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肖褨邪褋泻芯
芦肖褨邪褋泻芯禄 鈥� 褔懈 薪械 薪邪泄锌芯褏屑褍褉褨褕懈泄 褌胁褨褉 胁懈写邪褌薪芯谐芯 锌芯谢褜褋褜泻芯谐芯 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌邪 小. 袥械屑邪. 袩芯 褋褍褌褨, 褑械 褉芯蟹锌芯胁褨写褜 锌褉芯 褋锌褉芯斜褍 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌褍 蟹械屑薪芯褩 屑褨褋褨褩 褨蟹 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褦褞 写邪谢械泻芯褩 锌谢邪薪械褌懈 袣胁褨薪褌邪, 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌褍, 褟泻懈泄 芯斜械褉薪褍胁褋褟 写谢褟 蟹械屑谢褟薪 褑褨谢泻芯胁懈褌懈屑 锌褉芯胁邪谢芯屑, 邪 写谢褟 泻胁褨薪褌褟薪 鈥� 褌芯褌邪谢褜薪懈屑 薪械斜褍褌褌褟屑. 小胁芯褩屑 芦肖褨邪褋泻芯禄 锌懈褋褜屑械薪薪懈泻 薪邪褔械 褋褌胁械褉写卸褍褦, 褖芯 谢褞写褋褌胁芯 写芯褌懈 斜褍写械 锌褉懈褉械褔械薪械 薪邪 锌芯褉邪蟹泻褍, 写芯锌芯泻懈 薪械 胁懈泄写械 褨蟹 锌谢邪褌芯薪褨胁褋褜泻芯褩 锌械褔械褉懈, 胁 褟泻褨泄 褋邪屑芯 褋械斜械 褍胁'褟蟹薪懈谢芯.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
267 people are currently reading
6,020 people want to read
About the author
Stanis艂aw Lem
450听books4,291听followersStanis艂aw Lem (sta藞刹iswaf l蓻m) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer of Jewish descent. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. He is perhaps best known as the author of Solaris, which has twice been made into a feature film. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon claimed that Lem was the most widely read science-fiction writer in the world.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today鈥攍ike, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (G艂os pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. They are sometimes presented as fiction, but others are in the form of essays or philosophical books. Translations of his works are difficult and multiple translated versions of his works exist.
Lem became truly productive after 1956, when the de-Stalinization period led to the "Polish October", when Poland experienced an increase in freedom of speech. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. His works were widely translated abroad (although mostly in the Eastern Bloc countries). In 1957 he published his first non-fiction, philosophical book, Dialogi (Dialogues), one of his two most famous philosophical texts along with Summa Technologiae (1964). The Summa is notable for being a unique analysis of prospective social, cybernetic, and biological advances. In this work, Lem discusses philosophical implications of technologies that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today鈥攍ike, for instance, virtual reality and nanotechnology. Over the next few decades, he published many books, both science fiction and philosophical/futurological, although from the 1980s onwards he tended to concentrate on philosophical texts and essays.
He gained international fame for The Cyberiad, a series of humorous short stories from a mechanical universe ruled by robots, first published in English in 1974. His best-known novels include Solaris (1961), His Master's Voice (G艂os pana, 1968), and the late Fiasco (Fiasko, 1987), expressing most strongly his major theme of the futility of mankind's attempts to comprehend the truly alien. Solaris was made into a film in 1972 by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972; in 2002, Steven Soderbergh directed a Hollywood remake starring George Clooney.
He was the cousin of poet Marian Hemar.
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September 28, 2024
鈥淚 don't think anything can behave as unintelligently as intelligence.鈥�
鈥� Stanis艂aw Lem, Fiasco
In many important respects Fiasco is Stanisalw Lem鈥檚 crowning achievement. Publsihed in 1986 toward the end of the Polish author's distinguished career spanning more than half a century, the novel contains at its heart a key theme revisited by Mr. Lem over the years: the impact of science and technology on multiple dimensions of intelligence and communication.
What a literary achievement! Please do not be thrown off by the label "science fiction." To be sure, generous helpings of scientific data and detail are proffered to satisfy any reader with an interest in science; but, more importantly, especially for non-science types like myself, Fiasco probes an assortment of gripping philosophical conundrums and is a hugely engaging adventure. I was enthralled every step of the journey as I accompanied the crew on their expedition to distant planet Quinta to communicate with the Quintans.
The time is mid-twenty-first century and travel between planets and moons is commonplace. From the orbit of one such moon, Titan by name, the spaceship Eurydice is launched on its quest to make contact with what is judged by top international scientists a technically advanced civilization. Such pooling of intellectual resources is possible since in this future time there is worldwide peace and global cooperation. Thanks for the cheery prospect, Stanislaw! Too bad your optimism doesn鈥檛 endure when the Earthlings reach planet Quinta.
The ship is massive, as large as a high-rise building 鈥� many rooms and hallways and chambers large enough to hold smaller space vehicles. The crew includes a flight commander and various chiefs overseeing things like power, communications and medicine. Accomplished experts within the fields of physics, biology, geology and other sciences are present along with a Dominican monk in the role of adviser.
Of course, the inclusion of a Catholic father adds real spice to the flavor and shape of how decisions are to be made. Although Catholicism was very much part of the culture in his home country of Poland, Stanislaw Lem made a public statement on why he became an atheist: 鈥淔or moral reasons: the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created intentionally."
Also on board is a pilot awakened after spending decades in cryonic deep freeze 鈥� his own 鈥渓ast resort鈥� decision in consequence of a botched rescue mission. Did I say awakened? Perhaps resurrected from the dead would be more accurate, at least according to top physician Dr. Gilbert's philosophy of personal identity. We listen in on the good doctor's provocative conversation with Dominican Father Arago.
And last, but hardly least, there's DEUS, a supremely advanced twenty-first century supercomputer performing complex calculations in nanoseconds and speaking directly with members of the crew. DEUS is short for Digital Engrammic Universal System but everyone involved in the project recognizes the irony of a direct reference to a deus ex machina.
Back on the pilot returned to life - he can鈥檛 recall his past name, it could be Prix or Parvis. As readers, we know Parvis from his mini misadventure in Chapter One; Lem fans will recognize Prix from the author鈥檚 Tales of Prix the Pilot. Anyway, among the more intriguing sections of the novel is his return to consciousness and interactions with a Socrates-style teaching computer in efforts to help restore his memory and educate him on the latest technologies. A particular statement made by the teacher resonates on what is to follow once the ship attempts to communicate with the Quintans: 鈥淭he Mystery of the Silent Universe has become a challenge to Earth鈥檚 science.鈥�
Additionally captivating are the embedded shorter tales within the novel: the first tells how two sixteenth century Spanish conquistadors violated sacred ground in their attempt to unmask the mystery surrounding an ancient Aztec deity; and the second an excerpt from a book of science fiction the resuscitated pilot reads one evening, a spellbinding, spine chilling yarn about an Indiana Jones-style treasure seeker venturing through South American jungle to reach a vast region where termites rule.
Under a blazing tropical sun the termites have built over a million white mounds, row after row after row, thirty feet high and harder than cement. Each and every one of these mounds seethes with termite activity within. And at the very center of this termite city there is a bent, black mound.
Our adventurer recounts how he brought dynamite, airplane gasoline, insecticides, gas masks and other heavy duty equipment to lead an expedition to the land of termites and uncover the secrets of the black mound. However, what he ultimately discovers after penetrating to the heart of this insect nation deepens rather than solves any of nature鈥檚 secrets. I include a brief sketch of this embedded tale since it unquestionably contains many parallels with the ship's excursion to Quinta.
Reaching their destination and sending a series of digital transmissions but receiving no answer, a small crew voyages to the surface of Quinta in their probing craft, the Hermes. They detect one moving object the size of a boulder that increases its speed to escape their observation. The captain is quick to resolve: 鈥淟et鈥檚 catch that moth.鈥� He sets the trajectory of pursuit and engages the craft鈥檚 hunt program. Go get 鈥榰m cowboy! Less than a mile away from the Quinta prey, the Hermes discharges a missile with prehensile arms, grasps it and conducts an initial examination. Clearing any safety issue with DEUS, the crew then takes the trophy of their chase on board for future analysis.
Moth, pursuit, hunt, prey, trophy, chase - these are the actual words articulated by captain and crew. Such language is aggressive; such language is the language of war. How far are these future space explorers from the mindset of prehistoric hunters or the Greek warriors at the gates of Troy? How will the consequences of this initial assertive strategy play themselves out?
Pondering Stanislaw Lem鈥檚 work, many additional philosophic questions loom up for consideration. Here are several: Are humans so warlike that nearly any communication from aliens will be interpreted as a threat requiring retaliation? Why didn't Nakamura, the perceptive Japanese physicist, recommend a sense of humility all along? Nakamura states: Where there is mind, there is cruelty. Is this an accurate observation? Would it have been wise to include a Zen master on this mission teaching the crew meditation and the cultivation of "No Mind?" What's the sound of one brutal hand clapping?
鈥淎 man craves ultimate truths. Every mortal mind, I think, is that way. But what is ultimate truth? It's the end of the road, where there is no more mystery, no more hope. And no more questions to ask, since all the answers have been given. But there is no such place.
The Universe is a labyrinth made of labyrinths. Each leads to another. And wherever we cannot go ourselves, we reach with mathematics. Out of mathematics we build wagons to carry us into the nonhuman realms of the world.鈥�
鈥� Stanis艂aw Lem, Fiasco
June 7, 2020
Respecting the Eternally Dead
This is science fiction at its best. It is scientific because it employs technology that is not yet available but is nevertheless plausible in theory. It is fictional not because it proposes some strange physics in an alien galaxy-far-away but because it presents an alternative cosmology to the one that exists, unchallenged, in our own heads. This is a counter-fiction that is shocking and intriguing in equal measure; and it makes Fiasco a masterpiece.
Lem reveals and overturns an unrecognized presumption, a prejudice really, we make about the universe: the anthropomorphic conceit that life emerges from mere matter, when it does, as a sort of developmental triumph. Life represents progress; the more complex the life which evolves, the more advanced the world in which it occurs. Living things, we think, are special: they have purpose; they adapt to the world in order to achieve their purposes; in the case of humankind, they are even capable of choosing among purposes. In short, life is teleological. Even if we reject religious belief, we tend to accept that this apparent trajectory reflects the purposefulness of the cosmos which produced it.
