“In the end, what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No. A man chooses, a slave obeys.”–Andrew Ryan, BioShock
The BioShock franchise stands as one of America’s greatest artistic achievements, offering a profound reflection on Uncle Sam’s pursuit of an idealized utopia. Beneath the veneer of nationalistic pride, BioShock exposes the often harsh realities of racial injustice, the manipulation of religion as a tool of control, and the imperialistic drive for dominance. This triumphant artistic series also delves into the dark side of rebellion, revealing how the fight against tyranny can sometimes lead to a new form of oppression, one authoritarian regime replacing another.
America was envisioned as a beacon of hope, yet it has become a beacon of deception. Our nation, entangled in its own lies and distorted beliefs, strays far from what it was meant to be. Today, artificial intelligence threatens to further erode American ideals, twisting them into instruments of oppression and exclusion. Larry Ellison’s ambitious vision paints a future where America is transformed into a sprawling surveillance state, driven by relentless health data mining, omnipresent drones, and an all-encompassing digital panopticon. This new “Rapture” imagines a society where personal privacy is sacrificed in the name of security and efficiency, echoing Orwellian fears of constant oversight and control.
In a tale reminiscent of a dystopian nightmare, Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder, emerges as America’s modern-day Andrew Ryan, not with the eloquence of a philosopher, but with the calculated cunning of a dropout-turned-tech-mogul. His grand vision? A digital utopia where omnipresent surveillance reigns supreme, eclipsing his lack of formal education with an all-seeing eye, a dream as flawed as his understanding of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. Larry Ellison, channeling the utopian ambition of Andrew Ryan from BioShock, has envisioned a healthcare utopia where technology would bring eternal health and prosperity. However, his pursuit has morphed into a nightmarish reality where data collection has become the tool of oppression rather than liberation. Under the guise of improving healthcare, Ellison’s systems have woven a web of surveillance that has led to the United States becoming the world’s largest dystopia, with incarceration rates soaring to unprecedented heights as personal data is used not to heal but to control and punish, turning the promise of an American utopia into the reality of the world’s largest prison state.
The Architect of Surveillance
Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle’s chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer and executive chairman. As of January 20, 2025, he is the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated net worth of US$188 billion, and the second-wealthiest in the world according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $237 billion. Ellison is also known for his ownership of 98% of Lānaʻi, the sixth-largest island in the Hawaiian Islands.
Ellison, who barely completed a semester in college, envisions transforming America into a digital Rapture. Through Oracle, his tech empire, he proposes a future where AI-driven surveillance systems operate with unblinking vigilance, turning every citizen into an entry in a vast database. “Citizens will be on their best behavior,” he boasts, his words echoing those of an overreaching authority rather than an innovator. Instead of fostering freedom, his vision veers toward control, a world where privacy is extinct, replaced by relentless observation. Fueling this dystopian ambition is the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), whose covert technological investments through In-Q-Tel have historically nudged America closer to an Orwellian surveillance state. Through In-Q-Tel, the agency’s tech venture arm, they’ve been feeding the beast, investing in technologies that have turned America into a surveillance state, where freedom is just a whisper in a room full of listening devices. The CIA, ever the puppeteer, pulls strings behind the scenes, turning the American dream into a nightmare where every shadow could be watching.
