Acronia was written in 1966 by Pablo Capanna, a Florentine- born Argentinian who dominated the Spanish science fiction scene. This story depicts a universe called Acronia that we come to understand is dominated by robots who control every moment of human lives. Evaluator P. is our protagonist, and we follow his struggle with ‘attacks’ of doubt that work against the system he is living in. This story explores concepts of time, the relationship we have to work culture and the direction technology is taking humanity, paired with subtle discussion of philosophies. Written as a critique of the mechanization of an online workplace, this text can be applied well to modern day. What we see from Acronia is a beautiful visualization of a terrifying possibility that humans will lose the capacity for free will and imagination.

 Concurrently, Acronia brings up philosophies of time, such as eternalism with its discussion on non- objective flowing of time and theories of 4- dimensional time. There are computer programs that balance mental factors and machines that remove doubts. There are robots with consciousnesses. Though this story is outfitted with science, it has a deeper focus on philosophical concepts; Acronia is supposed to be a Utopia- a society that has become so technologically advanced that human labor becomes obsolete. With this world, there are a host of new problems as unoccupied humans become unhappy with their idleness. As the world adapted to these new futuristic problems, a utopia is created by the robots themselves, who have humans in their best interest as they construct the perfect world. However, in the process of the robots managing to create a perfect world for humans, there are certain points where things go wrong. Acronia’s protagonist P. makes these problems evident, with his condition of doubt. 

At first this doubt presents itself to P. as a ‘symptom’, as if he is being infected with a mental illness. As the story progresses, P. calls these moments of doubt a host of different names, such as ‘attacks’, ‘oneiromancy’ and ‘the absurd’. All of these are symptoms of Acronia’s disease. The Coordinator and Planner are aware of these flaws in the system, as they confess to P., but it isn’t left clear what that means for the fate of Acronia. Is doubt what the robots will decide is inevitable for the human condition? Do humans need to experience the passage of time, as indicated by the numerous ‘outbreaks’ of the disease? Are these benevolent or malevolent robots? The robots are not clear villains or heroes in this story and I believe that is very intentional. In our lives we experience conflict with technology but in general technology seems to improve our lives- at least on the surface. The robot’s omnipotence can definitely be compared to a godliness, especially with its final lines of the story being Mene Tekel Upharsin which is Old Testament Bible speak for ‘God has doomed the Kingdom’. We fear the robot’s power and knowledge, and even though he is not their god, the Planner becomes their god. We can therefore think of P.’s doubts being doubts of god, which are often signs that the person must go to church- the Autoanalysis Machine, or prey- watch the television. There is also an instance when P. refers to his true self (one that is separate from the Programmer) as He, which is normally used to signify god. With that, we must question if P. is undergoing a transition of religious proportions- believing that the Planner is God, to believing that his own free will is God. 

The way that this story looks at time is also very interesting. Time is blamed for human discontent, and is blamed for the problems of the ‘ancients’. The Planner wants all of its people to live according to the moment, and not dream of the past or the future. This is an interesting perspective as being present is often thought to be a virtue. However, the lack of freedom the humans are allotted in Acronia is a fundamentally un- human thing. Even relationships are structured and informed; P. must follow protocol when first interacting with his wife and feels no amount of love for her until he wakes up from a traumatizing dream. “He realized he was falling in love with his wife again” shows us that human beings don’t experience love when in Acronia because their minds and lives are too formulated. P. also questions whether “maybe women had the secret” in a way that startles the reader, because it challenges the reader to confront gender differences in individualism and inherent rebellion. When P. elaborates on his question he brings up women’s ‘tacit understanding of the natural forces’ as a potential explanation for why they’d better be able to adapt to this system. He does criticize the state of their relationship in Acronia and P. is reminded often that what’s best for the greater good is for him to remove his doubts and continue living in the system- but he is unable to shake his doubt. A symbol for this doubt is the image of the clock that keeps reappearing in his mind. Clocks suggest another way of life to P., where you could ‘kill time’ because time existed. 

Acronia’s messages are incredibly blended together; philosophies and future threats from technology make this piece incredibly relevant. Where will society be when every single job is automated? We will have to think outside the box to keep working towards a Utopia. When there are flaws within the system, we account for those and adjust the system accordingly. What this story highlights for me is the inherent human necessity to do work, but to also dream and be creative. It is a human trait to doubt the system in which you are living, as we see from history.