But just suppose that we鈥檝e got this narrative of cosmic progress wrong. Suppose that purposeless matter - not just lifeless matter but matter that has no potential at all to produce life, as on a moon of Saturn - is not only the dominant mass in the universe, but it is also a superior substance. It is superior because it is not subject to the laws of genetic evolution. It exists without having to conform to environmental vagaries. In fact, extreme environmental conditions allow this matter to express incredibly original, even creative, forms. Dead matter need not struggle for a place in the universe, nor need it prevail over other dead matter. To describe the situation succinctly: dead matter is free, liberated eternally from the 鈥済uillotine of evolution.鈥�
The possibility of travel to other places in and beyond the solar system has perennially provoked speculation about the existence of dead matter. But we duck the issue of infinite cosmic 鈥榳aste鈥�. And we temporise about it until the scientific analysis is 鈥榗omplete鈥�. We try desperately to give dead matter purpose. We search for life on Mars and Venus, even if it might now be extinct, because the thought of the dominance of dead matter is disturbing. We fantasize about mineral deposits on the Moon or travel to other planets, or even galaxies, to find places of refuge or needed resources for a depleted Earth. We look for intelligent signals from deep space in the hope of forging some kind of cosmic companionship. We may no longer consider ourselves the centre of the universe; nevertheless it is all for us - to use, to explore, to communicate with. If there is intelligent life elsewhere, it too is instrumental for our well-being. Either they can teach us or we them. The camaraderie of the living!
We thus give purpose to these places - but only in our imagination. They have no inherent purpose or at least none we could accept as such - for us, for any other form of life, but most importantly for themselves. If they consist of dead matter, they will never develop. They will never be used to become more than they are. They may be reduced to their constituent components of particles and energies in a super nova or black hole or in the nuclear engines of space craft, but by escaping genetic evolution they will forever evade the constraints of teleology. They exist immutably and only for themselves. In Christianity this is a definition of God.
If another intelligent civilization does exist, it too has been subject to the inscrutable, and debilitating, process of evolution. And evolution implies competition, conflict, and very un-Godlike action to overwhelm one鈥檚 living opponents. Recent anthropological findings confirm that the rise of primitive Homo Sapiens was at the expense of not only others in the genus Homo but most of the existing fauna in the areas Sapiens invaded. From Australia, to the islands of the Pacific, and into North and South America, humankind was a persistent serial killer of mammals, and marsupials, as well as the insects and flora which relied upon them. Why should any other intelligent species be ignorant of the reality of evolution. [See the recent Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind For a fascinating account of the natural destructiveness of our species: /book/show/2...]
Such a conception is obviously problematic for Christian, as well as other monotheistic, beliefs for a variety of reasons. But Lem hones in on the central doctrine of Christian thought: resurrection from the dead. Resurrection is thrown into reverse; it is not a sign of divine mercy but an obscene curse. The resuscitation of a corpse, that is the reconstituting of life from dead matter, isn鈥檛 a divinely inspired miracle but a cosmically sinful tragedy. The corpse is forced from its liberated state of union with the divine back into the slavery of the genetically dependent world and straight back into the miserable competition among living things. The medical technology that Lem invents to allow such resuscitation is therefore clearly infernal, profoundly evil in its intent.
Lem鈥檚 cosmology isn鈥檛 Gnostic or nihilist. His heaven or nirvana or place of ultimate refuge is not somewhere else outside the universe that we see and experience; it is located within this very universe in its most perfect state, one of absolute internal stasis and contentment. What we call dead is really divine. What is not dead produces chaos. 鈥楧isordered鈥� is the theological term which the Dominican theologian aboard the space craft Eurydice might use. 鈥楩iasco鈥� is the theatrical equivalent.
Lem uses his technology to get us as far away from ourselves as possible in order for his fiction to take effect. At such a distance, the fiction may not be fictional at all. "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars... "
This is science fiction at its best. It is scientific because it employs technology that is not yet available but is nevertheless plausible in theory. It is fictional not because it proposes some strange physics in an alien galaxy-far-away but because it presents an alternative cosmology to the one that exists, unchallenged, in our own heads. This is a counter-fiction that is shocking and intriguing in equal measure; and it makes Fiasco a masterpiece.
Lem reveals and overturns an unrecognized presumption, a prejudice really, we make about the universe: the anthropomorphic conceit that life emerges from mere matter, when it does, as a sort of developmental triumph. Life represents progress; the more complex the life which evolves, the more advanced the world in which it occurs. Living things, we think, are special: they have purpose; they adapt to the world in order to achieve their purposes; in the case of humankind, they are even capable of choosing among purposes. In short, life is teleological. Even if we reject religious belief, we tend to accept that this apparent trajectory reflects the purposefulness of the cosmos which produced it.
But just suppose that we鈥檝e got this narrative of cosmic progress wrong. Suppose that purposeless matter - not just lifeless matter but matter that has no potential at all to produce life, as on a moon of Saturn - is not only the dominant mass in the universe, but it is also a superior substance. It is superior because it is not subject to the laws of genetic evolution. It exists without having to conform to environmental vagaries. In fact, extreme environmental conditions allow this matter to express incredibly original, even creative, forms. Dead matter need not struggle for a place in the universe, nor need it prevail over other dead matter. To describe the situation succinctly: dead matter is free, liberated eternally from the 鈥済uillotine of evolution.鈥�
The possibility of travel to other places in and beyond the solar system has perennially provoked speculation about the existence of dead matter. But we duck the issue of infinite cosmic 鈥榳aste鈥�. And we temporise about it until the scientific analysis is 鈥榗omplete鈥�. We try desperately to give dead matter purpose. We search for life on Mars and Venus, even if it might now be extinct, because the thought of the dominance of dead matter is disturbing. We fantasize about mineral deposits on the Moon or travel to other planets, or even galaxies, to find places of refuge or needed resources for a depleted Earth. We look for intelligent signals from deep space in the hope of forging some kind of cosmic companionship. We may no longer consider ourselves the centre of the universe; nevertheless it is all for us - to use, to explore, to communicate with. If there is intelligent life elsewhere, it too is instrumental for our well-being. Either they can teach us or we them. The camaraderie of the living!
We thus give purpose to these places - but only in our imagination. They have no inherent purpose or at least none we could accept as such - for us, for any other form of life, but most importantly for themselves. If they consist of dead matter, they will never develop. They will never be used to become more than they are. They may be reduced to their constituent components of particles and energies in a super nova or black hole or in the nuclear engines of space craft, but by escaping genetic evolution they will forever evade the constraints of teleology. They exist immutably and only for themselves. In Christianity this is a definition of God.
If another intelligent civilization does exist, it too has been subject to the inscrutable, and debilitating, process of evolution. And evolution implies competition, conflict, and very un-Godlike action to overwhelm one鈥檚 living opponents. Recent anthropological findings confirm that the rise of primitive Homo Sapiens was at the expense of not only others in the genus Homo but most of the existing fauna in the areas Sapiens invaded. From Australia, to the islands of the Pacific, and into North and South America, humankind was a persistent serial killer of mammals, and marsupials, as well as the insects and flora which relied upon them. Why should any other intelligent species be ignorant of the reality of evolution. [See the recent Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind For a fascinating account of the natural destructiveness of our species: /book/show/2...]
Such a conception is obviously problematic for Christian, as well as other monotheistic, beliefs for a variety of reasons. But Lem hones in on the central doctrine of Christian thought: resurrection from the dead. Resurrection is thrown into reverse; it is not a sign of divine mercy but an obscene curse. The resuscitation of a corpse, that is the reconstituting of life from dead matter, isn鈥檛 a divinely inspired miracle but a cosmically sinful tragedy. The corpse is forced from its liberated state of union with the divine back into the slavery of the genetically dependent world and straight back into the miserable competition among living things. The medical technology that Lem invents to allow such resuscitation is therefore clearly infernal, profoundly evil in its intent.
Lem鈥檚 cosmology isn鈥檛 Gnostic or nihilist. His heaven or nirvana or place of ultimate refuge is not somewhere else outside the universe that we see and experience; it is located within this very universe in its most perfect state, one of absolute internal stasis and contentment. What we call dead is really divine. What is not dead produces chaos. 鈥楧isordered鈥� is the theological term which the Dominican theologian aboard the space craft Eurydice might use. 鈥楩iasco鈥� is the theatrical equivalent.
Lem uses his technology to get us as far away from ourselves as possible in order for his fiction to take effect. At such a distance, the fiction may not be fictional at all. "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars... "
April 1, 2025
All'improvviso precipito, abbracciando la superficie di annichilazione di Ade.
Come l'Euridice, in procinto di rallentare lungo l'involuta per Beta Harpyiae, incontro alcune contorte isograve e attraverso l'orizzonte degli eventi come un futuro Argonauta.
Cavalcando il vortice delle correnti bradicroniche, fluttuo nelle spirali di retrocronicit脿.
Rischiando poi di annichilirmi, in auto-difesa, ad opera di una configurazione toroidale di superfici isogravitazionali in rapida contrazione e dilatazione, persisto.
I quanti di energia, emergendo in una nube di adroni, infine, mi porteranno a destinazione.
"L'universo 猫 un labirinto fatto di altri labirinti"
Scienza o fantascienza? Scienza o poesia?
Lem e la sua sconfinata cultura mi rapisce e mi trasporta attraverso i freddi spazi siderali per raggiungere un lontano pianeta in cui 猫 presente vita intelligente.
La missione finale 猫 di effettuare un primo contatto, ma non sar脿 cos矛 scontato.
Lem analizza le dinamiche di primo contatto con una civilt脿 extraterrestre, i dubbi sull'efficacia del programma, le incomprensioni e gli eventuali errori, sommergendo il lettore con perle di cultura scientifica che lasciano in preda allo stupore.
Romanzo forse inadatto a lettori non avvezzi alla fantascienza hard dove il reparto scientifico la fa da padrone.
Gi脿 positivamente colpito dallo straordinario "Solaris", con la sua visione poetica e filosofica di intelligenza "esterna", questo "il pianeta del Silenzio" risulta semplicemente strepitoso pur nella sua cronica visione pessimistica.
----------------------------
Suddenly I plummet, embracing Hades' annihilation surface.
Like the Eurydice, about to slow along the involute for Beta Harpyiae, I encounter some contorted isograves and through the event horizon like a future Argonaut.
