The Futurological Congress

When I started reading this book, I had to occasionally reread a few sentences. I often felt confused. Why are there naked women in the hotel hallway? What does that have to do with Lem's point? Does Lem have a point? Luckily, the second half of the book was a little less far fetched. Given the fact that Lem wrote this book in 1978, a time when "pharmacologic alterations" were common, it makes sense this theme would appear throughout the book. As one reviewer of the book wrote, "Tichy's reluctance to experiment with the various drugs, and his abhorence of their effects, serve as Lem's warning about the drug culture which was flourishing at the time he wrote the novel. These warnings, made nearly thirty years ago, still hold true for any addictive substance, whether drugs or technology. " Another interesting facet of the book was Lem's portrayel of women, "In The Futurological Congress, men are equated with the active and creative, while women are consistently passive and objectified, the possessions of the men. For example, the secretaries of the Society for Liberated Literature are there to act out the fantasies of the professors, the men. Or this: "the bar on my floor had now been seized and occupied by the student protesters-dynamiters and their girls" (17). These statements,hopefully, represent the year 1978 rather than 2039.