The aim of the article is to reconstruct, analyze and compare two of Lem’s visions which concern the application of the future development of science and technology in order to construct an enhanced society. In other words, two literary concretizations of his idea concerning the technology of ethics. These are betrization— presented in the novel Return from the Stars and the ethicsphere—presented in the novel Observation on the Spot. In the “Introduction,” I discuss the specifics of Lem’s philosophizing, both in terms of its form and content, and I identify its main subject as concerning the problem of the influence of technological development on man, society and sphere of values. Then in the section “Life in an unfriendly world” I discuss the context which provides the background for the presentation of two Lem’s visions of technology of ethics, namely, the Doctrine of the Three Worlds, an integral part of the novel Observation on the Spot, but its meaning also explains Lem’s motivation to take up the idea of betrization. In the section “Life in a society devoid of aggression and risk,” I discuss a hypothetical society subjected to betrization— a procedure that eliminates aggressive tendencies. In the section “Living in a completely safe environment,” I discuss a hypothetical society living in an ethicsphere, that is, an “intelligent” environment programmed to care for the safety of its members; I also present a brief comparison of betrization and the ethicsphere. I conclude the paper by indicating where Lem’s considerations figure within the typology of utopia proposed by Bernard Suits.

This article questions the consensus view of The Invincible (Niezwyciężony) as one of Lem’s classical sci-fi fictions. The author contends that in this novel the familiar conventions (later rejected in His Master’s Voice) coexist with a structural design characteristic of his late novels. An analysis of two pieces of the world of The Invincible, usually disregarded by the critics because of their sketchiness, i.e. the story of the extinct Lyrans and the account of the ancient biosphere of Regis III, reveals that in either case Lem no longer cares for the realist credentials of his fiction and does not put the two planets on the astronomical map (which is no doubt deliberate choice). Moreover, in contrast to his earlier novels, his outline histories of the two biospheres contain hidden (but nonetheless unmistakable) parallels to the prehistory of the biosphere of the Earth (though he was no believer in evolutionary repeatability). As this article tries to demonstrate the two peripheral facets of the world depicted in the novel are clearly related and subordinated to the central story line (concerned with the ‘necrosphere’ and humanity). This structural dependence as well as the way in which key aspects of the world depicted in the novel seem to illustrate the theses articulated in Lem’s essays justifi es the conclusion that The Invincible should be treated as the first novel of his late phase, represented – on account of its form – by His Master’s Voice.

The main idea of this article claims that the dominance of modern media technologies over the contemporary sphere of intersubjectivity reveals certain phenomena in the human world that did not exist in the pre-Internet epochs. One of them is technoratiomorphism. I use this term to define a hybrid operating in accordance with biological ratiomorphic mechanisms and overlapping with technological rationality. I also indicate some effects which are brought into social and individual existence by the presence of technoratiomorphism in communication. In my consideration I refer to Konrad Lorenz’s position and evolutionary epistemology, in general. I also interweave them with certain themes found in Stanisław Lem’s works.

O tym, jaką przyszłość przewidywał Lem, przed czym przestrzegał oraz czy nadal pozostaje autorem nierozumianym, mówi prof. dr hab. Jerzy Jarzębski z Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego w Krakowie i Państwowej Wyższej Szkoły Wschodnioeuropejskiej w Przemyślu.

W dotychczasowej recepcji Dialogów Stanisława Lema przyjmuje się, że cała moc argumentacyjna skoncentrowana jest na dialogu ostatnim, w którym pisarz — używając terminologii z zakresu cybernetyki — poddaje krytyce ustrój centralnie sterowany. Autorka podejmuje polemikę z przyjętą opinią i wskazuje na inne zadanie, które postawił przed sobą Lem: czy możliwe jest, a jeśli tak, to pod jakimi warunkami, przeszczepienie ludzkiej świadomości na elektromózg? Tym tropem podąża autorka w niniejszym artykule, analizując warunki konieczne i wystarczające do przeprowadzenia transferu świadomości na nośnik niebiologiczny. Przedstawia też stanowisko Lema w odniesieniu do teorii tożsamości osobowej, koncepcji świadomości czy roli, jaką przypisuje on technologii.

We talk to Prof. Jerzy Jarzębski from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and the Eastern Europe State University in Przemyśl about Stanisław Lem and the future he foresaw, his cautionary tales and whether he is still an author often misunderstood.

The paper develops the implicit as well as explicit meaning which evokes Stanisław Lem’s concept of the Body and the Corporality portrayed in the novel Return from the Stars. Moreover, Lem’s novel about an astronaut Hal Bregg and his return on Earth is analysed. In this novel author uses the idea of Einstein’s twin paradox. Hal Bergg—the stereotype of masculinity—is confronted with decadent and egalitarian society, which may be refers to the reunion masculinity with femininity. Such storyline shows the multidimensionality of the issue of Corporality, and presents the Body as a epistemological metaphor of modernism and postmodernism. In addition, the Body is depicted in the Return of the Stars as a figure of a mask and a costume. Furthermore, the Body in Lem’s novel is also interpreted as part of the Universe—as the boundary between what is temporary and what is infinite and transcendent.

Stanisław Lem is mostly known as a sci-fi writer and not widely perceived as a visionary of the cyber age, despite the fact that he foresaw the future of information technology better than most scientific experts. Indeed, his visions of future information- based societies have proved to be remarkably accurate. Lem’s stories fuse together elements of fantasy, philosophy, and science, but what we can really learn from them is the nature of humanity, technology, and philosophy, as well as the values of technological prophecies. Moreover, Lem gave birth to, without naming it as such, the concept of philosophy in technology, which is a perspective on technology and philosophy that explores the deep implicit philosophical foundations of technology and humanity.

Stanisław Lem is considered the most outstanding representative of Polish and one of the most eminent representatives of world science-fiction literature, as well as a futurologist and—at least by some—a philosopher who, in the form of novels and short stories written in the convention of science fiction and the so-called discursive prose, touched upon important philosophical problems concerning the place of man in the Universe, the effects of technological and civilisational progress and the issue of the limits of cognition. The article reconstructs and analyses the main philosophical problems presented in the work Filozoficzny Lem. Wybór tekstów Stanisława Lema i opracowania [ The Philosophical Lem. A Selection of Texts by Stanisław Lem and Studies] edited by Filip Kobiela and Jakub Gomułka.

Stanislaw Lem recognizes the far-reaching role of chance both in gaining knowledge and in explaining the development of cultural norms. The consequences are explored by him in fiction and non-fiction.

The central question of the article is should Stanisław Lem be read as a futurologist? The main thesis is that more than in predicting the future Lem always has been more interested in exploration the conceptual limits of science and its technological offshoots.

This paper analyses Stanisław Barańczak’s translation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel A Wizard of Earthsea. An overview of the first publications of the American writer in Poland is followed by a description of the obstacles that were encountered by Stanisław Lem when trying to publish Le Guin’s novel in the book series that he directed. Subsequently, Stanisław Barańczak’s translation is analysed to show the strategies that he adopted, the recurring techniques, and the problematic renderings due to a lack of familiarity with the fantasy genre.