to do out of self-love
not something that you are forced to do out of self-sacrifice.
When these realities and values are seen as priorities in society, it ultimately leads to a capitalist environment
where the individual holds the right to property and trade in each of their hands.
That their self-interest is preferenced above self-sacrifice.
And that the role of government is limited to only protecting the rights and freedom of others.
In short, Rapture was the rational and objective society that Ayn Rand talked about.
It rejected mysticism such as religion.
It respected property rights and free trade, which means it enabled capitalism.
And the role of government was limited to only protecting individual rights
and not be involved in the affairs of Rapture.
In real world political terms, this is known as minarchism.
And for a while, it was wonderful.
Rapture was everything Ryan and it’s citizens dreamed it would be.
It was a paradise of freedom and prosperity.
From 1946 to 1958, Rapture experienced tremendous economic progress, political stability
a culture of entrepreneurship, numerous business establishments and unprecedented scientific advancements
just as Ryan predict it would do.
But all that changed when Frank Fontaine arrived at Rapture, and the city began to decline.
Fontaine was a conman, a criminal mastermind, and the arch-enemy of Andrew Ryan.
He constantly undermined Rapture, Andrew Ryan and the principles the city was built on.
After a long decade of sabotage and criminal activity
he eventually lead a civil war against Andrew Ryan which lead to the destruction of Rapture and their way of life.
So while the city of Rapture started as a utopia and its values was shared by the inhabitants
it fell into disarray after other characters began to work against Andrew Ryan and the principles of what Rapture was built on.
But not all of this can be faulted on men such as Fontaine.
Andrew Ryan himself abandoned his own principles when it came to governing Rapture
which ultimately led to it’s downfall.
The first principle he violated was the idea of free trade.
Respecting property rights and respecting people’s freedom to trade is paramount to capitalism.
Andrew Ryan talks about a great chain of industry that unites people.
“I believe in no God, no invisible man in the sky."
"But there is something more powerful in each of us."
"A combination of our efforts. A great chain of industry that unites us."
"But it is only when we struggle in our own interest, that the chain pulls society in the right direction."
"The chain is too powerful and too mysterious for any government to guide. "
"Any man who tells you different either has his hand in your pocket, or a pistol to your neck"
Adam Smith, famous economist of the 18th century, coined the similar term “The invisible hand”.
The argument is that the free market, when not coerced or forced upon, yields the greatest
results for society. Both morally and economically.
But the invisible hand doesn’t always serve in the interest of particular individuals.
Especially the individuals in power. Andrew Ryan felt the great chain move away from him
when contraband started to appear in Rapture. Andrew Ryan prohibited trade with the outside
world. The justification for doing so was to keep the existence of Rapture a secret
from the outside world, fearing government would invade if they ever found out about
Rapture. He delivered harsh penalties to smugglers who ignored the ban, showing them off as corpses
in the Fisheries areas.
By limiting of the supply of goods from the outside world, the great chain was forcefully pulled
toward Andrew Ryan’s direction. Ironically, this only created a greater demand,
for contraband and thus the great chain was pulled back toward the people. This motivated
Frank Fontaine to use his criminal skills and meet that demand through his smuggling
ring. He earned the first of his riches through the black market this way.
This is kind of government interference is similar to how the government tries to control
the war on drugs. When the government restricts trade on an specific items that people want
such as drugs, they create a black market. The black market, through its artificially
strong profit motive, attracts the more ruthless and dangerous people to fulfil that demand
similar to the way Fontaine was drawn to it. These kind of smugglers, cartels, and mobsters
are only around because governments artificially created that environment for them to do business in.
They could not exist as businesses if governments respected free trade and respected the rights of the individual.
It is the governments that creates these black markets through prohibition
and it was Andrew Ryan who encouraged people like Fontaine to operate in those black market through their laws.
Players can argue that Andrew Ryan was justified in restricting trade with the outside world.
But players can not argue that Andrew Ryan supported free trade or capitalism in principle
from that decision.
By restricting trade and banning certain goods into Rapture, he increased the power of his
own government and interfered with the rights of the individual
something that objectivism and libertarians do not advocate.
While Fontaine became increasingly infamous and dangerous, Rapture’s small government
was constantly on the hunt for him. Fontaine knew he couldn’t survive this way for long,
and so he faked his own death in a shootout between Rapture’s police force and his own
smuggling ring. He would create a new persona, named Atlas, to continue on with his endeavours.
While the dust was settling, Andrew Ryan came in and nationalized Fountaine Futuristics.