Riding the vortex of bradychronic currents, I float in the spirals of retrochronicity.
Then risking annihilation, in self-defense, by a toroidal configuration of rapidly contracting and expanding isogravitational surfaces, I persist.
The quanta of energy, emerging in a cloud of hadrons, will finally take me to my destination.
"The universe is a labyrinth made of other labyrinths"
Science or science fiction? Science or poetry?
Clemont and his boundless culture kidnaps me and transports me through the cold sidereal spaces to reach a distant planet where intelligent life is present.
The final mission is to make a first contact, but it won't be so obvious.
Lem analyzes the dynamics of first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, the doubts about the effectiveness of the program, the misunderstandings and any errors, submerging the reader with pearls of scientific culture that leave you in awe.
Novel perhaps unsuitable for readers not accustomed to hard science fiction where the scientific department is the master.
Already positively impressed by the extraordinary "Solaris", with its poetic and philosophical vision of "external" intelligence, this "the planet of Silence" is simply amazing despite its chronic pessimistic vision.
Come l'Euridice, in procinto di rallentare lungo l'involuta per Beta Harpyiae, incontro alcune contorte isograve e attraverso l'orizzonte degli eventi come un futuro Argonauta.
Cavalcando il vortice delle correnti bradicroniche, fluttuo nelle spirali di retrocronicit脿.
Rischiando poi di annichilirmi, in auto-difesa, ad opera di una configurazione toroidale di superfici isogravitazionali in rapida contrazione e dilatazione, persisto.
I quanti di energia, emergendo in una nube di adroni, infine, mi porteranno a destinazione.
"L'universo 猫 un labirinto fatto di altri labirinti"
Scienza o fantascienza? Scienza o poesia?
Lem e la sua sconfinata cultura mi rapisce e mi trasporta attraverso i freddi spazi siderali per raggiungere un lontano pianeta in cui 猫 presente vita intelligente.
La missione finale 猫 di effettuare un primo contatto, ma non sar脿 cos矛 scontato.
Lem analizza le dinamiche di primo contatto con una civilt脿 extraterrestre, i dubbi sull'efficacia del programma, le incomprensioni e gli eventuali errori, sommergendo il lettore con perle di cultura scientifica che lasciano in preda allo stupore.
Romanzo forse inadatto a lettori non avvezzi alla fantascienza hard dove il reparto scientifico la fa da padrone.
Gi脿 positivamente colpito dallo straordinario "Solaris", con la sua visione poetica e filosofica di intelligenza "esterna", questo "il pianeta del Silenzio" risulta semplicemente strepitoso pur nella sua cronica visione pessimistica.
----------------------------
Suddenly I plummet, embracing Hades' annihilation surface.
Like the Eurydice, about to slow along the involute for Beta Harpyiae, I encounter some contorted isograves and through the event horizon like a future Argonaut.
Riding the vortex of bradychronic currents, I float in the spirals of retrochronicity.
Then risking annihilation, in self-defense, by a toroidal configuration of rapidly contracting and expanding isogravitational surfaces, I persist.
The quanta of energy, emerging in a cloud of hadrons, will finally take me to my destination.
"The universe is a labyrinth made of other labyrinths"
Science or science fiction? Science or poetry?
Clemont and his boundless culture kidnaps me and transports me through the cold sidereal spaces to reach a distant planet where intelligent life is present.
The final mission is to make a first contact, but it won't be so obvious.
Lem analyzes the dynamics of first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, the doubts about the effectiveness of the program, the misunderstandings and any errors, submerging the reader with pearls of scientific culture that leave you in awe.
Novel perhaps unsuitable for readers not accustomed to hard science fiction where the scientific department is the master.
Already positively impressed by the extraordinary "Solaris", with its poetic and philosophical vision of "external" intelligence, this "the planet of Silence" is simply amazing despite its chronic pessimistic vision.
February 26, 2008
This is one of the best, and also one of the most brutal, books I've ever read. It is a hard read. This is not a book for the faint; it explores, as does a lot of communist science fiction, the utter impossibility of rational exchange between crazy-different cultures. Also a lot in here about the failings of man.
Not a book for the faint of heart.
Not a book for the faint of heart.
May 15, 2016
Do you despise "sci-fi" featuring aliens with legs/faces/eyes/fur that highlight the author's intellectual shallowness at best or intentionally insult your intelligence at worst? Does your heart rate accelerate when a spaceship in a book/movie flies between worlds with a flip of a switch magical warp drive - ignore relativity - tech without any expectation that you might be puzzled by the blatant inconsistencies with the physical laws of our universe? If intellectually lazy pretend-sci-fi is not your thing, you will Love Stanislaw Lem, and you will love this book.
Hop on a journey to the planet Quinta, and admire the mysteries of a beautifully-composed snapshot of a civilization that evolved along an entirely different path. Ponder the utterly naive notion that civilizations belonging to different regions of a society/mind space can share enough culture to establish effective communication. Admire the thought that informed the detail of each brush stroke and the consistency behind the full composition of this vision of the future. Bask in the philosophical digressions on space travel, inter-civilization morality, or advanced artificial intelligence and its place alongside humans. And watch the mission's seemingly simple objective violently disintegrate into a mirage, recognizing by its somber end its certain futility.
There are parts to complain about, parts to question, and parts to skim, but one does not take a ride in a Tesla Model S and then complain in the review that the cup holder was slightly too far to the back. 5/5.
Hop on a journey to the planet Quinta, and admire the mysteries of a beautifully-composed snapshot of a civilization that evolved along an entirely different path. Ponder the utterly naive notion that civilizations belonging to different regions of a society/mind space can share enough culture to establish effective communication. Admire the thought that informed the detail of each brush stroke and the consistency behind the full composition of this vision of the future. Bask in the philosophical digressions on space travel, inter-civilization morality, or advanced artificial intelligence and its place alongside humans. And watch the mission's seemingly simple objective violently disintegrate into a mirage, recognizing by its somber end its certain futility.
There are parts to complain about, parts to question, and parts to skim, but one does not take a ride in a Tesla Model S and then complain in the review that the cup holder was slightly too far to the back. 5/5.
July 6, 2021
Stanislaw Lem is a treasure in the SF field. This Polish SF writer had a long career and an extremely sharp mind that consistently outperformed just about anyone in sheer wit, complexity, and depth of ideas, and truly thought-provoking intellectual tales.
You know, intellectual tales that happen to have resurrected racing pilots on Titan, shipboard computers that aren't constrained by Asimov laws but are truly on the path of interdependence with humanity, and situations that shatter the concept of Star Trek's preponderance of the Prime Directive.
Please don't mistake me here. This particular novel goes well beyond the call of any SFnal duty by giving us a first contact scenario with us reaching an alien world that NEVER becomes cliche. Indeed, Lem is fully exhaustive in great hart-SF science, complex and rich Game Theory analysis, and even very thoughtful philosophical backtracking and out-of-the-box thinking.
I RARELY see any science fiction go this out of its way to explore the REAL complications of communications and warfare while consistently sitting us in the center of our own humanity, immersing us so deeply in ourselves that we are trapped by not only our logic and our instrumentality, but we're trapped by our own biology.
Sound like a good philosophical premise? Especially when it is housed in a great story that seems so perfectly rational -- and truly horrific -- that the philosophy is subsumed deeply within the tale until it jumps out at us and tears us to shreds?
Let's just say that this is up there with some of my absolute favorites. Hard-SF by a true master of SF.
It happens to be his last novel, but for anyone who has had the pleasure to read his Solaris, know that it might very well be better, too.
That's saying a lot. Solaris is one of the best grandmaster SF's out there.
You know, intellectual tales that happen to have resurrected racing pilots on Titan, shipboard computers that aren't constrained by Asimov laws but are truly on the path of interdependence with humanity, and situations that shatter the concept of Star Trek's preponderance of the Prime Directive.
Please don't mistake me here. This particular novel goes well beyond the call of any SFnal duty by giving us a first contact scenario with us reaching an alien world that NEVER becomes cliche. Indeed, Lem is fully exhaustive in great hart-SF science, complex and rich Game Theory analysis, and even very thoughtful philosophical backtracking and out-of-the-box thinking.
I RARELY see any science fiction go this out of its way to explore the REAL complications of communications and warfare while consistently sitting us in the center of our own humanity, immersing us so deeply in ourselves that we are trapped by not only our logic and our instrumentality, but we're trapped by our own biology.
Sound like a good philosophical premise? Especially when it is housed in a great story that seems so perfectly rational -- and truly horrific -- that the philosophy is subsumed deeply within the tale until it jumps out at us and tears us to shreds?
Let's just say that this is up there with some of my absolute favorites. Hard-SF by a true master of SF.
It happens to be his last novel, but for anyone who has had the pleasure to read his Solaris, know that it might very well be better, too.
That's saying a lot. Solaris is one of the best grandmaster SF's out there.
January 30, 2010
Fiasco is a deeply pessimistic science fiction novel. It's about the typical hard sci-fi topic: first contact between humans and aliens. And as in "Rendezvous With Rama," "The Forever War," and "The Mote in God's Eye," much of the fun is the detailed imagining of how interstellar space travel would actually work, complete with relativistic time distortion and keeping humans alive in alien worlds. What separates this book from those others is Lem's belief that true understanding between different sentient races is impossible, and an encounter between them must necessarily end in total disaster. If that sounds depressing, that's because it is. And Lem's incredibly dense style, complete with ten page digressions on the application of game theory to space war, doesn't make it any easier.
But there are times when Lem's writing is as good or better than that of any other science fiction writer that I've read. Imagine Borges crossed with Arthur C. Clarke, and you'll have an idea of what to expect.
But there are times when Lem's writing is as good or better than that of any other science fiction writer that I've read. Imagine Borges crossed with Arthur C. Clarke, and you'll have an idea of what to expect.
February 19, 2019
That title certainly prepared me for the frustrations and ultimate failure that the characters felt during that whole endeavor.
Anyway we return to Stanislaw Lems favorite theme: Who are we to think of ourselves as something more than apes in face of the universe. Just look at his critique of the cold war and this novels most famous quote: 鈥淚 don't think anything can behave as unintelligently as intelligence.鈥� All the while throwing logical and emotional curveballs at us.
Are you sure who Mark Tempe is?
