The stuff of science fiction

Ayn Rand’s works transcend genres — both Anthem and Atlas Shrugged have elements of science fiction. Anthem depicts a dystopian future, projecting a degenerate society much like the one in H.G. Wells in his Time Machine. In Wells’ version, the society deteriorates because it reaches maximum comfort and complacency. In Rand’s version, it deteriorates because individualism is completely rejected in favor of collectivism.

Atlas Shrugged, as science fiction, asks what would be the fate of new technologies such as Rearden Metal (stronger, lighter, and cheaper than steel) and the mysterious energy generator Dagny attempts to reinvent. (A sonic ray weapon is also invented by a villain.) We can parallel it with The Garin Death Ray by A.N. Tolstoy. Garin invents a strong laser beam and uses it to dig out a vast supply of gold from the Earth’s crust.

The producers of these inventions are not celebrated, but condemned. They are pressured to apologize for their achievements and to justify their existence through self-sacrifice to the collective. There’s a name for this: altruism. Altruism is the moral demand that an individual live for the sake of others.

The sonic ray could also be used for good—for example, in defensive military operations or in large-scale engineering projects (much like Garin’s laser). However, as Ayn Rand demonstrates, in an irrational society it becomes a tool of destruction, not by deliberate evil, but by the users’ refusal to think.

While great inventions and scientific discoveries have the capacity to improve the quality of life, they serve as the pretext for oppression and loss of freedom. That is why innovations must be housed in a capitalist society. Capitalism, as Ayn Rand titled her non-fiction books, is an unknown ideal. America came close to achieving capitalism in the 19th century, but today, all nations are statist, with no hope in sight of change. What is needed is a new country, one founded on capitalism from the start and committed to preserving it. That’s what “going Anthem” is all about.