ATLAS FOUNDED A STARTUP: WHO REALLY HOLDS UP THE MODERN WORLD?
While politicians regulate and bureaucrats "redistribute," individuals create the world we walk on—a homage and warning if Atlas rebels.
In the era of hyper-regulation, expansive bureaucracy, and the culture of conformity, an essential question arises: who truly sustains the progress and modern civilization? While millions cling to systems that reward mediocrity and penalize excellence, a minority of innovators, entrepreneurs, and creators carry on their shoulders the weight of human development.
Inspired by the metaphor of Atlas, re-signified by Ayn Rand in her novel Atlas Shrugged, this article explores the crucial role of these "Atlases" of the 21st century: individuals who, facing regulatory, fiscal, and cultural obstacles, keep society's engine running.
From a libertarian and objectivist perspective, we will analyze who these modern titans are, what challenges they face, and why their defense is essential to preserve spontaneous order and prosperity. Through concrete examples, empirical evidence, and political theory, we will argue that the future of humanity depends on the freedom of these creators to innovate and challenge the status quo.
THE MYTH OF ATLAS AND THE CREATIVE INDIVIDUAL: A RELEVANT METAPHOR
The image of Atlas, the titan condemned to hold up the sky, was re-signified in the 20th century as a symbol of the creative individual. In this vision, a provocative question is posed: what would happen if those who sustain the world—the innovators, entrepreneurs, and independent thinkers—decided to "shrug" in the face of state exploitation and repression? The result would be the collapse of civilization under the weight of mediocrity and dependency.
This metaphor remains relevant in today's global landscape, where the State, far from being a facilitator of progress, has become an obstacle to creativity and excellence. The growth of bureaucracy, regulatory inflation, and fiscal pressure have created a hostile environment for those who wish to innovate or undertake.
Social progress is not a product of centralized planning, but of the free and creative action of individuals. The expansion of state control destroys the spontaneous order that arises from voluntary cooperation in the market.
In this context, the figure of Atlas represents those who, despite everything, continue to create value and sustain the social fabric. But who are the Atlases of the 21st century? What motivates them and what obstacles do they face in the contemporary world?
ATLAS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE NEW TITANS OF INNOVATION
VITALIK BUTERIN: FINANCIAL DECENTRALIZATION AGAINST THE STATE MONOPOLY
Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, is one of the foremost exponents of decentralized innovation. At 19 years old, he designed a platform that enables smart contracts and autonomous financial applications, challenging the hegemony of central banks and governments over money. Ethereum has driven phenomena like DeFi (decentralized finance) and DAOs (autonomous organizations), opening the door to a freer and more collaborative global economy. In 2025, his roadmap emphasizes scalability and privacy, with upgrades like Pectra and Glamsterdam that increase layer 1 throughput by a factor of 10, incorporating PeerDAS and zero-knowledge proofs for anonymous transactions.
Countries with less regulation on cryptocurrencies have seen exponential growth in startup creation and capital attraction. However, regulatory pressure in the United States and bans in China have displaced innovation to more open jurisdictions, like Switzerland or Singapore. Buterin has had to face attempts at control and oversight that seek to limit the disruptive potential of blockchain technology.
Burden he carries: Financial decentralization against the state monetary monopoly.
Source: Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum
ELON MUSK: TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS AGAINST BUREAUCRATIC PARALYSIS
Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and xAI, is the archetype of the industrial heretic who defies established rules. His vision has transformed electric mobility, space exploration, and brain-machine interfaces. With SpaceX, Musk demonstrated the viability of private space transportation, reducing costs and democratizing access to space. Tesla, for its part, revolutionized the global automotive market, driving electrification against the resistance of traditional industry. In July 2025, xAI launched Grok 4, claimed as the world's most powerful AI model, with native tool integration and real-time search, though without an exhaustive safety report despite Musk's prior warnings about AI dangers.
Musk has faced lawsuits from the SEC and criticisms from politicians who see his influence as a threat. Competition and private innovation are essential engines for economic growth and social improvement. In many countries, bureaucracy and union pressure have historically hindered industrial innovation; Musk's example is a reminder of what could be achieved in a freer environment.
Burden he carries: Technological progress against bureaucratic paralysis.