Anyway we return to Stanislaw Lems favorite theme: Who are we to think of ourselves as something more than apes in face of the universe. Just look at his critique of the cold war and this novels most famous quote: 鈥淚 don't think anything can behave as unintelligently as intelligence.鈥� All the while throwing logical and emotional curveballs at us.
Are you sure who Mark Tempe is?
August 9, 2024
Anthropocentric Projection
A spaceship commissionned by SETI is set on a mission to establish contact with the extraterrestrial civilisation on planet Quinta. However, nothing ever happens according to plan and what began as a prudent approach escalates into a full-blown catastrophe.
In a nutshell, what I liked above all when it comes to this novel was the unique standpoint Lem adopts once again regarding the sentient species on Quinta and the ill-planned, ill-advised, botchy method adopted by the crew on the Hermes to establish contact by all means available... Did I mention the Hermes crew tend to rely heavily on what passes as efficient communication methods on Earth? I also enjoyed the idea of a civilisation split into two antagonistic blocks, both intent to scramble the signals and sabotage the other block's operations, even resorting to spacecraft to disrupt one another... A bit reminiscent about the Cold War, isn't it!
Also see:
In :
The White Sibyl
The Ice Demon
A spaceship commissionned by SETI is set on a mission to establish contact with the extraterrestrial civilisation on planet Quinta. However, nothing ever happens according to plan and what began as a prudent approach escalates into a full-blown catastrophe.
In a nutshell, what I liked above all when it comes to this novel was the unique standpoint Lem adopts once again regarding the sentient species on Quinta and the ill-planned, ill-advised, botchy method adopted by the crew on the Hermes to establish contact by all means available... Did I mention the Hermes crew tend to rely heavily on what passes as efficient communication methods on Earth? I also enjoyed the idea of a civilisation split into two antagonistic blocks, both intent to scramble the signals and sabotage the other block's operations, even resorting to spacecraft to disrupt one another... A bit reminiscent about the Cold War, isn't it!
Also see:
In :
The White Sibyl
The Ice Demon
November 29, 2013
A fiasco on Saturn's Moon, Titan, causes the loss of several men. Many years later, the starship Eurydice is built on Titan for a mission to the far side of the coalsack nebula, to investigate a planet where there they've found evidence of technological extra-terrestrial intelligence. The bodies of the men are found and packed aboard the Eurydice for revival, if possible. It happens that only one can be revived using the parts of another, but unfortunately they have no way of knowing exactly who they're reviving. The man awakes aboard Eurydice, lightyears from the Solar System and generations from anyone who might know him, and he doesn't know who he is either.
"Tempe" as the man comes to call himself, has little angst for this, but suffers from being a bit of a fifth wheel. The Eurydice has the best technology, the most advanced computers and equipment, the most intelligent scientists. They have made the most thorough and carefully laid plans, methods, analysis, and hypotheses. Tempe, a man out of time and place, has to work hard to become a full-functioning member of the crew and he does his level best, which happens to be pretty good indeed. Tempe gets assigned to the scout craft of Eurydice to investigate and contact the Quintans while the Eurydice does tricky maneuvers around a nearby black hole.
What they find in the Harpy system on a planet they call Quinta, baffles them utterly. The Quintans have sent out interplanetary probes whose purpose they cannot fathom and which seem to have been sabotaged from the start. Around the planet is a mysterious ring of ice and many satellites of war. On the moon of the planet is a mysterious artifact, apparently abandoned. The planet has a cloud of EMF jamming all communications. From their space ship they can see installations and buildings on the surface, but no 'beings'. There is evidence of vast structures underground.
The scientists interpret these findings as signs of a prolonged intercontinental war which waxes and wanes, hot and cold. They decide to be cautious...
Fiasco is dense with mysteries and marvels, but patient and methodical with delivering them. I appreciate Lem's intense intellectualism, his work has a reasoning, rational quality. In Fiasco this quality is used to illustrate both great human genius and profound human failings. Although the prose never loses it's calm, I felt increasingly agitated and nervous throughout the exploration. When I finished Fiasco I could hardly speak, I was devastated. Horrified. Heartbroken.
This is an excellent book, but it was hard on me. The technical aspects of the Eurydice mission inspired me to read 's and, unexpectedly, I found Thorne's book revealing about Fiasco's themes too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2023
3,5*
Erzino Lemo u啪si啪aidimas per dideliu detali拧kumu. Visa kita - super.
Erzino Lemo u啪si啪aidimas per dideliu detali拧kumu. Visa kita - super.
May 2, 2019
Starts out great, but after its initial third Lem spends too much time on fake science and has characters behave too stupidly to be believable. Despite the themes skillfully woven into the early parts of this book, the rest fails to capitalize on this, and so Fiasco falls far short of one of Lem's other novels about attempted contact, Solaris. I'll be comparing Fiasco to Solaris frequently throughout this review, so if you've haven't read the latter consider yourself warned- and also, go read Solaris, it's excellent.
The opening chapter recounts a pilot using a giant walking robot to attempt to rescue people lost on Jupiter's moon Titan. While it might seem strangely divorced from the rest of the text, instead it skillfully establishes many of the themes and ideas that will be explored throughout the rest of Fiasco. While walking through the frozen structures of Titan the pilot is repeatedly reminded of natural phenomena, highlighting how human beings have a natural inclination to draw connections between things, to see the familiar even where there is nothing but the alien. At one point the pilot is led astray, it turns out by his own reflection. After an accident the pilot resorts to a cryogenic freezing option only slightly better than suicide, his rescue mission a failure.
Fast-forward hundreds of years later and several cryogenically frozen people have been brought aboard a huge space ship that will use a black hole to travel to a distant solar system in an attempt to contact intelligent life. Not all of the frozen people can be unfrozen, however, in fact only one can. The scientists have two candidates that have an exactly equal chance of being revived successfully, and so the scientists in charge of the resurrection agree that they will invent a lie about why one candidate is superior, while in fact the one they choose to resurrect will be selected at random. Again, while this section might seem unrelated to the main contact story, it establishes the idea that human kind needs to master its surroundings through reason, and is even willing to make up a reason where none exists, a falsehood being better than nothing.
While traveling aboard the space ship the resurrected man can't remember who he was before, not that he is much troubled by this, though he lives his old life in his dreams and does not reveal this to the doctors who treat him. He spends some time reading a piece of a story about an explorer who finds a vast colony of ants and wages a campaign to get at the heart of the place, where he finds a mysterious sphere that seems to attract insects no matter where he goes. Not only is it a great story in its own right (one I'd be happy to read more of), it also raises the idea of insane quests focused on things beyond our understanding that, even when successful, still ends with a result that's incomprehensible.
All of this is the prologue to the main contact story, and in my opinion it's by far the best part of the book. It establishes the characters, themes, and tone of the book in an entertaining way and without beating you over the head. Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't live up to the foundation this prologue establishes.
After this point Lem dives heavily into the fake science of interstellar travel, giving us pages and pages of explanation for how the journey is being made and why it will only take a certain amount of time. In Solaris, the scientific theories and reports Lem has the characters read all serve a specific purpose: to show that mankind has spent a huge amount of effort trying to understand Solaris, and also that so far mankind has learned absolutely nothing definite about it. In Fiasco, the fake science of interstellar travel serves no such similar purpose, since in the world of this story the fake science discussed is actually the truth- at least it works for the characters here. Thus you have to read about the rationale for the temporal effects of black holes for a significant amount of time when the story could have just had the characters use the black hole, with some perfectly reasonable trepidation, and gotten on with the story from there. The fake science about interstellar travel adds nothing to the book.
Not that the fake science ends when the characters get to the inhabited alien world, rather after the journey the fake science merely switches from fake physics to fake alien sociology. This at least serves a purpose, pretty much the same one the reports served in Solaris: to emphasize that we don't really know anything about what an alien might be like or how they might behave, despite piles and piles of theories that sound logical and scientific on paper. What undercuts this section is that the characters performing this first contact don't behave in reasonable ways. Their first actions are to snatch alien objects orbiting the atmosphere and cut them open, an act that is hard not to interpret as hostile. What is it with first contact stories where the humans' first course of action is to cut into the alien thing and see what happens? They do the same thing in Peter Watts' Blindsight.
The attempts at contact just get more absurd from there. They beam radio signals and lasers onto the planet, ignoring the fact that if an alien did the same thing to them while they were on earth they'd almost certainly not realize it. Eventually they stumble upon the better, although acknowledged as still subpar, idea of projecting images down to the planet. This is after the crew enacts certain measures that are stunningly stupid, including blowing up the moon, possibly the stupidest way to make an alien open up the channels of communication ever conceived, though nearly matched later on in the novel when they start laser-beaming the planet. None of the attempts at contact make much sense, a fact at one point acknowledged by the resurrected character, not that it makes the fact any better. The behavior of the crew paints them all as idiots at best, and homicidal maniacs at worst, nothing like how they were characterized earlier. It's a baffling turn for the narrative to take, made even more confusing by Lem proving in Solaris that he can write a far better contact story than this.
The ending does nothing to mitigate these problems- the resurrected character lands on the planet, and through his scan of the mock ship they sent down we're led to believe that at least some of the crew's conjecture about these aliens was correct. The conjecture all seemed more like projection of the human characters, though, so the reveal that they might actually have been correct was a surprise to me, and not a very satisfying one. Still, the wanderings and observations of the character make it clear that he and the other humans still have no idea what's going on in the planet, and maybe never will. Then the atmosphere of the entire planet is destroyed because the character forgets to check his watch. Fantastic.
I understand what Lem was doing here, trying to show how man's desire to have contact (and understand the universe) no matter what the cost leads to tragedy when faced with something incomprehensible. The book's title of Fiasco makes clear from the outset that this isn't likely to be a very successful attempt. I just wish that Lem had presented a more believable fiasco for a contact mission, one with people that behaved more intelligently, and failure that felt inevitable instead of due to human stupidity.
Damn it Lem, that first third was so strong! But then you follow it up with pages of boring fake science and a subpar first contact story, featuring a crew of psychopaths and idiots. This could have been great, potentially even good enough to rival Solaris, but instead I'm left disappointed.
The opening chapter recounts a pilot using a giant walking robot to attempt to rescue people lost on Jupiter's moon Titan. While it might seem strangely divorced from the rest of the text, instead it skillfully establishes many of the themes and ideas that will be explored throughout the rest of Fiasco. While walking through the frozen structures of Titan the pilot is repeatedly reminded of natural phenomena, highlighting how human beings have a natural inclination to draw connections between things, to see the familiar even where there is nothing but the alien. At one point the pilot is led astray, it turns out by his own reflection. After an accident the pilot resorts to a cryogenic freezing option only slightly better than suicide, his rescue mission a failure.
