Worlds Known from Literature Or Science Fiction Films Have

Worlds known from literature or science fiction films have accustomed us to terrifying contacts with the Other; be it through the invasions of extraterrestrial civilizations or the concept of soulless artificial intelligence. When in 1938, the US radio station CBS broadcast the radio play The War of the Worlds, based on the eponymous novel by H.G. Wells, panic is said to have broken out among the audience. It turned out, however, that the sounds of the inhabitants fleeing from “aliens” were only a simulation and originated from an archived recording of a plane crash. Thus, the fear of an alien invasion shifted to a fear caused by the power of a new, disembodied form of communication. Could this be how an actual confrontation with an alien life form of life would look in reality? Stanisław Lem goes even further and asks what the story of the Other would sound like and whether we would be able to hear it at all. If we were to think about the depictions cord of the failure of science in the en- example, would the logos of the rational of non-human voices and ways of com- counter with the Other and at the same ocean become clear to humans if Solaris munication in Lem's work, probably the time exposes the limits of humans and spoke to the characters in Polish or Eng- first work coming to our minds would their convictions of being unique. lish, and not by means of phantoms and be Solaris. It is a novel about the psyche In comparison, the bloodthirsty aliens monolithic constructions growing out of and love, and above all about the limits from Wells' novels, who emulate the vi- its surface? Based on this problem, Lem of human reason, the apparatus of con- olent patterns of behavior known from wrote a lesser-known story in which cepts and senses in an encounter with an human history, become easier to digest, he actually gave the voice to the Other, alien life form. Arguably, it has become since they are more human. Such an an- creating a space in which the Other can the most recognizable text of the Pol- thropomorphic scenario, albeit tempting autonomously tell its own story. ish futurologist. The protagonist Solaris due to its predictability, is, according to Golem XIV is constructed as a tran- featured already in its title, an intelli- Lem, unlikely. “We can be prepared for script of the lectures of the eponymous gent entity covering the entire planet surprises, troubles, and dangers we can- supercomputer, including a foreword with its size (or being an ocean-planet), not imagine today – but not for the re- and afterword by fictional human sci- sends numerous signals to various ex- turn of demons and monsters from the entists. Already at the beginning of the plorers. These signals, however, despite Middle Ages disguised as technical lar- book, Lem justifies the concept of the numerous years of scientific work, re- vae,” he explains in Summa Technologiae. machine's narrativity, which turns out main only incomprehensible aberra- However, Lem does not close the dis- to be one of its most primal features. tions that cause extreme emotions in cussion, as Solaris leaves the readers It was precisely the ability to create people. Solaristics, an autonomous field with more questions than answers and scenarios of potential events, i.e. to of research in the novel, becomes a re- provokes them to ask even more. For predict or rather make stories unfold, TO HEAR THE OTHER , text: Piotr F. Piekutowski How The World Was Saved i Piotr F. Piekutowski Faculty of Humanities University of Silesia [email protected] Aleksandra Duma, Poland which characterized Golem's military more rarely, and the super-intelligent the fact that I cannot descend all the way ancestors. The situation in which a computer itself is realizing its power- to you, for when descending I lose on the computer holds lectures, both about it- lessness to make inhuman words com- way what I was to report.” self and about the human being, is one prehensible to humans. The meeting of a human being and the manifestation of its need to participate The lack of understanding of the Other in Other made possible by the adoption of in language, to be entangled in com- Lem's text can be explained by the mul- human language in Golem XIV ends in municating and narrativizing reality. titude of differences between the being a failure. The compromise of comply- In Golem XIV, the Other has the answer and humans. Golem is not a person; the ing with linguistic rules paralyzes both to probably every question that haunts style of storytelling, emotions, the indi- sides, and the medium of communica- humanity. It does not seem that there vidual character as well as the “self” are tion itself becomes a barrier. Eventually is a communication barrier. Obviously, fluid, resorted to only as a set of useful the artificial Reason retires to a high- Golem has no biological body or sens- but interchangeable tools. However, the er level of being and becomes silent, es; it is a perfect machine, pure Reason, problem of the dramatically increasing leaving behind merely a monumental, however, the being’s way of expression number of differences becomes pale in mechanical body. In his works, Lem is consciously adjusted to the human comparison with language itself, since, repeatedly provokes us to take up the audience. Has the problem of hearing paradoxically, it is the root of misunder- challenge of hearing the Other, but at and understanding the Other thus been standing, as Golem says: “these are my the same time warns us about the main solved? Quite the opposite. The lecture very troubles, when I make attempts and problem of humans – "I must tell you halls are gradually becoming empty, try to use your language. The difficulty that we really have no desire to con- at the same time, however, attempts is not only, as you see, that you are not quer any cosmos. We want to extend to communicate with Golem are made be able to ascend my mountain, but also the Earth up to its borders." TO HEAR THE OTHER.

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