Source: Elon Musk’s AI company
JENNIFER DOUDNA: BIOTECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AGAINST BIOPOLITICAL CONTROL
Jennifer Doudna, American biochemist and co-developer of CRISPR-Cas9, has opened the door to a new era in medicine: precise genetic editing. Thanks to her work, treatments for hereditary diseases, personalized therapies against cancer, and even the eradication of latent viruses like HIV are imaginable. Her impact on science is comparable to the discovery of DNA or the invention of penicillin. In 2025, advances include the first on-demand CRISPR treatment for a child with a rare metabolic disease, and the integration of AI with CRISPR to design molecules in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials.
However, this advance has been accompanied by a strong reaction from regulatory bodies, ethics committees, and governments seeking to limit its application. There is a risk that the power to correct genes is monopolized by state entities or by a collective morality that fears progress. Doudna herself has participated in debates on CRISPR ethics, but always from a stance that defends individual and scientific responsibility, not institutional censorship.
In a world where governments have come to control movements, medical decisions, and even citizens' genetic data, the defense of free biotechnology becomes a crucial battle for personal autonomy.
Burden she carries: Biotechnological innovation against biopolitical control.
Source: CRISPR and the future of medicine
BOYAN SLAT: DIRECT ACTION AGAINST STATE INEFFICIENCY IN THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS
At 18 years old, the Dutch Boyan Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup, an organization dedicated to cleaning the oceans of plastic that governments and NGOs have failed to reduce, despite decades of international treaties. While institutions signed symbolic protocols, Slat designed a real, scalable, and functional system to capture tons of floating debris in the Pacific Ocean and contaminated rivers. In the first half of 2025, they have collected over 30 million kilograms, surpassing all of 2024, with the launch of the 30 Cities Program in June to reduce one-third of fluvial plastic pollution by 2030.
His technology not only works: it is cost-effective, automatic, and capable of generating visible results, something that environmental bureaucratic frameworks rarely achieve. Without the need for massive public subsidies or endless climate conferences, his project has demonstrated that private, decentralized, and voluntary action is much more efficient than state models of environmental governance.
The most successful environmental solutions arise from private entrepreneurship, not climatic interventionism.
Burden he carries: Direct action against state inefficiency in the ecological crisis.
Source: Boyan Slat and The Ocean Cleanup
BALAJI SRINIVASAN: CONCEPTUAL INNOVATION AGAINST TERRITORIAL STATISM
Balaji Srinivasan, author of The Network State, is one of the most radical thinkers of the new millennium. His proposal: replace the nation-state concept with self-sovereign digital communities, built on blockchain, cryptography, and voluntary contracts. These new forms of political organization do not depend on geography, but on consensus among individuals who share values, rules, and a common vision of the future. In 2025, he has started a three-month Network School on a private island near Singapore, purchased with Bitcoin to prototype a network state focused on techies and startup founders.
For Balaji, technology can not only organize trade: it can reimagine society itself. Against the territorial coercion of the traditional State, he proposes digital emigration and the foundation of citizen networks that operate on the margins of political and fiscal control.
His vision has already begun to materialize in communities like Prospera (Honduras) or projects like Zuzalu, where individuals from different parts of the world live temporarily under new rules of digital and physical coexistence.
Burden he carries: Conceptual innovation against territorial statism.
MARCOS GALPERIN: TECHNOLOGICAL CAPITALISM IN RESISTANCE
Founder of Mercado Libre, the Argentine Marcos Galperin has been one of the few Latin American entrepreneurs capable of building a technology company with continental impact and without depending on the State. From a region plagued by inflation, exchange controls, and absurd regulations, Galperin managed to create an ecosystem of payments, logistics, and electronic commerce that has empowered millions of entrepreneurs. In May 2025, he announced his transition to Executive Chairman starting January 2026, after 26 years as CEO, passing the role to Ariel Szarfsztejn while Mercado Libre reports record revenues of $5.9B in Q1 despite regulatory pressures.
While many flee risk or submit to protectionism, Galperin chose to compete, innovate, and scale in hostile markets. He has been targeted by criticisms from statist sectors in Argentina and other countries where his company threatens economic structures controlled by governments or public monopolies.
Today, Mercado Pago allows citizens of fragile economies to preserve their money outside the state banking circuit. And that—from a libertarian perspective—is a silent revolution.
Burden he carries: Technological capitalism in resistance to populist statism.
