Reading #11 - "Atlas Shrugged" | A Utopia of Pure Capitalism, a Happy Home for Heroic Souls

Title: "Atlas Shrugged"  
Author: Ai Yin. Ayn Rand
Publication date: 2019/11/04 [Traditional Chinese 10th Anniversary Edition/3 volumes sold together]

"If you see the god Atlas carrying the earth on his shoulders, if you see him standing with blood dripping from his chest, his knees bent, his arms trembling, but holding up the earth with all his strength, The harder he tried, the heavier the earth pressed down on his shoulders - what would you tell him?"

"I...don't know. What can he...how? What are you going to tell him?"

"Shrug."

About the Author

The author is a Russian-American novelist and philosopher, one of the best-selling authors of all time, and the most well-known American writer, thinker, and public intellectual in the twentieth century with the largest number of novels and treatises sold.

Important works include "Atlas Shrugged", "The Fountain", "The Virtue of Selfishness", "A Man's Ode", "To the New Intellectual", "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal" and other books. His most challenging novel, Atlas Shrugged, has been hailed as "the most influential book on contemporary Americans since the Bible."

As a philosopher, her "objectivist" philosophy has recently attracted more and more attention from the world, covering politics, economics, popular culture, etc., and has a wide-ranging and in-depth influence. The most well-known followers include Greenspan, former US President Ronald Reagan, Hollywood star Angelina Jolie and others.

What is objectivism?

The philosophical system proposed by the author, the name "objectivism" comes from a principle of the philosophy: human knowledge and value are objective, not created out of thin air by human thought, but depend on the nature of reality, only It is discovered by the human mind.

Objectivism holds that the moral meaning of life lies in the pursuit of personal happiness or rational self-interest, and the only social system that echoes this morality is the full respect for individual rights, embodied in pure laissez-faire capitalism.

The author writes in the book:

My philosophy, in essence, takes the individual as a hero, takes personal happiness as the moral meaning of life, productive harvest as its noblest activity, and rationality as its absolute principle.

A world where good people are on strike

The background of this book is a world where railway companies, large steel factories, and mining businesses are active, and many powerful scientists and entrepreneurs are active in it. Steel company boss Hank. Reardon invented the epoch-making Reardon alloy, which is tougher and more valuable than other steels. Taggart just needs steel to build her railroad. The two cooperated, and under everyone's suspicion and boos, established John. The Galt Railway, from then on, the two became famous and became even more famous entrepreneurs.

But as altruism in society began to pervade, the idea that "self-interest is immoral" was formed in society. The government, together with some scientists and entrepreneurs, has become a "predator". The altruistic atmosphere loosens the will of some entrepreneurs to chase profits and confuses them to accept altruistic investment plans. The predators took over the leadership of the guild and, in the name of the public interest, began to propose proposals that violated the principle of competition. They use social movements to shape proposals as social justice. The successive social justice bills gradually strengthen the government's control over the industry, and even nationalize it.

In this context, for the benefit of other steel companies, the looters decided to share the income of Reardon Alloys with other fellow looters who were also looters. Cause Reardon Steel's employees to produce more than others, but to share the profits with others. Even in the end, the threat of force was used to nationalize the steel company.

That is, in such a world, a young and promising young man, John. Galt stood up and called on all entrepreneurs, inventors, and scientists with ideals to follow him and start a strike. As a result, more and more capable people were called to leave their posts, companies could not find the talents they needed, and a collapsed society began to take shape. The train had a major accident due to improper operation, the economy was depressed, and the law and order began to deteriorate...

Galt Canyon

Where do those who leave their jobs go? The answer is Galt Canyon.

Galt Canyon by John. Founded by Galt, hidden in an uninhabited valley, using high-tech optical protection, the canyon cannot be seen from the outside. In Galt Canyon, there is no such thing as plunder, no concept of "giving".

Here, there is only value. If you need anything, just exchange it with your own value. Even the rich are charged the same rate as others who rent a car, and there is no special treatment.

This canyon brings together a group of the world's most creative, intelligent, and capable people who, through their talents, have created a self-sufficient "Atlantis", a highly civilized world.

Before entering this utopia, everyone has to take an oath, and this oath is...

I swear by my life and the love I have for it, that I will never live for others, nor ask others to live for me.

after reading

I highly recommend this set of books, there are 3 books in total, each title comes from the "first principles" of Aristotle's logic, the plot is wonderful like a martial arts novel, and you can't stop reading it at the beginning.

A while ago, I heard the concept of "abandoning growth" from a super crooked film , and I just finished reading this book and I could have a discussion.

In the thinking of abandoning growth, people blindly pursue growth because of capitalism, causing disasters in the climate and ecological environment, as well as disasters in Africa and other regions, so some people put forward the argument that we should abandon the pursuit of economic growth.

I think there are many issues worth thinking about. Once people give up the pursuit of growth, is it possible that the scene in this book will appear? If we want to find a way to distribute income reasonably, so that people's income is not so extreme and only concentrated in the hands of the top 1%, what rules should we follow to distribute it? And will such a distribution cause the backlash of those creative talents?

Capitalism in reality has indeed created a huge burden on the planet, and we need to face it without delay. I believe that the pursuit of growth is human nature and the driving force for social progress. Only because there are such a group of people with lofty ideals fighting in the world can our lives get better and better. In the process of pursuing personal growth and creating value for the world, can we choose not to take economic indicators as the sole consideration, not to squeeze employees for the sake of revenue figures, not to use planned scrapping, not to damage the environment, etc. Our purpose is to make the world a better place.

Or, can such a scene only exist in a book?

Source: Wiki

If you are interested in the utopia of pure capitalism and want to see a more detailed explanation, you can buy "Atlas Shrugged"

• blog to come
• TAAZE Reading Life

This article was published simultaneously on Vocus and Medium .

 Welcome to follow me, support me with love, clap, and share your thoughts in the comment area!