In-Q-Tel, originally created to equip the intelligence community with cutting-edge technologies, has backed ventures that Ellison’s Oracle has leveraged to fortify his vision of mass surveillance. From satellite tracking to predictive AI data analytics, these tools erode the very notion of personal privacy, transforming freedom into little more than a whisper drowned out by constant digital scrutiny. In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability. The name “In-Q-Tel” is an intentional reference to Q, the fictional inventor who supplies technology to James Bond. Originally named Peleus and known as In-Q-It, In-Q-Tel was founded by Norm Augustine, a former CEO of Lockheed Martin, and by Gilman Louie, who was In-Q-Tel’s first CEO. In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve United States national security interests. According to the Washington Post, In-Q-Tel started as the idea of then CIA director George Tenet. Congress approved funding for In-Q-Tel, which was increased in later years. Origins of the corporation can also be traced to Ruth A. David, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Science & Technology in the 1990s and promoted the importance of rapidly advancing information technology for the CIA. In-Q-Tel now engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and venture capitalists to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA, DIA, NGA, and the wider intelligence community. In-Q-Tel concentrates on three broad commercial technology areas: software, infrastructure and materials sciences. Former CIA director George Tenet said, We [the CIA] decided to use our limited dollars to leverage technology developed elsewhere. In 1999 we chartered … In-Q-Tel. … While we pay the bills, In-Q-Tel is independent of CIA. CIA identifies pressing problems, and In-Q-Tel provides the technology to address them. The In-Q-Tel alliance has put the Agency back at the leading edge of technology … This … collaboration … enabled CIA to take advantage of the technology that Las Vegas uses to identify corrupt card players and apply it to link analysis for terrorists [the parallel data-mining effort by the SOCOM-DIA operation Able Danger], and to adapt the technology that online booksellers use and convert it to scour millions of pages of documents looking for unexpected results.
Ellison’s ambitions now have extended beyond databases and AI surveillance into the realm of social media. President Donald Trump recently suggested that Ellison might buy TikTok, the popular short-form video platform owned by China’s ByteDance. In a press briefing, Trump expressed support for Ellison purchasing the platform. TikTok, valued at around $50 billion, sits at the intersection of national security concerns and digital control, making it an attractive acquisition for Ellison’s data empire. Trump’s willingness to allow the sale of TikTok in exchange for regulatory approvals underscores the tight relationship between tech moguls like Ellison and government policy. Ellison’s Oracle already serves as TikTok’s cloud infrastructure provider in the U.S., further cementing his influence over the platform. With the Chinese government reportedly considering a plan to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations, Ellison’s role in the potential deal raises concerns over data sovereignty and surveillance expansion.
Sullivan & Cromwell: The U.S. Department of Justice’s NAZI Legal Enforcers
“There’s no such thing as free will. There’s only the will of a few.”–Sofia Lamb, Bioshock 2
Adding an ominous legal backbone to U.S. Department of Justice’s ambitions is Sullivan & Cromwell, a law firm with a history as murky as the deepest ocean trench. Once involved in facilitating Nazi Germany’s arms buildup and orchestrating geopolitical coups, the firm’s modern role includes crafting legal frameworks that ensure Ellison’s dystopian dream is not just a fantasy but a fortified reality. Their expertise in legal loopholes ensures that resistance is silenced long before it reaches the streets.
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Sullivan & Cromwell’s lawyers have been involved in various controversies, including insider trading scandals, work with tobacco companies, and criticism for its role in the FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapse. It is one of the most profitable law firms in the world, with 2021 profits per partner exceeding $6 million and profits per lawyer exceeding $1.3 million.
Under Foster Dulles, the traitorous law firm assisted Nazi Germany’s arms buildup effort by incorporating the German chemical company I.G. Farben into an international nickel cartel alongside American, Canadian, and French companies. By the 1940s, I.G. Farben relied on slave labor from concentration camps, including 30,000 from Auschwitz, and was involved in medical experiments on inmates at both Auschwitz and Mauthausen. One of its subsidiaries, BASF, would later supply the poison gas Zyklon B, which was used to killed over one million people in gas chambers during the Holocaust. Once the Allies seized the company at the end of the war in 1945, US authorities put 23 IG Farben directors on trial for war crimes, with 13 ultimately convicted.
Sullivan & Cromwell’s involvement in the 1954 coup d’état in Guatemala is well documented. At the time, the firm represented the United Fruit Company (UFC), which had major holdings in Guatemala. UFC used its lobbying power, through the firm and through other means, to convince President Eisenhower, as well as Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and his brother, CIA director Allen Dulles, both former partners of the firm, to depose the democratically elected President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz.
