On the surface, this novel is about an electric boy and his friends trying to get his mother back from the evil corporation that's trying to take over the world. At its core, however, it's a deeper, more universally applicable issue that's at stake: the battle between amoral ambition and moral conscientiousness. Dr. Hatch and his crew represent the base and vulgar appetites, throwing aside such petty considerations as ethics and respect in order to obtain what they view as the highest pleasure in life: uninhibited exercise of power.
The comparison with the philosophy of Nietzsche is obvious: Nietzsche believed that the highest pleasure a man can pursue is the exercise of strength, especially as seen in the creation of values and government. The innate tendency of man is the "will to power;" he is most satisfied when he can exercise his power on other people and conditions. His will to power is so strong that, if unhealthily restrained (through such measures as morality and laws and manners), it will turn in on itself and create a guilty conscience.
Hatch's philosophy and experience mirror this philosophy perfectly. The exercise of strength, according to Hatch, is immensely worthwhile; the acts he commands his followers to perform serve no real utilitarian purpose - they just feel good. He believes that they, the "eagles" (übermenschen), have the right and duty to create their own values and regime, condemning Tanner for developing a guilty conscience. This philosophy is especially evident in the speech Hatch makes to his students on the plane; this quote could almost be taken directly from Nietzsche:
"Those idiots on the board want to put a new coat of paint on the house. I say burn the house to the ground and rebuild it! No government but our government. No religion but our religion. No gods but our gods. We will tear down the human foundation brick by brick and construct our own" (ch. 24).
By appealing to such a final goal, Hatch makes this temporal and material struggle into an overarching philosophical one. Michael and his company are no longer simply fighting an enemy that's in their way; they're combating the destruction of modern morality.
