Utopian Novels and the Internet

 I first read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand  a long, long time ago. I can remember being absolutely entranced by the narrative and her under lying, not so subtle critique of society. I can remember being slowly seduced into her desired world of lassie-faire capitalism where people earn their rewards; of a society where neither the state or any individual has any responsibility for people within the society; where there are no handouts to those who are struggling. In spite of the fact that I was actively involved in both my early career of working with young teenage males, many of whom came from economically, socially and emotionally deprived backgrounds, and all of the anti-war protest etc. of the late 1960s and early 1970s, I found myself almost agreeing with her vision of what life could be/should be like. I remember the almost sick feeling I got when I realized that her vision had almost captured me. Her logic was so clear, it was hard to argue with it.

I can also remember even earlier reading A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. That short essay, written in the early 1700s, is equally as seductive in its suggestion as to how the economy of British run Ireland could become more self sustaining. Of course Swift was being satirical, but to the casual reader his proposal rings true. It is a good plan - just inhumane.  For a number of years I made the assumption that Ayn Rand must have been, had to have been using satire to critique society's inability to support to those who needed support and more importantly to mock those who denied their obligations to do so. Then a few years ago I tried to read Atlas Shrugged again. I could not finish it - it made me just too angry.

By the time of my second reading I was far less naive, far better read and much more aware of the neo-liberal agenda. Atlas Shrugged now sounded like a prescription, a game plan written by a collective of corporations to justify their activities in the world market place. In my darkest days, it sounded like a plan that was in fact being implemented in parts of the world including Canada.

I am pleased to be able to say that I have just finished "reading" another book that is as intriguing as Atlas Shrugged in its ability to make or at least almost make the reader believe in the logic of a new utopia. I spend a large part of my day playing with wool. For at least part of that time I have an audio book, borrowed from the local library, playing on my tablet. Sometime the books are pretty bad and I don't finish them but The Circle by  Dave Eggers kept me working longer than normal as I wanted to see what would happen next. I don't want to suggest that it is as in-depth as Atlas Shrugged  (it is also a lot shorter) or even as well written as A Modest Proposal , but it is well worth reading.

The book portrays a utopian vision of what could evolve if we continue to see social media as the ultimate way of being in touch with each other, if we continue with the belief that how many "likes" we get on Facebook validates our existence, and if we continue with the trend of accepting the accumulation of "followers" as proof that we are completely connected to our world. The ease in which the young, twenty something female protagonist becomes not just immersed into the this world as created by an internet company but in fact fully embraces it, is frightening.  It is frightening because it feels possible.

I suspect some people will read this novel and want to yell out "YES" in the sheer joy and excitement that a world where everyone is connected, where all information on everything and everyone is available to all, where the blending of state and of private companies is so seamless that there is no need for governments to exists is a glorious thought. For the rest of us, it should give us nightmares. There were times as I was listening that I felt myself agreeing that we should all be connected through things like Facebook or Twitter. I would then have that same sinking feeling that I got when I long ago read Atlas Shrugged.

It is entirely possible that I liked this book because it makes comment upon the assumption made by so many people that the internet and all of its related applications makes our life so much easier. So many people are already convinced that everything can be can be and should stored somewhere in the "cloud", and that when it is all connected, many of the world's problems will disappear. Dave Eggers like all of the good Utopian writers of the past starting with Thomas More in the mid 1400s has a few people screaming from the sidelines (and usually seen as being somewhat mentally disturbed) questioning if the new way of doing things is good.

A book worth looking at.