Happy birthday, Stanislaw LEM

Source

95 years ago was born the man whose name is forever inscribed in the Pantheon of the best science fiction of all times and peoples. But Stanislaw LEM is not only a great writer but also a philosopher and a futurist, in the mid 20th century which gave a surprisingly accurate prediction about our time.

A LEM predictions come true, but many things still may happen, so today we will think about different ideas and techniques mentioned in the books.

For LEM, science fiction was documented on the paper form of a thought experiment. Maybe his ideas will be useful for you to create a new revolutionary product.

Total immersion in virtual reality


Long before "the Matrix" LEM suggested that the term "fantomatic" (in the book "total technology") to refer to technology intended for substitution of sensations, data reality, and arbitrary. Thus, for the individual creates a new environment where they can't distinguish it from reality via their senses. In the story "Strange boxes of Professor Corcoran describes the possibility of the simulation of the whole world.

Mobile communication and "smart" clothes


In the novel "Magellanic cloud" a boy with his parents came to the zoo to see a real horse, but did not have time before the end of the tour. Then he ran away and turned off his communication device: "your wrist the TV screen, connected to a television radio wave with his parents, so that might always know where he is, the boy took off and hid under the chair."
Also in this work referred to clothes that change color and pattern depending on the air temperature.

Touch screens and credit cards


"Whether this Information was some sort of genius, then I've learned a bit better to Express, anyway, I got here the property of a plastic book with four fold-out pages, diagrams of urban communications. If you had somewhere to go, it was enough to touch the street names, level, square and on the map immediately broke out plan all the necessary routes.
<...>
The bookstore looked more like a laboratory of electronics. Books — crystals with etched in.
Read crystals with the help of opton. Opton resembled a real book with only a single page between the covers. From every touch on her appeared, the next page of text.
In the same novel mentions "Kulsary" — small devices, replacing the turnover and the circulation of money. Paying, the person shall submit this card to the cashier who enters it in the cash register connected with the Bank. The computer sends the Bank computer, how many units of money should be written off from the account; the same thing happens on the route, the payer (or his computer) to the paying Bank (or its "caller").

Cloning


In "Star diaries", the main character had multiple copies of different ages. In the "Sum of technologies" cloning is discussed in the section "Plagiarism and creation."

Minicopter


In the story "Invincible" protagonist meets organized form of inanimate matter — swarms of metal insects that kill everything in its path.

"Because once our enemies are creating inanimate evolution, certainly not with the psyche, we can't discuss the issue of revenge, retribution for the "Condor" for the fate of our comrades. It's like trying to carve an ocean in which sank the ship with the people".

The nanoweapons ("smart dust")


Old types of weapons have long coexisted with the new: heavy, bulky ammunition irrevocably fell under the onslaught of microgyria. In fact, it was almost invisible. As the microbes penetrate imperceptibly into the animal to kill it from the inside, so lifeless, artificial microbes, according to the existing tropism, into the barrel of guns, camera chargers, motors, tanks and planes, clawed through the armor or, having reached the powder charges blew them. Yes, and that is the brave and experienced soldiers, hung with grenades, could do with a microscopic and a dead enemy? No more than the doctor who decided to fight with the germs of cholera with a hammer. Among the clouds of microhoria, homing on a specified target, weapons biotropica, that is, destroying all living things, man in uniform was as helpless as a Roman legionary with shield and sword under a hail of bullets."

Bloody means of relaxation


"Much more interesting than the Bermuda triangle I think the triangle between the car, pornography and the entertainment industry (show business), as this area is a gaping market niche that until now no one noticed, not to mention the fact that someone tried to fill it. <...> Once you got behind the wheel, you should see several unknown devices: for the nomination of tongs from fools, the remover of the old, device-batons along with the device to determine the floor near the pedal smelly sprayer with centrifugal pump for excrement, but near the shift lever glows red arm laser gun for the most extreme cases".

Reminded you of Carmageddon? This "Tobin" written in 1978. Later, this essay was published in the collection "Black and white".



Source

Some things are just useless to quote must be read in full. "Sum of technologies", written в1963, contains many details on the Internet, nanotechnology and cloning. However, almost every work of Leme you can find interesting thoughts and ideas do not become obsolete. At some point it almost stopped reading fiction in order to fully concentrate on the writings on Cybernetics, space exploration, genetics and other scientific fields, trying to find the answer to the questions that will be the first contact with an alien mind whether to resurrect dead people, whether there will be a society with maximum happiness to maximum people" if we can find "common ground" with artificial intelligence.

Self-fulfilling during the life of the LEM predictions (e.g., the Internet) convinced him to abandon fiction and completely switch to futurology. In conclusion, to quote LEM, which today is also the anniversary. These words appeared 50 years ago, but still has not lost its relevance:

"Science fiction is not prophetic literature, as some mistakenly think. Prediction of scientific and technical achievements inevitably doomed to failure. Even Jules Verne now seems very archaic. What can we say about today, it is impossible to anticipate all the possible qualitatively new jumps that occur in human life due to the success of science! Fantasy rather like a giant and powerful magnifying glass, in which we consider the trends of development — social, moral, philosophical — that we see in our present day. In fact, speaking about the future, about life on distant planets, I'm talking about modern problems and their contemporaries, only dressed in galactic clothes. In our days, in order to engage in science fiction, a little fantasy, we still need so much to know!"
Source: geektimes.ru/company/mailru/blog/280336/