Observation on the Spot

Observation on the Spot (Polish title Wizja lokalna is an expression meaning crime scene reconstruction) is a social science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem.

[3] In a letter to publisher Franz Rottensteiner Lem wrote about his intention to add this glossary and to include into it an explanation why these neologisms are a necessity, not just a fantastic embellishment.

Tichy arrives on Entia to discover a unique anthropomorphic civilization divided into two major states: Kurdlandia (from "kurdl") and Luzania.

Kurdlandia's guiding ideology is "national mobilism", that is the vast majority of the population must live inside of the stomachs, various passages and internal organs of the kurdls.

They have produced huge numbers of molecular sized nanobots called "bystry" ("quickies" in English) that serve to control matter in the 'quickated' areas.

There is a large protest movement in Luzania of people who want to end the ethicsphere, and a major element of their activities is trying to inflict harm on anybody just to prove the possibility of doing so, but they have not succeeded yet.

Apparently the 'quickies' are capable of some collective thought, at least for the purposes of self-replication and self-improvement, as well as in order to identify instances of potential harm to individuals (no small feat, no doubt).

The artists of Luzania feel particularly slighted by the fact that 'quickies' can create art of all forms of much greater quality than they can; naturally, many of them are members of the protest movement.

On the other hand, many Luzanians, especially university students and faculty, dislike the consumerism and ethical limitations of freedom under the 'quickies' and call variously for the imposition of the kurdl-ism or at least for a slight rollback of the technological development and the abolition of the 'quickies', depending on the degree of radicalism of the individual.