Fast-forward hundreds of years later and several cryogenically frozen people have been brought aboard a huge space ship that will use a black hole to travel to a distant solar system in an attempt to contact intelligent life. Not all of the frozen people can be unfrozen, however, in fact only one can. The scientists have two candidates that have an exactly equal chance of being revived successfully, and so the scientists in charge of the resurrection agree that they will invent a lie about why one candidate is superior, while in fact the one they choose to resurrect will be selected at random. Again, while this section might seem unrelated to the main contact story, it establishes the idea that human kind needs to master its surroundings through reason, and is even willing to make up a reason where none exists, a falsehood being better than nothing.
While traveling aboard the space ship the resurrected man can't remember who he was before, not that he is much troubled by this, though he lives his old life in his dreams and does not reveal this to the doctors who treat him. He spends some time reading a piece of a story about an explorer who finds a vast colony of ants and wages a campaign to get at the heart of the place, where he finds a mysterious sphere that seems to attract insects no matter where he goes. Not only is it a great story in its own right (one I'd be happy to read more of), it also raises the idea of insane quests focused on things beyond our understanding that, even when successful, still ends with a result that's incomprehensible.
All of this is the prologue to the main contact story, and in my opinion it's by far the best part of the book. It establishes the characters, themes, and tone of the book in an entertaining way and without beating you over the head. Unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't live up to the foundation this prologue establishes.
After this point Lem dives heavily into the fake science of interstellar travel, giving us pages and pages of explanation for how the journey is being made and why it will only take a certain amount of time. In Solaris, the scientific theories and reports Lem has the characters read all serve a specific purpose: to show that mankind has spent a huge amount of effort trying to understand Solaris, and also that so far mankind has learned absolutely nothing definite about it. In Fiasco, the fake science of interstellar travel serves no such similar purpose, since in the world of this story the fake science discussed is actually the truth- at least it works for the characters here. Thus you have to read about the rationale for the temporal effects of black holes for a significant amount of time when the story could have just had the characters use the black hole, with some perfectly reasonable trepidation, and gotten on with the story from there. The fake science about interstellar travel adds nothing to the book.
Not that the fake science ends when the characters get to the inhabited alien world, rather after the journey the fake science merely switches from fake physics to fake alien sociology. This at least serves a purpose, pretty much the same one the reports served in Solaris: to emphasize that we don't really know anything about what an alien might be like or how they might behave, despite piles and piles of theories that sound logical and scientific on paper. What undercuts this section is that the characters performing this first contact don't behave in reasonable ways. Their first actions are to snatch alien objects orbiting the atmosphere and cut them open, an act that is hard not to interpret as hostile. What is it with first contact stories where the humans' first course of action is to cut into the alien thing and see what happens? They do the same thing in Peter Watts' Blindsight.
The attempts at contact just get more absurd from there. They beam radio signals and lasers onto the planet, ignoring the fact that if an alien did the same thing to them while they were on earth they'd almost certainly not realize it. Eventually they stumble upon the better, although acknowledged as still subpar, idea of projecting images down to the planet. This is after the crew enacts certain measures that are stunningly stupid, including blowing up the moon, possibly the stupidest way to make an alien open up the channels of communication ever conceived, though nearly matched later on in the novel when they start laser-beaming the planet. None of the attempts at contact make much sense, a fact at one point acknowledged by the resurrected character, not that it makes the fact any better. The behavior of the crew paints them all as idiots at best, and homicidal maniacs at worst, nothing like how they were characterized earlier. It's a baffling turn for the narrative to take, made even more confusing by Lem proving in Solaris that he can write a far better contact story than this.
The ending does nothing to mitigate these problems- the resurrected character lands on the planet, and through his scan of the mock ship they sent down we're led to believe that at least some of the crew's conjecture about these aliens was correct. The conjecture all seemed more like projection of the human characters, though, so the reveal that they might actually have been correct was a surprise to me, and not a very satisfying one. Still, the wanderings and observations of the character make it clear that he and the other humans still have no idea what's going on in the planet, and maybe never will. Then the atmosphere of the entire planet is destroyed because the character forgets to check his watch. Fantastic.
I understand what Lem was doing here, trying to show how man's desire to have contact (and understand the universe) no matter what the cost leads to tragedy when faced with something incomprehensible. The book's title of Fiasco makes clear from the outset that this isn't likely to be a very successful attempt. I just wish that Lem had presented a more believable fiasco for a contact mission, one with people that behaved more intelligently, and failure that felt inevitable instead of due to human stupidity.
Damn it Lem, that first third was so strong! But then you follow it up with pages of boring fake science and a subpar first contact story, featuring a crew of psychopaths and idiots. This could have been great, potentially even good enough to rival Solaris, but instead I'm left disappointed.
February 4, 2017
Fiasco can be seen as the consecuence of break the first directive of Star Trek.
Fiasco is a complex SF novel that deepens in a recurrent issue in Lem : the fundamental dissability of the human mind of understand or comunicate with alien minds as in his novels Solaris or The Invincible.
Is a really hard SF novel,where the scientific face is rigurous in the to day science as for example in the laser or Bussard fussion reactor as propulsion tools in a starship,and is plausible in the extrapolations.
Makes a detailed description of the landscape and meteorological conditions in the Titan moon as no other novel.Almost a little lesson on planetology.
By other side can be seen as a parabola on the cold war and its war game theory and its paradoxes.
Touchs many other points as ethics or the relation of a human mind with a artificial inteligence mind.
In the end ,Fiasco is the consecuence of our antropocentrism and chauvinism,of our lack of empathy and open mind to put ourselves in the other side,the consecuence of our absurd concept of superiority and excepcionality.
A lesson of humility.
A exceptional, deep,hard SF novel of a exceptional,deep,SF writter.
Fiasco is a complex SF novel that deepens in a recurrent issue in Lem : the fundamental dissability of the human mind of understand or comunicate with alien minds as in his novels Solaris or The Invincible.
Is a really hard SF novel,where the scientific face is rigurous in the to day science as for example in the laser or Bussard fussion reactor as propulsion tools in a starship,and is plausible in the extrapolations.
Makes a detailed description of the landscape and meteorological conditions in the Titan moon as no other novel.Almost a little lesson on planetology.
By other side can be seen as a parabola on the cold war and its war game theory and its paradoxes.
Touchs many other points as ethics or the relation of a human mind with a artificial inteligence mind.
In the end ,Fiasco is the consecuence of our antropocentrism and chauvinism,of our lack of empathy and open mind to put ourselves in the other side,the consecuence of our absurd concept of superiority and excepcionality.
A lesson of humility.
A exceptional, deep,hard SF novel of a exceptional,deep,SF writter.
April 26, 2022
4.5
As the last novel written by Lem, Fiasco is in many ways a compendium of the motifs and themes dearest to Lem. For this reason, and because it brims with theoretical digressions (not overly long but numerous, and for me absolutely bewitching), I think this novel would be better appreciated by readers who are already conversant in Lem's poetics, so be warned if you're just now getting acquainted with this author.
As the last novel written by Lem, Fiasco is in many ways a compendium of the motifs and themes dearest to Lem. For this reason, and because it brims with theoretical digressions (not overly long but numerous, and for me absolutely bewitching), I think this novel would be better appreciated by readers who are already conversant in Lem's poetics, so be warned if you're just now getting acquainted with this author.
July 29, 2012
I had a hard time reading this book. Not because it's not interesting--I think it deals with some of the most interesting themes in the world--but because Lem makes it really hard to read. It's provocative and fascinating as hell, but damn, it's not very fun to read.
April 23, 2018
笑械 褕械写械胁褉, 褟泻懈泄 锌褨写褋褍屑芯胁褍褦 胁褋褞 褌胁芯褉褔褨褋褌褜 小褌邪薪褨褋谢邪胁邪 袥械屑邪. 袧械 写懈胁薪芯, 褖芯 锌褨褋谢褟 褑褜芯谐芯 褉芯屑邪薪褍 胁褨薪 胁卸械 薪械 锌懈褋邪胁 斜械谢械褌褉懈褋褌懈泻懈. 袉, 褟泻 薪械 写懈胁薪芯, 写谢褟 屑械薪械 褑械 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈泄 泄芯谐芯 褉芯屑邪薪 - 胁褨薪 锌芯褦写薪褍褦 胁 hard sci-fi, 褨 写褍卸械 褋泻谢邪写薪褨 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻褨 褌邪 褋芯褑褨邪谢褜薪褨 锌懈褌邪薪薪褟.
February 6, 2020
Avendo amato molto il suo capolavoro ho deciso, dopo qualche anno, di leggere un'altra opera di Lem e mi sono imbattuto ne Il Pianeta del Silenzio.
Il romanzo racconta di una spedizione verso l'ignoto pianeta Quinta al fine di instaurare un contatto con la civilt脿 che vi abita. Alla spedizione prende parte anche un "resuscitato", ovvero un personaggio, che poi si riveler脿 chiave per l'economia del racconto, resuscitato dallo stato di vetrificazione, un congelamento istantaneo dei liquidi organici molto simile alla pi霉 comune ibernazione, in cui era caduto a causa di un incidente durante una spedizione di soccorso sul satellite di Saturno, Titano.
Per prima cosa ho riassaporato il particolare e grandioso stile di scrittura di Lem che ti lascia, volente o nolente, sempre a bocca aperta. La seconda cosa che subito ti risalta agli occhi 猫 la sua direi infinita conoscenza scientifica (non a caso l'autore era medico, scienziato biologico, conoscitore della cibernetica e astronautica, filosofo e brillante appassionato di letteratura) che ad alcuni lettori potrebbe risultare noioso in certe sue descrizioni di ambientazioni e/o azioni che compiono i nostri protagonisti. Per citarne una, egli inventa la tecnica della "embrionizzazione". Questa tecnica consente ad un astronauta di sopravvivere all鈥檈norme pressione che si crea all鈥檌nterno dell鈥檃stronave al momento del lancio ad una velocit脿 non lontana da quella della luce. In breve, una macchina fa uscire dal corpo dell鈥檃stronauta tutto il sangue (che conserver脿 con cura in un apposito contenitore) e vi fa entrare un liquido bianco molto pi霉 denso del sangue, di nome onax. Ossigenato e nutrito dalla macchina per mezzo dell鈥檕nax, l鈥檃stronauta dorme per tutta la durata del viaggio in una vasca piena di una soluzione liquida densa. Quando l鈥檃stronave arriva a destinazione, la macchina fa uscire l鈥檕nax e fa rientrate il sangue nel corpo dell鈥檃stronauta, che a quel punto 猫 pronto per svegliarsi. Lem spiega che gli scienziati hanno inventato la tecnica dell鈥檈mbrionizzazione studiando i pesci che vivono nelle profondit脿 degli oceani. Questi pesci riescono a sopportare il peso dell鈥檕ceano perch茅 la pressione interna ai loro corpi, che appaiono molto gonfi, 猫 pari alla pressione esterna.
