Science Fiction and the Struggle for Individualism

Twisted Metal, a cautionary tale written by a British science fiction author named Tony Ballantyne, talks about the flaws of individualism from a pro-individualistic perspective when the spirit of individual liberty is sapped in the face of emerging tyranny.

The story takes place on the planet Penrose, and it is inhabited by a group of primitive robots who have forgotten their own distant origins. Many of the robots have built differing visions of how to live their lives in society. Two such nations are Artemis and Turing City. Those in these cities are gendered robots and can choose what qualities to pass onto their children in how they literally twist the metal of their child’s mind.

The novel focuses on two main characters named Karel and Kavan, but there are several others that play a crucial roll such as Karel’s wife—Susan—and Spoole, the leader of Artemis.

The story follows Kavan rising the ranks of the Artemisian army, conquering Turing City within the first half of the book in a single night and taking over the rest of the continent of Shull where both Kavan and Karel learn more about the origins of their species. By the novel’s end, the entire continent of Shull has been conquered by the collectivist state of Artemis. If one takes a shallow reading it may seem Ballantyne is arguing for the superiority of collectivism over an individualistic society. Such a message would seem quite timely in today’s society where individualism has become a negative term in many circles and is blamed for every social ill under the sun.

However, if one looks at Artemis more closely, a different reading emerges. Despite some complex characters, such as Kavan, the Artemisian robots are unquestionably coded as the villains of this world. Within Kavan’s introduction scene, he orders his troops to rip a civilian family apart, cannibalize their metal and parts to repair himself and his soldiers, and then they murder Karel’s child when they round up the Turing City’s civilians. The collectivist conquerors are brutal.

When the city of Wein falls, the Artemisian troops cull 1/3 of the survivors to see who can continue to live within the Artemisian army. When preparing to attack Turing City, Kavan orders an Artemisian civilian train driver to martyr herself for Artemisian war strategy driven by Nyro’s philosophy. The Artemisians follow the philosophy of Nyro, their founding Matriarchal figure; this philosophy can be easily described as a form of utilitarian collectivism. Meaning, all metal is metal whether it makes up a robot’s mind or the bullets of a gun to kill other robots, and all metal must be put to the best possible use in furthering the state so it can continue to thrive— even at the expense of the individual robot.

In contrast the Turing city robots have many of the hallmarks of what we considered an individualistic liberal democracy. They hold an open forum in the style of the ancient Greeks except its actually open for all citizens, including Artemisian immigrants to voice their opinion on how the city should respond to the fall of Wein. Robots are left to live their lives as they see fit and pursue their own affairs. To be allowed to live within the Turing state, one only had to agree they find the values it preaches agreeable, key amongst these values is the belief that a robot’s mind is a special thing, a parallel to how liberal democracies view the individual as a unique and special thing to cherish.

As Kavan sets out to conquer the entire continent, he encounters a new kingdom on the continent of Shull. Despite being numerically and technologically inferior to the invading Artemisians, these robots made the Artemisians fight at great costs for every inch of land they took. 

Ballantyne shows us in exact detail why the robots of Turing city let their city fall, for it is implied that they could have prevented this, if they truly believed in their city. The robots of Turing city had given up on their ideals before the city even fell. Karel learns that all of his neighbors had already long planned their escape. Everyone expected the city guard to stand up for them, and no one actually expected or was willing to lay down their life for what their city stood for. When Susan is captured, she thinks, “Just one person speak out and I will join in with the chorus of voices that will surely arise.” However, Susan was not willing to be that first voice. For all the might of Turing City, its people were unwilling to fight for what they believed as they had no sense of collective duty to defend their way of life.

Readers also learn that one of Turing City’s leaders sold the city by ensuring a large amount of the city’s guard would be stationed at the train station the Artemisians planned to destroy. The leader did this to ensure his own personal gain and security over his city, leading to their open mindedness being weaponized against them.

I am not here to push any conspiracy that the Western world is on the verge of collapse, but I think it is fair to say there are some parallels between the West and Turing city in Ballantyne’s Twisted Metal. Many in our society today don’t seem to think the West should thrive or succeed. Whether it be because of colonialism or recent social progressive changes, there are constant attacks on individualism from extremists today. And yet how many truly stand up for individualism without inevitably giving up on its values and turning away from its defense; the value of strong individualism is when many are willing to stand up and defend it.

For example, in the modern world, the Ukrainians have received support from many emigrants that left the country and those that had no coercion but chose to return for what their country stood/stands for. Russia has had to turn to conscription as it cannot voluntarily produce the manpower needed to fight a war against their smaller, weaker neighbor and many of its citizens have fled rather than be conscripted—they don’t truly believe in their nation’s cause.

For those of us who believe in individualism, we must believe in the philosophy of free and responsible individuals—there is no contradiction in the I and the We. If we wish to see these values continue to thrive and exist, we must be willing to stand up and advocate for them. We may not have to literally lay down our lives in battle like the robots of the Northern Kingdom, but we can take part in their defense, rather than assuming someone else will do it for us. The emergence of our technological age and world makes it even more imperative we continue to stand up and promote the values and virtues of free, responsible, individuals. So much of our sci-fi artistry is attuned to this struggle.

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