Our Nation Now Under A Continuous Surveillance Panopticon
Imagine an America where the skies hum with the presence of surveillance drones, and every street corner harbors an unblinking eye. Children’s laughter is muted by the omnipresent hum of Oracle’s monitoring systems, and even the most mundane actions become data points for AI algorithms to scrutinize. This is Ellison’s vision, an America reduced to a digital panopticon, where every action is watched, analyzed, and cataloged.
Oracle co-founder, Larry Ellison shared his vision for an AI-powered surveillance future during a company financial meeting according to Business Insider. During an investor Q&A, Ellison described a world where artificial intelligence systems would constantly monitor citizens through an extensive network of cameras and drones, stating this would ensure both police and citizens don’t break the law. Ellison, who briefly became the world’s second-wealthiest person last week when his net worth surpassed Jeff Bezos’ for a short time, outlined a scenario where AI models would analyze footage from security cameras, police body cams, doorbell cameras, and vehicle dash cams.
“Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on,” Ellison said, describing what he sees as the benefits from automated oversight from AI and automated alerts for when crime takes place. “Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there’s a problem, AI will report the problem and report it to the appropriate person.”
The 80-year-old billionaire also predicted that AI-controlled drones would replace police vehicles in high-speed pursuits. “You just have a drone follow the car,” he explained. “It’s very simple in the age of autonomous drones.” Omnipresent AI cameras will ensure good behavior, says Larry Ellison. “We’re going to have supervision,” says billionaire Oracle co-founder Ellison.
Parallels to Fiction: BioShock’s Cautionary Tale
If the video game BioShock warned us of the perils of unchecked ambition and capitalism, Ellison’s America is the chilling sequel. Where Andrew Ryan built his underwater dystopia fueled by genetic engineering, Ellison crafts his with AI-driven surveillance, replacing BioShock’s ADAM with algorithms that consume personal data to create a reality where individuality is an illusion. Marketed under the guise of public security, Ellison’s vision bears striking resemblance to Orwell’s 1984, except this time, Big Brother isn’t just watching, he’s predicting your every move. The irony here is palpable, a man without formal education dictating the limits of personal freedom through technologies he barely comprehends, reducing human life to mere statistics in his grand, dystopian American experiment.
Larry Ellison, with his unchecked ambitions and superficial grasp of ideological complexities, has positioned himself as the architect of a new American dystopia. With support from entities like the CIA and legal juggernauts such as Sullivan & Cromwell, his vision propels the nation into an era where American freedom is a relic and privacy a myth. As America stands at this crossroads, the question remains, are we American citizens willing to become mere entries in Ellison’s relentless digital ledger, or will we resist the descent into a surveillance state?
“The Vox Populi say they fight for the common man, but I’ve seen what they do to those who disagree.”—Bioshock
In the BioShock franchise, Vox Populi is a revolutionary faction in BioShock Infinite, led by Daisy Fitzroy. The group represents the oppressed working class and marginalized communities in the floating city of Columbia, rising against the ruling elite’s systemic racism and exploitation. However, the game portrays their struggle with complexity, showing how their pursuit of justice can sometimes devolve into violent extremism, reflecting the franchise’s broader themes of power, control, and the cyclical nature of oppression.
If BioShock warned us about the dangers of unfettered capitalism and unchecked power, Ellison’s America is the sequel Benjamin Franklin never wanted. Ellison’s Rapture is not under the sea but under the watchful gaze of satellites and street cams. Here, the ADAM that powered Ryan’s city is replaced by algorithms, feeding on our personal data, creating a society where individuality is an illusion.