Durante la lettura, poi, l'autore ci spiega che i nostri astronauti "scavalcano" le enormi distanze cosmiche sfruttando le distorsioni temporali che si determinano nei pressi di una collapsar (come fai a non pensare subito ai viaggi delle astronavi di Star Trek?).
Il tema del romanzo resta soprattutto uno: il tentare di comunicare con un popolo alieno, i quintani in questo caso. Non posso addentrarmi troppo nel tema altrimenti rischio di spoilerare troppo la trama e non mi pare una cosa corretta. L'autore ci fa riflettere se il fine giustifica i mezzi. E non manca neanche la lotta tra gli ideali pacifisti di un monaco (padre Arago) e la logica, quasi spietata e priva di morale, del computer di bordo, DEUS. Il domenicano pensa che gli alieni siano creature ad immagine e somiglianza di Dio come gli uomini, e che di conseguenza gli uomini non abbiano il diritto di trattarli come animali strani. Ad ogni occasione, Arago invita il comandante a non intraprendere nessuna azione che possa arrecare danno, direttamente o indirettamente, ai quintani. Ma 猫 nelle parole dell'ufficiale Lauger che conosciamo il pensiero di Lem:
Evidentemente, Lem ha una idea sbagliata della fede - cito Giovanna Jacob - Una idea che, purtroppo, 猫 universalmente diffusa nel mondo contemporaneo. Fede non 猫 fideismo. In primo luogo, la fede non 猫 la speranza di vedere succedere qualcosa nell鈥檕ltretomba. In secondo luogo, la fede non 猫 una speranza priva di fondamento. La fede 猫 la certezza sul futuro basata sull鈥檈sperienza del presente. Il cristiano pu貌 ragionevolmente sperare nella vita eterna perch茅 ha ricevuto in pegno il "centuplo quaggi霉". Inoltre, la fede non si contrappone alla scienza: completa la scienza. La scienza, per essere precisi, 猫 nata da una costola della teologia cristiana (lo hanno ribadito di recente studiosi come Rodney Stark, Thomas Woods). Lem sostiene che la matematica permette all鈥檜omo di decifrare i misteri dell鈥檜niverso. Ebbene, Lem non sa che l鈥檌dea stessa che l鈥檜niverso abbia una struttura ordinata e razionale 猫 una idea cristiana. Questa idea 猫 estranea a tutte le culture non cristiane, anche alla razionale cultura greca. Per tutte le culture non cristiane, l鈥檜niverso 猫 un caos. Per le religioni panteiste, il caos universale 猫 esso stesso dio. Per le religioni politeiste, il caos universale 猫 soggetto all鈥檃rbitrio di divinit脿 capricciose ed egoiste. Invece per il Cristianesimo l鈥檜niverso 猫 governato da un Dio di ragione per mezzo di leggi razionali. Questo Dio di ragione dona all鈥檜omo la ragione e lo mette a capo del creato.
Attenzione: Lem apprezza la morale cristiana, incentrata sull鈥檃more, ma non riesce a concepire l鈥橧ncarnazione.
In conclusione: se siete dei lettori che amano i romanzi di fantascienza pieni di colpi di scena e di azione, allora questo romanzo potrebbe risultarvi abbastanza indigesto e lento. Ma se siete dei lettori gourmet allora preparatevi a farvi una scorpacciata di piatti di alto livello, per usare una metafora culinaria.
Il romanzo racconta di una spedizione verso l'ignoto pianeta Quinta al fine di instaurare un contatto con la civilt脿 che vi abita. Alla spedizione prende parte anche un "resuscitato", ovvero un personaggio, che poi si riveler脿 chiave per l'economia del racconto, resuscitato dallo stato di vetrificazione, un congelamento istantaneo dei liquidi organici molto simile alla pi霉 comune ibernazione, in cui era caduto a causa di un incidente durante una spedizione di soccorso sul satellite di Saturno, Titano.
Per prima cosa ho riassaporato il particolare e grandioso stile di scrittura di Lem che ti lascia, volente o nolente, sempre a bocca aperta. La seconda cosa che subito ti risalta agli occhi 猫 la sua direi infinita conoscenza scientifica (non a caso l'autore era medico, scienziato biologico, conoscitore della cibernetica e astronautica, filosofo e brillante appassionato di letteratura) che ad alcuni lettori potrebbe risultare noioso in certe sue descrizioni di ambientazioni e/o azioni che compiono i nostri protagonisti. Per citarne una, egli inventa la tecnica della "embrionizzazione". Questa tecnica consente ad un astronauta di sopravvivere all鈥檈norme pressione che si crea all鈥檌nterno dell鈥檃stronave al momento del lancio ad una velocit脿 non lontana da quella della luce. In breve, una macchina fa uscire dal corpo dell鈥檃stronauta tutto il sangue (che conserver脿 con cura in un apposito contenitore) e vi fa entrare un liquido bianco molto pi霉 denso del sangue, di nome onax. Ossigenato e nutrito dalla macchina per mezzo dell鈥檕nax, l鈥檃stronauta dorme per tutta la durata del viaggio in una vasca piena di una soluzione liquida densa. Quando l鈥檃stronave arriva a destinazione, la macchina fa uscire l鈥檕nax e fa rientrate il sangue nel corpo dell鈥檃stronauta, che a quel punto 猫 pronto per svegliarsi. Lem spiega che gli scienziati hanno inventato la tecnica dell鈥檈mbrionizzazione studiando i pesci che vivono nelle profondit脿 degli oceani. Questi pesci riescono a sopportare il peso dell鈥檕ceano perch茅 la pressione interna ai loro corpi, che appaiono molto gonfi, 猫 pari alla pressione esterna.
Durante la lettura, poi, l'autore ci spiega che i nostri astronauti "scavalcano" le enormi distanze cosmiche sfruttando le distorsioni temporali che si determinano nei pressi di una collapsar (come fai a non pensare subito ai viaggi delle astronavi di Star Trek?).
Il tema del romanzo resta soprattutto uno: il tentare di comunicare con un popolo alieno, i quintani in questo caso. Non posso addentrarmi troppo nel tema altrimenti rischio di spoilerare troppo la trama e non mi pare una cosa corretta. L'autore ci fa riflettere se il fine giustifica i mezzi. E non manca neanche la lotta tra gli ideali pacifisti di un monaco (padre Arago) e la logica, quasi spietata e priva di morale, del computer di bordo, DEUS. Il domenicano pensa che gli alieni siano creature ad immagine e somiglianza di Dio come gli uomini, e che di conseguenza gli uomini non abbiano il diritto di trattarli come animali strani. Ad ogni occasione, Arago invita il comandante a non intraprendere nessuna azione che possa arrecare danno, direttamente o indirettamente, ai quintani. Ma 猫 nelle parole dell'ufficiale Lauger che conosciamo il pensiero di Lem:
"L鈥檜omo aspira a conoscere la verit脿 ultima. Ogni mente mortale, credo, 猫 fatta cos矛. Ma dove si trova la verit脿 ultima? 脠 alla fine della strada, dove non c鈥櫭� pi霉 mistero, dove non c鈥櫭� pi霉 speranza. E dove non ci sono pi霉 domande da rivolgere, perch茅 si sono gi脿 ottenute tutte le risposte. Ma un simile posto non esiste. L鈥檜niverso 猫 un labirinto fatto di altri labirinti. Ciascuno porta ad un altro. E dove non possiamo arrivare personalmente, arriviamo servendoci della matematica. Mediante la matematica, costruiamo veicoli che ci portano nei regni non umani del mondo. E con la matematica 猫 anche possibile costruire mondi esterni all鈥檜niverso, indipendentemente dal fatto che esistano o meno. E poi, naturalmente, si pu貌 sempre abbandonare la matematica e i suoi mondi, per avventurarsi con la propria fede nel mondo a venire. La gente della stessa risma di Padre Arago si occupa appunto di questo. La differenza tra noi e loro 猫 la differenza tra la possibilit脿 che alcune cose succedano e la speranza di vederle succedere. Il mio campo si occupa di ci貌 che 猫 possibile, di ci貌 che 猫 accessibile; il suo, invece, di ci貌 che si pu貌 soltanto sperare, di ci貌 che diverr脿 accessibile, faccia a faccia, solo dopo la morte."
Evidentemente, Lem ha una idea sbagliata della fede - cito Giovanna Jacob - Una idea che, purtroppo, 猫 universalmente diffusa nel mondo contemporaneo. Fede non 猫 fideismo. In primo luogo, la fede non 猫 la speranza di vedere succedere qualcosa nell鈥檕ltretomba. In secondo luogo, la fede non 猫 una speranza priva di fondamento. La fede 猫 la certezza sul futuro basata sull鈥檈sperienza del presente. Il cristiano pu貌 ragionevolmente sperare nella vita eterna perch茅 ha ricevuto in pegno il "centuplo quaggi霉". Inoltre, la fede non si contrappone alla scienza: completa la scienza. La scienza, per essere precisi, 猫 nata da una costola della teologia cristiana (lo hanno ribadito di recente studiosi come Rodney Stark, Thomas Woods). Lem sostiene che la matematica permette all鈥檜omo di decifrare i misteri dell鈥檜niverso. Ebbene, Lem non sa che l鈥檌dea stessa che l鈥檜niverso abbia una struttura ordinata e razionale 猫 una idea cristiana. Questa idea 猫 estranea a tutte le culture non cristiane, anche alla razionale cultura greca. Per tutte le culture non cristiane, l鈥檜niverso 猫 un caos. Per le religioni panteiste, il caos universale 猫 esso stesso dio. Per le religioni politeiste, il caos universale 猫 soggetto all鈥檃rbitrio di divinit脿 capricciose ed egoiste. Invece per il Cristianesimo l鈥檜niverso 猫 governato da un Dio di ragione per mezzo di leggi razionali. Questo Dio di ragione dona all鈥檜omo la ragione e lo mette a capo del creato.
