Lems fiction was so wonderfully weird, I remember something about a double agent in a mental hospital trying to figure out wether the other patients are double, triple or quadruple agents. Very confusing, was a script for a movie, don't know if it ever got made

If Dick and Lem were around these days, Dick would have a very vocal online following that would all insist that Dick is correct and claim that Lem is most definitely a government psyop and anyone who says otherwise is just brainwashed by the mainstream media.

I enjoy both of their writing. I'm not surprised PKD went to paranoid delusions, but I wonder if he also wrote to the Vatican about John Boyd and James Blish? Because on the same grounds their writings were anti-papacy.

I'm guessing Drugs, Valis or the green laser told Dick to do it.

It is generally a good idea to separate one's character from one's work. I love Dick's writings very much, same as I love ones by Lem. I do not give a rat's ass about what they're like in private life.

Funny how closely his own machinations resemble the (obviously comically deranged) delusions of some of his characters. He was clearly quite self-aware, as another comment noted, or could it be that the whole FBI report was a jest? It really reads exactly like a passage from his novels.

The subtext of the report to the FBI, that we must suppress artistic expression in order to protect the innocent minds from dangerous ideas, remains as relevant and intriguing today as then.

Solaris is such a masterpiece that resisted any accusation, fortunately.

Stanislaw Lem was far too much of a genius to believe his works were directed by any sort of committee, communist or otherwise.

He is still overlooked far too much - people seem to regard Solaris as his only work of note. But he has so works, all bizarre, imaginative, and insightful. Fiasco and His Master’s Voice are two of my lesser known favorites.

Philip K. Dick should have been one of the 1st ones realizing that such a brilliant and creative work as that coming from Lem, could never have been created by a committee, much less by a communist one.

I miss the times where we had this sorta influence.

An EPIC scene from "The Congress" (2014)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMMI8HWhqEc

The Congress (2013) Scan Scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPAl5GwvdY8

HN thread about "Bruce Willis Sells Deepfake Likeness Rights So His 'Twin' Can Star in Movies" and The Congress discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33044479

>According to director Ari Folman, some elements of the film were inspired by the science fiction novel The Futurological Congress by Stanisław Lem in that similarly to Lem's Ijon Tichy, the actress is split between delusional and real mental states. Later, at the official website of the film, in an interview, Folman says that the idea to put Lem's work to film came to him during his film school. He describes how he reconsidered Lem's allegory of communist dictatorship into a more current setting, namely, the dictatorship in the entertainment business, and expresses his belief that he preserved the spirit of the book despite going far away from it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36209861

>People who haven't used psychedelics don't tend to get or appreciate The Congress as much as those who have.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34953477

>I just watched The Congress -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Congress_(2013_film) -- and WOW, it was excellent.