Brilliant industrialist Justin Cord awakes from a 300-year cryonic suspension into a world that has accepted an extreme form of market capitalism. It is a world in which humans themselves are incorporated, their stock traded in markets, and where most people no longer own a majority share of themselves.
In this world of the free market in its most extreme iteration, Cord is now the last free man of the human race – owned by no one and owning no one.
It’s a premise that Ayn Rand would love and a character that she might have created; a world recovered from the excesses and failures of government she predicted in Atlas Shrugged
Each individual is incorporated at birth, their shares traded on the open market. Using the capital raised through sale of shares, individuals finance their education, business ventures, homes and investments. Corporations—real companies, not just individuals incorporated—are more powerful than governments, and they produce and regulate their own currency, and controlling the lives of the individuals in whom they own stock.
And that’s the rub for Cord. For while he was an avid defender of capitalism in the 21st century, the incorporation of the individual in the 24th century strikes him as a form of slavery. Despite the unprecedented levels of wealth and technological progress it has created, the system of ownership of others is an injustice. As Cord pushes back, fighting against the giant corporations that want to own a piece of him, he begins to reveal the cracks and fissures that will lead to systemic cultural, societal, and economic revolution.
Ostensibly science fiction, The Unincorporated Man
Without a doubt, in taking principles of market capitalism to their extreme, combined with the most fantastic of futuristic technology, the Kollin brothers have hit upon an idea that is mind-popping in scope. I consider myself to be both very politically active and an ardent fan of the free-market system, but the Kollins kept me guessing, questioning, and reconsidering my assumptions and conclusions about democracy, capitalism, technology, and power. It is a libertarian world they want, and they never shy from promoting that world.
Indeed, if there are any critiques of The Unincorporated Man
This is reinforced when the near utopian society of the far future, rather than continuing on to further glory, begins to fracture under the hubris and weight of unscrupulous and corrupted corporate bureaucrats faced with, as the premise states, one man “owned by no one and owning no one.”
The plot itself wobbles under the clear eyed idealism in the Kollins message. Nothing bad ever seems to happen to Cord. He always comes out on top, losing nothing in the process. Despite being the protagonist, the problems and obstacles that the Kollins set up for him feel almost contrived. As Cord overcomes each, I began to feel like he was like Midas, that everything he touched would turn to gold. He is, as the saying goes, lucky in love and life, and nothing in the story seems to slow that feeling. As a result, the novel occasionally seems to lack the tension that builds and creates tension in the plot and characters.
In spite of the heavy handed message and lack of serious plot tension, the creativity and speculation with which the Kollins create their world gives the novel wings. It’s a world that is alive, vibrant, interesting, and, as science fiction is supposed to be, thought provoking and, occasionally, mind blowing. Most importantly, I enjoyed reading it, and I enjoyed talking about it. I recommend it without reservation.
[Previously published at Walker of Worlds]
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Attack of the Books! is participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, a month long quest to post every day. Each day should match a letter of the alphabet. Today is the letter U (as in The Unincorporated Man).
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