Source: Galperin Profile in Forbes
SYSTEMIC OBSTACLES: REGULATION, TAXES, AND THE CULTURE OF MEDIOCRITY
The Atlases of the 21st century face a common enemy: a system that penalizes excellence and rewards conformity. Regulations, often designed to protect established interests, act as shackles that hinder innovation. Confiscatory taxes reduce the incentive to create wealth, and smear campaigns seek to delegitimize those who stand out.
Fiscal pressure on companies reaches record levels in many jurisdictions, with a total tax burden exceeding 60% of profits in some sectors, according to the World Bank's Doing Business 2024 report. Regulatory inflation—over 300,000 federal regulations in the US alone, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute—creates an environment of uncertainty and arbitrariness that discourages investment and entrepreneurship.
Concrete examples of obstacles
Vitalik Buterin has dealt with regulations seeking to control cryptocurrencies, from bans in China to taxes in the United States, forcing privacy upgrades for 2025 as responses to these pressures.
Elon Musk has faced lawsuits and regulatory restrictions that have delayed key projects, like the global deployment of Starlink in emerging countries, and the launch of Grok 4 without safety reports that other competitors do publish.
Jennifer Doudna must navigate ethics committees and bureaucracies that slow down the approval of genetic therapies. An excess of regulation can deprive millions of innovative treatments, like on-demand CRISPR in 2025.
Boyan Slat faces skepticism and regulatory hurdles from environmental agencies that prioritize political control over effective action, despite the proven success of The Ocean Cleanup with its expansion to 30 cities.
Balaji Srinivasan is accused of being utopian by those who cannot imagine a world without centralized States, ignoring that technological tools already exist that enable new forms of individual and collective sovereignty, as proposed in his island prototype.
Marcos Galperin has navigated protectionist regulations and exchange restrictions in Latin America, like currency controls in Argentina and Venezuela, which limit cross-border trade and affect platforms like MercadoLibre, even in his leadership transition.
These obstacles are not accidental, but part of a system that fears change and distrusts individual action. Institutional coercion tends to protect privileges and stifle innovation, undermining freedom and progress.
IF THE ATLASES STOP, THE WORLD FALLS
Modern civilization does not float in the air. It does not sustain itself. Every algorithm we use, every plane that takes off, every vaccine that saves lives, every payment system that works, is the product of the genius, risk, and action of concrete individuals. Individuals who, instead of waiting for instructions or subsidies, decided to act.
Today's Atlases—from Elon Musk to Jennifer Doudna, from Vitalik Buterin to Boyan Slat—do not seek collective redemption. They do not immolate themselves for society. But they bear, whether society wants it or not, its consequences. And if one day they decided to stop, there would be no march or law that could replace them.
Does it sound exaggerated? It is not. When Venezuelan doctors abandoned the country due to the system's collapse, hospitals collapsed. When engineers in Iran or Cuba emigrated, technological industries were paralyzed. When creators like Balaji Srinivasan or Marcos Galperin threaten to build systems parallel to the State, politicians tremble, because they know that without them, their power is wet paper.
And yet, instead of protecting them, they attack them. They burden them with taxes, demonize them on networks, block them with laws, and when they leave, blame them for not "committing to the country."
But commitment cannot be obligation. You cannot force Atlas to hold up the world with a gun to his back. Because if he drops that bright sphere of data, innovation, medicine, progress... the whole world will feel the blow.
CONCLUSION: LET'S STOP SABOTAGING THOSE WHO SUSTAIN US
This article is not a hagiography of magnates nor an uncritical apology for success. It is an urgent call to recognize the irreplaceable role that exceptional individuals play in the march of civilization. They are a minority, yes. But a minority without which traffic lights would not work, vaccines would not arrive, and communication systems would collapse.
The only coherent public morality is one that recognizes and protects the creative freedom of the individual. It is not about idolizing the rich, but defending the possibility of becoming one without asking permission. It is not about eliminating States with a stroke of the pen, but limiting their capacity to obstruct those who are indeed building the future.
Human progress was not the work of the State, but of cultural respect for those who innovate, trade, and risk. When that dignity is lost, what follows is not social justice, but stagnation and ruin.
👉 If we want a free, just, and prosperous world, let's start with a simple but revolutionary truth: creators owe us nothing. It is we who owe them almost everything.