Robotics, however, is not a very important part of the presented world. This world is referred to as a ‘psychemised society’ because everything is regulated by 'psychem', which is used to replace human processes of decision-making and thinking. These new chemicals can be used to transfer knowledge, induce certain beliefs or feelings. After Tichy enters into a relationship with his nurse Aileen, she at a certain point asks him to select which one of two pills she should take after the two argue – Tichy, disgusted that Aileen cannot make up her mind about their relationship without the help of chemicals, ends their acquaintance.
The names of the specifics again provide an opportunity for a burst of linguistic humour:
An enjoyable evening, but someone played an idiotic trick on me. One of the guests—I wish I knew who!—slipped a little gospel-credendium into my tea and I was immediately seized with such devotion to my napkin, that I delivered a sermon on the spot, proclaiming a new theology in its praise. A few grains of this accursed chemical, and you start worshipping whatever happens to be at hand—a spoon, a lamp, a table leg. My mystical experiences grew so intense that I fell upon my knees and rendered homage to the teacup.
The idyllic vision of chemically-enhanced humanity is disturbed only by one small detail – namely all the people Tichy meets breathe very loudly or even wheeze. The dark secret of the new, wonderful world is finally explained to Tichy by Professor Trottelreiner, one of the participants of the futurological congress, also resurrected after years. When Tichy reveals to him his doubts about the functioning of the new, wonderful world, the professor gives him 'up'n'at'm, one of the vigilanimides, a powerful countersomniac and antipsychem agent, a derivative of di-methylethylhexabutylpeptopeyotine’.
Under the influence of up'n'at'm, Tichy starts to see through the illusion. The happy and prosperous world reveals its true nature – people who, thanks to chemistry, think they are swimming in luxury, in fact lead a difficult life on a meanwhile glaciated Earth.
Ours is simply a world in which more than twenty billion people live. […] The last pheasant died a quarter of a century ago. That bird is a corpse, only excellently preserved, for we have become masters of its mummification—or rather: we have learned how to hide its death. […] for the highest humanitarian reasons that this chemical hoax has been perpetrated, this camouflage, this bedecking of reality in plumage it does not possess…
As we can see, both main themes of the first part – breaking through the layers of hallucinations, the problems of overpopulation and the inevitable decline of humanity discussed at the congress – make their return. The mysterious panting that the protagonist noticed earlier turns out to be people's physical effort to maintain the illusion (for example, the man who, thanks to psychems, believes that he is driving a car is actually running through the streets).
There is another important character in the story. Symington, a demonic employee of Procrustics Inc. with whom Tichy manages to become acquainted, plays an important role in masking the world’s true form. He initially explains to the main character: 'our commodity is Evil', as the company produces chemical simulations which allow people to have visions of themselves abusing those whom they dislike or disagree with. Symington even considers his work as an art form – one that involves making the torturer feel that he is doing it in the name of some higher justification. In the story’s finale, the antagonist reveals his true mission – control of the illusion that makes humanity's collective agony more pleasant. Symington speaks of this with some pride:
We keep this civilisation narcotised, for otherwise it could not endure itself. That is why its sleep must not be disturbed. And that is why you will be returned to it. Oh there's nothing to fear—for you, this will be not only painless, but pleasurable. Our lot is far more difficult; we must remain awake, to watch over you.
In the end, however, this nightmarish reality turns out to be another delusion – Tichy, happy, wakes up in the sewer, where he took refuge together with other participants of the futurological congress. This is how another cycle of hallucinations closes.
The scene in which Professor Trottelreiner describes the way in which the new science works, replacing futurology and dealing with the future things, can in turn be a subtle self-parody of Lem’s own working method. The professor asks Tichy to give him words, creating neologisms on the spot ('Trashmass, trashmic, catatrashmic. Trashmass, trashmosh. On a large enough scale, trashmos. And—of course—macrotrashm!'), and then adds meanings to them (here it was about the theory that the stars originate from the need to burn space waste).
In Świat Nie Przedstawiony (The Un-Presented World) by Julian Kornhauser and Adam Zagajewski (Kraków 1974) – a book that was extremely important for the ideological formation of the New Wave generation – The Futurological Congress is subjected to a peculiar critique. It seems to say more about the critics’ worldview than about the novel itself. The main objection concerns the contradiction between the comic style, full of humorous neologisms, and the – dramatic in its essence – vision of a society lied to not with words but with chemicals. On page 63 of the book, the postulate is made: 'Comedy cannot encode drama, drama must be told dramatically.' There is criticism of the use of 'overly blunt and overly firm language', which is supposed to make the intrigue a mere pretext for word-forming.
If we remove the evaluative elements from the critics' summary, it becomes an exceptionally accurate description of Lem’s creative intentions. Combining the grotesque with drama had a precedent in Polish literature in the works of Gombrowicz, to whom the storytelling narration of The Congress... seems to refer to. Professor Małgorzata Szpakowska, for example, had nothing against this duality, calling The Congress... ‘one of Lem’s funniest but also most grim short stories.’
Originally written in Polish by Paweł Kozioł, May 2011, translated to English by PG, April 2022, edited by AZ.