In Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden develops a revolutionary alloy that threatens established industries and provokes government interference. Rearden Metal represents more than a technological breakthrough. Its extraordinary utility challenges existing economic arrangements and exposes the tension between technological innovation and political authority.
In 1989, FASA Corp. introduced another fictional vision of the relationship between corporations and governments. Shadowrun, a tabletop role-playing game set in a dystopian future, imagines a world where mega corporations have grown powerful enough to challenge national sovereignty. Governments still pass laws, collect taxes, and maintain courts, but corporations increasingly control the infrastructure upon which modern civilization depends. Some even possess extraterritorial rights, placing portions of their operations beyond ordinary national jurisdiction.
