Lähituleviku Kuu on muudetud suurriikide katsepolügooniks, kus testitakse autonoomseid isearenevaid relvasüsteeme. Õnnetuseks arenevad relvasüsteemid aga nii kaugele, et nad ei soovi oma isandatega enam mingit tegemist teha. Appi kutsutakse vana kosmosekangelane Ijon Tichy, kes lendab kuule asja uurima ja saab seal sügava trauma - täpsemalt lõhestub ta aju kaheks täiesti eraldiseisvaks isiksuseks ning ei pea ilmselt ütlemagi, et kõik kuul nähtu jääb sellesse teise ja koostööle mittealluvasse poolde.
Ijon Tichy lood jagunevad kergemateks ja naljakamateks ning tõsisemateks ja filosoofilisemateks. Antud tekst kuulub sinna tõsiste juttude poolele. Kohati läheb toimuv isegi niivõrd huumorivabaks ja filosoofiliseks, et mul hakkas juba segi minema kas peategelane on absurdimees Ijon või vana emo-navigaator Pirx. Mõned koomilisemad hetked muidugi on, näiteks saab korduvalt nalja usa julgeoleku ja erinevate luureagentuuride kulul. Peamiselt kasutab aga Lem seda teost kohana, kus mõtiskleda isepaljunevate relvasüsteemide, mikroskoopiste droonipilvede ja muu põneva ning hetkel vägagi aktuaalse tehnoloogia üle. Mulle meeldis tegelikult väga aga midagi jäi samas täiusest puudu, seega koondhindeks tubli neli pluss.
"The American Medical Association finally lost the battle to save their profession, because computers gave better diagnoses and were much more patient with patients. Prosthetic sex was replaced by a simple device called an Orgaz. This was a headset with electrodes and a handgrip that resembled a toy pistol. Pulling the trigger gave you the ultimate pleasure because the appropriate place in your brain was stimulated with no effort, no exertion necessary, plus there were no upkeep expenses for male or female remotes, nor indeed the aggravations of natural courtship and matrimony. Orgazes flooded the market. To be fitted you went to special clinics. Gynandroics and other firms that manufactured synthetic women, angels, nymphs, fauns, etc., went out of business with much gnashing of teeth. As for education, most of the developed countries did away with compulsory school attendance. "Children," went the new doctrine, "should not be subjected to daily imprisonment and the psychological torture called learning." Who needs to know how many men's shirts you can sew out of six yards of Egyptian cotton if one shirt requires seven eighths of a yard, or when two trains will collide if one engineer is eighteen, drunk, and going 100 miles an hour and the other is colorblind and doing 75, if they're separated by 15 miles of track and 43 pre-automation semaphores? Equally useless are facts about kings, wars, battles, crusades, and all the other rotten behavior of history. Geography is best learned by traveling. All you have to know is the price of the ticket and when the plane takes off. Why learn foreign languages when you can put a translator chip in your ear? The study of biology depresses and depraves young minds, nor is it practical since no one now can become a doctor or dentist (after the appearance of dentautomata, about thirty thousand out-of-work dentists in both the Americas and Eurasia have committed suicide each year). And chemistry is of no more value than a knowledge of hieroglyphics. Meanwhile on traffic signs and street signs words are slowly being replaced with pictures."
Lugeda soovitan pigem siiski vaid eriti paadunud Lemi või Ijon Tichy fännidel või siis nendel, kes tahavad oma silmaga näha, kuidas üks poolakas suutis juba 30 aastat tagasi meie tänapäevast maailma ette ennustada ja mitmed põnevad teemad enne Strossi lahti kirjutada