Attenzione: Lem apprezza la morale cristiana, incentrata sull鈥檃more, ma non riesce a concepire l鈥橧ncarnazione.
In conclusione: se siete dei lettori che amano i romanzi di fantascienza pieni di colpi di scena e di azione, allora questo romanzo potrebbe risultarvi abbastanza indigesto e lento. Ma se siete dei lettori gourmet allora preparatevi a farvi una scorpacciata di piatti di alto livello, per usare una metafora culinaria.
September 14, 2022
袧邪泄泻褉邪褖懈泄 褉芯屑邪薪 小褌邪薪褨褋谢邪胁邪 袥械屑邪. 袧邪锌懈褋邪薪懈泄 芯褋褌邪薪薪褨屑 - 褨 薪邪 蟹邪屑芯胁谢械薪薪褟 薪褨屑械褑褜泻芯谐芯 胁懈写邪胁褑褟. (孝邪屑 写褍卸械 薪械锌褉懈褦屑薪邪 褨褋褌芯褉褨褟, 斜芯 袥械屑 蟹邪褉邪写懈 斜褨谢褜褕芯谐芯 谐芯薪芯褉邪褉褍 "蟹屑褨薪懈胁" 胁懈写邪胁褑褟, 褔懈屑 锌褨写褋褌邪胁懈胁 褋胁芯谐芯 谢褨褌械褉邪褌褍褉薪芯谐芯 邪谐械薪褌邪, 褟泻懈泄 袥械屑芯胁褨 褨 卸懈褌谢芯, 褨 褋褌懈锌械薪写褨褞, 褨 褑械泄 泻芯薪褌褉邪泻褌 芯褎芯褉屑懈胁. 袗写卸械 锌褨褋谢褟 芯谐芯谢芯褕械薪薪褟 胁芯褦薪薪芯谐芯 褋褌邪薪褍 胁 袩袧袪 袥械屑 蟹 褋褨屑'褦褞 胁懈褩褏邪胁 蟹 袩芯谢褜褖褨. 袉, 蟹芯泻褉械屑邪, 蟹邪胁写褟泻懈 邪谐械薪褌褍 薪械 卸懈胁 薪邪 胁褍谢懈褑褨 胁 袗胁褋褌褉褨褩. 袗谐械薪褌 写芯锌芯屑褨谐 胁懈褉褨褕懈褌懈 褎褨薪邪薪褋芯胁褨 锌褉芯斜谢械屑懈 袥械屑邪, 邪谢械 薪邪褌芯屑褨褋褌褜 芯褔褨泻褍胁邪胁 薪邪 泻芯薪褌褉邪泻褌 蟹褨 "褋胁芯褩屑" 胁懈写邪胁薪懈褑褌胁芯屑. 袉 褌褍褌 袥械屑 "锌械褉械褋泻芯褔懈胁" 写芯 褌芯谐芯, 褏褌芯 斜褨谢褜褕械 锌谢邪褌懈褌褜. 袩褉懈褔芯屑褍, 胁褨薪 褉芯蟹褍屑褨胁, 褖芯 褔懈薪懈褌褜 邪屑芯褉邪谢褜薪芯, 邪谢械 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 谢懈褋褌褨 褖懈褉芯 泻邪蟹邪胁: "袦械薪褨 斜褍谢懈 写褍卸械 锌芯褌褉褨斜薪褨 谐褉芯褕褨").
袪芯屑邪薪 锌懈褋邪胁褋褟 胁邪卸泻芯. 袥械屑 锌懈褋邪胁 泄芯谐芯 蟹邪 谐褉芯褕褨, 邪谢械, 薪邪褋锌褉邪胁写褨, 锌懈褋邪褌懈 薪械 褏芯褌褨胁. 袙蟹邪谐邪谢褨, 褉芯屑邪薪懈 胁 褌邪泻芯屑褍 褋褌懈谢褨 袥械屑 锌械褉械褋褌邪胁 锌懈褋邪褌懈 褖械 薪邪锌褉懈泻褨薪褑褨 1960-褏. 袡芯谐芯 胁褌芯屑谢褞胁邪谢芯 芯锌懈褋褍胁邪薪薪褟 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨泄, 写械泻芯褉邪褑褨泄, 褌芯斜褌芯 - 褋褌胁芯褉械薪薪褟 "泻邪褉褌懈薪泻懈". 袙褨薪 芯写褉邪蟹褍 褏芯褌褨胁 锌械褉械褏芯写懈褌懈 写芯 褨写械泄. 孝芯屑褍 锌懈褕械 褌胁芯褉懈, 褟泻褨 屑芯卸薪邪 薪邪蟹胁邪褌懈 "薪邪褉褉邪褌懈胁薪懈屑懈": 褑械 褨褋褌芯褉褨褩, 褟泻褨 薪邪锌懈褋邪薪褨 胁褨写 锌械褉褕芯褩 芯褋芯斜懈 褔懈 褉芯屑邪薪懈 褍 褎芯褉屑邪褌褨 薪芯褌邪褌芯泻 / 褖芯写械薪薪懈泻褨胁. 孝褍褌 卸械 卸 袥械屑 屑褍褋懈胁 "胁懈褌懈褋泻邪褌懈" 蟹 褋械斜械 褌械泻褋褌 - 褖芯斜 锌芯写邪褌懈 胁懈写邪胁褑褞.
袉 泻褉懈褌懈泻懈 胁胁邪卸邪褞褌褜 "肖褨邪褋泻芯" 胁褌芯褉懈薪薪懈屑. 袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 褔懈褌邪褞褔懈 泄芯谐芯, 胁懈 褑械 褋邪屑褨 锌芯屑褨褌懈褌械: 袥械屑 锌芯胁褌芯褉褞褦 褨写械褩 蟹 褨薪褕懈褏 褋胁芯褩褏 褌胁芯褉褨胁. 袨锌懈褋 泻芯谢芯薪褨蟹邪褑褨褩 孝懈褌邪薪邪 (褋褍锌褍褌薪懈泻邪 小邪褌褍褉薪邪) - 褑械 卸 "校屑芯胁薪懈泄 褉械褎谢械泻褋" 蟹 . 袣褉懈褌懈泻懈 泻邪卸褍褌褜, 褖芯 芯锌懈褋 械泻褋锌械写懈褑褨褩 写芯 袛蟹械褌懈 袚邪褉锌褨褩 蟹邪 褋褌懈谢械屑 薪邪谐邪写褍褦 褌邪 "袦邪谐械谢谢邪薪芯胁褍 褏屑邪褉褍". 袨锌懈褋 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩 泻胁褨薪褌褟薪 - 褑械 卸 褌邪 . 袨锌懈褋 褌芯谐芯, 褟泻 蟹械屑谢褟薪懈 薪邪屑邪谐邪褞褌褜褋褟 蟹 薪械褞 胁褋褌邪薪芯胁懈褌懈 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 - 褑械 卸 ! 袉 褌褍褌 褦 褨写械褩 锌褉芯 薪械泻褉芯械胁芯谢褞褑褨褞, 褟泻 蟹 , 邪 褌邪泻芯卸 屑褨褉泻褍胁邪薪薪褟 锌褉芯 "写芯褋泻芯薪邪谢褍" 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褞, 褟泻邪 斜褍谢邪 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 蟹 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪褜 . 袗 褖械 泄芯谐芯 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻褨 褨写械褩 蟹 "小褍屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褩" 褌邪 . 袩械褉械谢褨泻 屑芯卸薪邪 锌褉芯写芯胁卸褍胁邪褌懈.
袙褌褨屑, 薪邪 屑芯褞 写褍屑泻褍, 褑械 薪械 褉芯斜懈褌褜 "肖褨邪褋泻芯" 胁褌芯褉懈薪薪懈屑. 袧邪胁锌邪泻懈, 胁 褑褜芯屑褍 褉芯屑邪薪褨 袥械屑 褉芯蟹胁懈胁邪褦, 锌褉芯写芯胁卸褍褦, 蟹邪谐芯褋褌褉褞褦 胁懈褋谢芯胁谢械薪褨 褉邪薪褨褕械 褨写械褩. 袉 褋邪屑械 褌芯屑褍 褑械 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈泄 泄芯谐芯 褉芯屑邪薪.
袙芯写薪芯褔邪褋 胁褨薪 - 薪邪泄锌械褋懈屑褨褋褌懈褔薪褨褕懈泄 胁 褌胁芯褉褔芯褋褌褨 袥械屑邪. 袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 屑邪胁 胁褨薪 薪邪蟹懈胁邪褌懈褋褟 袩械褉械屑芯卸械薪懈泄 . 袉 胁懈泄褌懈 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 褌芯屑褨 蟹 . 孝邪泻懈屑 斜褍胁 蟹邪写褍屑 薪褨屑械褑褜泻芯谐芯 胁懈写邪胁褑褟. 袗谢械 袥械屑 泄芯谐芯 "蟹屑褨薪懈胁", 邪 褌芯屑褍 - 褖芯斜 褍薪懈泻薪褍褌懈 锌芯蟹芯胁褍 - 蟹屑褨薪懈胁 褨 薪邪蟹胁褍 褉芯屑邪薪褍. (袗写卸械 胁 泻芯薪褌褉邪泻褌褨 斜褍谢芯 胁泻邪蟹邪薪芯 谢懈褕械 薪邪蟹胁褍 褉芯屑邪薪褍 褌邪 褉芯蟹屑懈褌芯 蟹邪蟹薪邪褔械薪芯, 褖芯 褑械 褉芯屑邪薪 锌褉芯 锌芯写芯褉芯卸褨 胁 泻芯褋屑芯褋褨 褌邪 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 锌芯蟹邪蟹械屑薪芯褞 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褦褞. 孝邪 锌褨写 褌邪泻懈泄 芯锌懈褋 屑邪泄卸械 胁褋褨 褏褍写芯卸薪褨 褌胁芯褉懈 袥械屑懈 锌褨写锌邪写邪褞褌褜!) 袉 胁芯薪邪 褋褌邪谢邪 "肖褨邪褋泻芯".
