In Ayn Rand’s master work Atlas Shrugged, the phrase “who is John Galt?” plays a major role in describing one of the central aspects of the books philosophy. John Galt, famed engineer and thinker encourages a strike of the mind wherein all industrialist would leave their roles in the controlling & rule driven world and decide to retreat to Galt’s Gulch a mecha for the greatest thinkers and creators of the time.
In the original Bioshock, the setting takes place in the underwater city of Bioshock, a digital homage to Galt’s Gulch, a place wherein one man brought together all the world’s thinkers, Andrew Ryan. At first glance the player may not notice the striking similarities between Andrew Ryan’s own philosophy and that of Ayn Rand even stretching so far as his name being an anagram of Rands spelling out “we r ayn rand”. Ryan is a clear follower of objectivism which boils down to human logic being supreme overall all other forms of thinking, or as he says in the game “No Gods, or Kings. Only Man”. Self interest and reason are supreme above all in this idealized version of society under the ocean, as Andrew Ryan sought an escape from religion, government, and social ideals like communism, fully endorsing laissez faire capitalism and Ayn Rand’s other principles. One such example of this lack of regulation is in the market of plasmids and atom, as Ryan chooses to put no regulation or interfere in the markets causing mass production and overuse by the populace creating mindless addict creatures who are deprived of their humanity.
Putting Ayn Rand’s philosophy into practice at such an extreme level and ridding the world of societal order would work in an idealized world, but even Ryan’s underwater utopia created in his own image perverts this philosophy and proves how human greed and self interest can ultimately be its downfall. The question here is wether Andrew Ryan’s attempt at creating Galt’s Gulch was successful or a simple misguided attempt at achieving the unachievable. He deregulated all markets, plunged his city into a civil war over resources, and ultimately led our hero upon a long drawn out quest in search of the man in the posters. In Bioshock the question of “Who is John Galt?” is changed to “Who is Atlas?” from the beginning we are presented the philosophical underpinnings of treachery that Andrew Ryan has in store for us at the end of the game. As if a mortal struggle individualism vs community plays out within the character, who are you to venture into such depths only guided by the orders of a man on a recorder asking you o so kindly to do his bidding. Are you ever truly in control or are but a simple pawn? In the end like it began you come out of the nightmare city, the utopia turned dystopia, and are met with sunlight once again, left to question, am I Atlas? Are we all Atlas?
It's an interesting take on the world that Bioshock is set in; I'm curious about the ramifications of a world like Rapture; would there really be any possibility for the community to have had any success in the first place or was it doomed from the start? It even seems that a central conflict to address Rapture's lack of regulation is extreme regulation THROUGH the use of this drug market. Adam, Brainwashing and Invasive surgeries, are these all just extreme forms of completely controlling and regulating individuals within a lost city?
I like the how you connect the economics of Bioshock with deregulated capitalism, as it really connects with the scavenging aspect of the game - recovering dollars and other useful items from the dead bodies of your enemies in order to progress forward throughout the game and become stronger.