Seizing Frank’s assets, his ADAM, his works on plasmids, the orphanage and his charity
groups for himself. This was done against the wishes of his own council. His inner circle
encouraged Ryan to hand over Fontaine Futuristics to Atlas’ group as a peace offering. Ryan
refused, saying he’d break it up in due time. This only added fuel to the fire and
continued to stir the class struggle spearheaded by Atlas.
Why did Andrew Ryan ultimately became a parasite himself?
Perhaps he meant what he said, and that Fontaine Futuristics would be broken apart in time
once the civil war ended. Which might have been true, if it wasn’t for the actions of the player.
Or perhaps power corrupts. The power and the control Andrew Ryan had over Rapture might
have affected his mental health, which in turn affected his moral decisions. If it’s
true that power corrupts, then governments can only grow and become more corrupt, as
Andrew Ryan’s council did. This is why some libertarians favour the elimination of government
from society over a limited government. These libertarians argue that limited government
will inevitably always grow to a fascist government, as it did with Rapture, because power corrupts.
Or maybe this story was forced because of the way Ken Lavine wrote it.
Stories need to have some conflict in their plots, otherwise it would be boring.
Rapture could not survive the civil war as it was. The only option it had was to prevent
it from happening in the first place. This could have been done following the principles
of capitalism and allowing citizens of Rapture to freely trade with the outside world. Doing
so would not have created resentment in the citizens and not given a large amount of resources to bad men.
Another possible way of avoiding disaster was to inform the users of plasmids of it’s
possible dangers. While Andrew Ryan was consistent in not interfering with the trade and production
of plasmids, the side effects of using them, which included death and insanity, was not
publicised. Fontaine Futuristics knew of the side effects in the early research phrase
but kept it a secret. People who used ADAM became splicers, who would later become deranged
and violent. Ultimately, no amount of philosophy or moral reasoning could persuade splicers
to be good rational people. And so the splicers that overran the city were lost to reason.
It’s difficult to believe that the people of Rapture were willing to inject chemicals
in their arms that would rewrite their DNA without investigating the possible dangers
of side effects - which was well known by Tenenbaum at the time. If people were aware
of the destructive nature of plasmids, there would have been no such thing as splicers,
people would be open to reason, and Rapture could not have had it’s civil war.
The last option would be not to have the Andrew Ryan’s council exist in the first place.
Some libertarianism, known as anarcho-capitalists, disagree with the objectivist stance of small
limited government, and favour a free society without a central coercive power.
One of their arguments is although a limited government could theoretically only exist to protect
individual rights, there are ultimately no safeguards in place that could stop them if
they wanted to expand their power. When a small limited government has the power of
initiating force over it’s citizens, there’s no real way of controlling that. Atlas’
goal was to control Rapture through exploiting the powers of Andrew Ryan’s council. If
Rapture was truly a free society, there would be no government for Atlas to overthrow, no
government that could seize businesses and assets, and no government that hang people
for contraband. Protecting the rights of the individual from theft and fraud could have
been done by people in the city in a decentralised way - which is the kind of society anarcho
capitalists advocate for. When there are no agencies of centralised power, then there
are no agencies that could become corrupt, and no agencies that people like Fontaine
could take control over.
The fictional city of Rapture did fall from grace into a dystopian nightmare, but the
reasons for such can not be blamed on objectivism, libertarianism or capitalism. The fall of
Rapture was due to the abandonment of those principles. Andrew Ryan allowed his small
government to overstep their bounds. They regulated trade, seized assets and killed
people who disagreed with their policies - which are very real dangers of government and is
what objectivism tries to warn us about. Frank Fontaine manipulated the poor, through brutality,
fear, altruism and plasmids to start a war with Andrew Ryan and the upper class. His
goal was to control Rapture and introduce plasmids into the outside world through the
monopoly of Fontaine Futuristics. The splicers that made up the majority of Rapture could
not be reasoned with, and were guided by their own violent impulses or pheromones in the
air. They had lost their free will.
At the end, what destroyed Rapture wasn’t Andrew Ryan, or Frank Fontaine. It wasn’t
the splicers, or the plasmids, or the big daddies, or being under the ocean. At the
end, what destroyed Rapture, is the very real thing that threatens to destroy our world.
It’s what every philosopher warns us about. It was what Ayn Rand taught us about. And
it’s what characters of bioshock urged us about. At the end, the only thing that can
end our world, is the end of reason.
“Every business has to have it’s own terms and it’s own kind of currency. And in love
the currency is virtue. You love people not for what you do for them, or what they do
for you. You love them for their values, their virtues in which they have achieved in their
own character. You don’t love causes, you don’t love everybody indiscriminately, you
love only those who deserve it”.