However many aspects of social control like stupidators added to cheap food to keep lower classes under control, tracing people through their 'points' transactions etc. Religion of any kind is also totally absent. Official government or economic structure of Argoland is not discussed in the book. However, people at large seem not interested in leaving their city being sure that life in other city-states is exactly the same as in theirs. Travel between city-states is possible but restricted and therefore not available to general population. The novel alludes that the whole humanity lives in such cities and leaving a city is not possible (vehicles used by the citizens of Argoland cease to operate at the city borders). The countryside is said to be uninhabited with farms operated by robots.
The Key is similar to modern PDAs serving as an ID card, credit card, a watch, a calculator and a biometric reader.Īrgoland is a city-state, located on the shores of lake Tibigan. The Key displays the class of its bearer and its other functions are activated by owner's touch on a built-in fingerprint reader. The 'points' are kept on a 'Key' which serves as an electronic wallet. Therefore, a black exchange market for points flourishes. That means only those with class over 4 (and practically 3 because there is a shortage of jobs for class 4 and no jobs for lower classes) can get any yellow points officially. Conversely, only employed are paid any yellow points, the more the higher their class. Their value is different - red points are almost valueless - only basic items like basic food can be bought for them, green points have a bit higher value and only yellow points have real value. 'Argoland' has an awkward monetary system - its currency are green, red and yellow points. This is further true because the economy seems to be centrally controlled government run socialism, that is private property is limited and small private enterprises operate only on the fringes of the general economy. Only people with class between 0 and 4 get any jobs, any promotion is depending on the class more than achievement. The class of a citizen determines what job he gets, and his pay ('red, green and yellow points'). All citizens in Argoland are divided into 7 social classes (numbered from 0 to 6) based on their IQ. The story is set in a fictional 'Argoland'. It was recognized as the best science fiction novel in Poland in 1982. It is a seemingly free society, which is in fact tightly controlled through a system of electronic biometric ID cards (Keys), censored media and other forms of social control. Limes inferior, one of Zajdel's best-known works, is a dystopia showing a grim vision of a future society resulting from a merger of the two systems competing at the time - communism and capitalism. Limes inferior ( Latin for lower limit) is a social science fiction dystopian novel written in 1982 by the Polish author Janusz A.
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