In George Orwell’s dystopian vision, the totalitarian government of Oceania enforces constant surveillance through omnipresent telescreens, stripping away privacy and making independent thought nearly impossible. Orwell’s iconic warning—“Big Brother is watching you”—takes on a chilling new form in Larry Ellison’s tech-driven future, where artificial intelligence, rather than human enforcers, serves as the ever-watchful eye of authority. This emerging reality threatens to usher in an era of digital totalitarianism, where AI-driven surveillance and relentless data mining erode the very freedoms, Americans once held sacred.
We would be wise to heed Benjamin Franklin’s timeless warning: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Written in 1755, Franklin’s words caution against the dangerous trade-off between security and freedom, a trade-off that has only grown more pressing in the face of modern technological advancements. As AI systems redefine the boundaries of personal privacy and civil liberties, Franklin’s warning remains more relevant than ever in resisting the creeping tide of U.S. government overreach and digital oppression.
Dedication
This article is dedicated to the unwavering courage and resilience of Dr. Linda Cheek, Dr. Richard Kaul, and Dr. Alen Salerian—three remarkable physicians who stood against injustice in the face of relentless persecution. Their tireless advocacy for patients in pain, their fight against systemic corruption, and their unyielding commitment to the principles of medical ethics and human dignity continue to inspire countless others. In honoring their legacy, we reaffirm our dedication to truth, justice, and the pursuit of a healthcare system that upholds compassion over control, and healing over harm.
Invitation to Participate in World Honesty Day
Need Your Participation on World Honesty Day – March 16, 2025, 1 PM EST
By Linda Cheek, MD | Jan, Sat, 2025 |
Dr. Alen Salerian, a dedicated advocate and victim of the War on Drugs, Doctors, and Pain Patients, invites you to join World Honesty Day—a global movement for transparency and change in governance. Dr. Salerian has devoted his life to fighting corruption and injustice, and now, he calls on people worldwide to stand together for honesty, peace, and hope.
Event Details:
Mayor Cantrell, the City of New Orleans, and Dr. Salerian, President of WHD,
Invite you to: World Honesty Day
Date: March 16, 2025
Time: 1:00 PM EST
Mission: Promoting governmental honesty and transparency to foster peace and hope.
A Global Call for Change
Proclaimed by the city of New Orleans and sponsored by organizations such as Doctors of Courage, Doctors for Equity for Pain and Addiction, Team Kennedy, Louisiana United International Inc, Hrant Dink Foundation, Forest Tenant Foundation, Central Pain Foundation, K. Saleri Foundation, and Agos, this event aims to send a powerful message against corruption and for equity in healthcare and governance.
A Magical Event Across the Globe
Millions will gather in cities like New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, Portland, Paris, London, Rome, Istanbul, Athens, and Bitlis to sing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, with church bells ringing and voices uniting in a call for transparency and fairness. This event will serve as a reminder that peace, goodwill, and intelligence can combat violence and dishonesty.
Why Bourbon Street, New Orleans?
New Orleans, a city known for its vibrant culture and spirit of resilience, will serve as the epicenter of this movement—symbolizing the fight for peace, goodwill, and truth in the face of systemic corruption.
How You Can Participate
Join us in making a global statement for honesty and equity by participating in this powerful musical moment:
- Sing, play, or hum Beethoven’s majestic Ode to Joy at exactly 1 PM EST in the U.S. and 1 PM local time for participants worldwide.
- Whether at work, home, or gathered in groups, your voice will contribute to a worldwide chorus calling for truth and justice.
Your Pledge:
“I will sing, play, or whisper Beethoven’s Ode to Joy for one minute at 1 PM EST on March 16, 2025, as a declaration of my commitment to honesty and equity for all people, regardless of race, religion, culture, or heritage.”
Join Us
The lyrics to Ode to Joy can be found at the bottom of this page, and you can listen to the chorus we’ll be singing by following the provided link.
Let’s make the world honest—together.
The Author received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy where he utilized regional anesthesia and pain management to treat soldiers injured in combat at Walter Reed Hospital. The Author is passionate about medical research and biotechnological innovation in the fields of 3D printing, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
