Observation on the Spot (Polish
Wizja lokalna, literal translated: "crime scene investigation") is a
science fiction by
Stanislaw Lem. It has not yet been translated into English. It deals with
Ijon Tichy's travels to a faraway planet, Entia (which is the
Latin equivalent of their name for themselves) to study their civilization. The title of the novel has to do with their use of
predictive modeling to generate information about the planet based on the limited data available to them because of
light speed limitations. Lem has worked out in considerable detail both the history of the Entian species from primeval times to this day, and their present technologically advanced and socially libertarian society. Major topics of the book are: the problems of the society of plenty based entirely on automated production where individuals have little to do; imposition of ethical laws through technology i.e. the ethicsphere which has made it impossible to harm individuals physically; and the ideological opposition of two dominant systems, which is basically a parody of Western-
Soviet Union split taken to the absurd.