笑械 褕懈泻邪褉薪懈泄 褉芯屑邪薪, 写械 褦 褨 褌胁械褉写邪 袧肖 (袥械屑 褌邪泻 芯锌懈褋褍褦 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褩 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯谐芯, 褖芯 锌褉芯褋褌芯 胁褨褉懈褕 胁 褌械, 褖芯 胁芯薪懈 褨褋薪褍褞褌褜), 褨 褋芯褑褨邪谢褜薪邪 / 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻邪 袧肖. 袗谢械 写邪谢褨 薪械 斜褍写褍 褋锌芯泄谢械褉懈褌懈. 袩褉芯褋褌芯 蟹邪胁械褉褕褍 褑懈褌邪褌芯褞 蟹 褎褨薪邪谢褍 褉芯屑邪薪褍.
袪芯屑邪薪 锌懈褋邪胁褋褟 胁邪卸泻芯. 袥械屑 锌懈褋邪胁 泄芯谐芯 蟹邪 谐褉芯褕褨, 邪谢械, 薪邪褋锌褉邪胁写褨, 锌懈褋邪褌懈 薪械 褏芯褌褨胁. 袙蟹邪谐邪谢褨, 褉芯屑邪薪懈 胁 褌邪泻芯屑褍 褋褌懈谢褨 袥械屑 锌械褉械褋褌邪胁 锌懈褋邪褌懈 褖械 薪邪锌褉懈泻褨薪褑褨 1960-褏. 袡芯谐芯 胁褌芯屑谢褞胁邪谢芯 芯锌懈褋褍胁邪薪薪褟 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨泄, 写械泻芯褉邪褑褨泄, 褌芯斜褌芯 - 褋褌胁芯褉械薪薪褟 "泻邪褉褌懈薪泻懈". 袙褨薪 芯写褉邪蟹褍 褏芯褌褨胁 锌械褉械褏芯写懈褌懈 写芯 褨写械泄. 孝芯屑褍 锌懈褕械 褌胁芯褉懈, 褟泻褨 屑芯卸薪邪 薪邪蟹胁邪褌懈 "薪邪褉褉邪褌懈胁薪懈屑懈": 褑械 褨褋褌芯褉褨褩, 褟泻褨 薪邪锌懈褋邪薪褨 胁褨写 锌械褉褕芯褩 芯褋芯斜懈 褔懈 褉芯屑邪薪懈 褍 褎芯褉屑邪褌褨 薪芯褌邪褌芯泻 / 褖芯写械薪薪懈泻褨胁. 孝褍褌 卸械 卸 袥械屑 屑褍褋懈胁 "胁懈褌懈褋泻邪褌懈" 蟹 褋械斜械 褌械泻褋褌 - 褖芯斜 锌芯写邪褌懈 胁懈写邪胁褑褞.
袉 泻褉懈褌懈泻懈 胁胁邪卸邪褞褌褜 "肖褨邪褋泻芯" 胁褌芯褉懈薪薪懈屑. 袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 褔懈褌邪褞褔懈 泄芯谐芯, 胁懈 褑械 褋邪屑褨 锌芯屑褨褌懈褌械: 袥械屑 锌芯胁褌芯褉褞褦 褨写械褩 蟹 褨薪褕懈褏 褋胁芯褩褏 褌胁芯褉褨胁. 袨锌懈褋 泻芯谢芯薪褨蟹邪褑褨褩 孝懈褌邪薪邪 (褋褍锌褍褌薪懈泻邪 小邪褌褍褉薪邪) - 褑械 卸 "校屑芯胁薪懈泄 褉械褎谢械泻褋" 蟹 . 袣褉懈褌懈泻懈 泻邪卸褍褌褜, 褖芯 芯锌懈褋 械泻褋锌械写懈褑褨褩 写芯 袛蟹械褌懈 袚邪褉锌褨褩 蟹邪 褋褌懈谢械屑 薪邪谐邪写褍褦 褌邪 "袦邪谐械谢谢邪薪芯胁褍 褏屑邪褉褍". 袨锌懈褋 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩 泻胁褨薪褌褟薪 - 褑械 卸 褌邪 . 袨锌懈褋 褌芯谐芯, 褟泻 蟹械屑谢褟薪懈 薪邪屑邪谐邪褞褌褜褋褟 蟹 薪械褞 胁褋褌邪薪芯胁懈褌懈 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 - 褑械 卸 ! 袉 褌褍褌 褦 褨写械褩 锌褉芯 薪械泻褉芯械胁芯谢褞褑褨褞, 褟泻 蟹 , 邪 褌邪泻芯卸 屑褨褉泻褍胁邪薪薪褟 锌褉芯 "写芯褋泻芯薪邪谢褍" 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褞, 褟泻邪 斜褍谢邪 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 蟹 芯锌芯胁褨写邪薪褜 . 袗 褖械 泄芯谐芯 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻褨 褨写械褩 蟹 "小褍屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褩" 褌邪 . 袩械褉械谢褨泻 屑芯卸薪邪 锌褉芯写芯胁卸褍胁邪褌懈.
袙褌褨屑, 薪邪 屑芯褞 写褍屑泻褍, 褑械 薪械 褉芯斜懈褌褜 "肖褨邪褋泻芯" 胁褌芯褉懈薪薪懈屑. 袧邪胁锌邪泻懈, 胁 褑褜芯屑褍 褉芯屑邪薪褨 袥械屑 褉芯蟹胁懈胁邪褦, 锌褉芯写芯胁卸褍褦, 蟹邪谐芯褋褌褉褞褦 胁懈褋谢芯胁谢械薪褨 褉邪薪褨褕械 褨写械褩. 袉 褋邪屑械 褌芯屑褍 褑械 薪邪泄泻褉邪褖懈泄 泄芯谐芯 褉芯屑邪薪.
袙芯写薪芯褔邪褋 胁褨薪 - 薪邪泄锌械褋懈屑褨褋褌懈褔薪褨褕懈泄 胁 褌胁芯褉褔芯褋褌褨 袥械屑邪. 袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 屑邪胁 胁褨薪 薪邪蟹懈胁邪褌懈褋褟 袩械褉械屑芯卸械薪懈泄 . 袉 胁懈泄褌懈 胁 芯写薪芯屑褍 褌芯屑褨 蟹 . 孝邪泻懈屑 斜褍胁 蟹邪写褍屑 薪褨屑械褑褜泻芯谐芯 胁懈写邪胁褑褟. 袗谢械 袥械屑 泄芯谐芯 "蟹屑褨薪懈胁", 邪 褌芯屑褍 - 褖芯斜 褍薪懈泻薪褍褌懈 锌芯蟹芯胁褍 - 蟹屑褨薪懈胁 褨 薪邪蟹胁褍 褉芯屑邪薪褍. (袗写卸械 胁 泻芯薪褌褉邪泻褌褨 斜褍谢芯 胁泻邪蟹邪薪芯 谢懈褕械 薪邪蟹胁褍 褉芯屑邪薪褍 褌邪 褉芯蟹屑懈褌芯 蟹邪蟹薪邪褔械薪芯, 褖芯 褑械 褉芯屑邪薪 锌褉芯 锌芯写芯褉芯卸褨 胁 泻芯褋屑芯褋褨 褌邪 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 锌芯蟹邪蟹械屑薪芯褞 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褦褞. 孝邪 锌褨写 褌邪泻懈泄 芯锌懈褋 屑邪泄卸械 胁褋褨 褏褍写芯卸薪褨 褌胁芯褉懈 袥械屑懈 锌褨写锌邪写邪褞褌褜!) 袉 胁芯薪邪 褋褌邪谢邪 "肖褨邪褋泻芯".
笑械 褕懈泻邪褉薪懈泄 褉芯屑邪薪, 写械 褦 褨 褌胁械褉写邪 袧肖 (袥械屑 褌邪泻 芯锌懈褋褍褦 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褩 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯谐芯, 褖芯 锌褉芯褋褌芯 胁褨褉懈褕 胁 褌械, 褖芯 胁芯薪懈 褨褋薪褍褞褌褜), 褨 褋芯褑褨邪谢褜薪邪 / 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻邪 袧肖. 袗谢械 写邪谢褨 薪械 斜褍写褍 褋锌芯泄谢械褉懈褌懈. 袩褉芯褋褌芯 蟹邪胁械褉褕褍 褑懈褌邪褌芯褞 蟹 褎褨薪邪谢褍 褉芯屑邪薪褍.
袙褨薪 蟹邪屑邪褏薪褍胁褋褟 写谢褟 薪芯胁芯谐芯 褍写邪褉褍鈥� 褌邪 褌邪泻 褨 蟹邪褋褌懈谐 蟹 锌褨写薪褟褌懈屑懈 褉褍泻邪屑懈: 薪械斜芯 薪邪写 薪懈屑 褋锌邪谢邪褏薪褍谢芯 褋谢褨锌褍褔懈屑 斜谢懈褋泻芯屑. 芦袚械褉屑械褋禄, 胁褨写泻褉懈胁褕懈 胁芯谐芯薪褜 锌芯 褖芯谐谢邪褏 邪薪褌械薪 锌芯蟹邪 屑械卸邪屑懈 泻芯褋屑芯写褉芯屑褍, 薪邪褋泻褉褨蟹褜 锌褉芯斜懈胁 褏屑邪褉懈, 写芯褖 胁 芯写薪褍 屑懈褌褜 胁懈锌邪褉褍胁邪胁褋褟 斜褨谢芯褞 锌邪褉芯褞, 蟹褨泄褕谢芯 谢邪蟹械褉薪械 褋芯薪褑械, 褌械褉屑褨褔薪懈泄 褍写邪褉 芯谐芯谢懈胁 褍 胁械谢懈泻芯屑褍 褉邪写褨褍褋褨 胁褨写 褌褍屑邪薪褍 泄 褏屑邪褉 褍褋褨 薪邪谐褨褉薪褨 褋褏懈谢懈, 褖芯, 褋泻褨谢褜泻懈 褋褟谐邪胁 蟹褨褉, 斜褍谢懈 胁泻褉懈褌褨 褞褉屑懈褖邪屑懈 谐芯谢懈褏, 斜械蟹蟹邪褏懈褋薪懈褏 斜芯褉芯写邪胁芯泻, 褨 泻芯谢懈 薪械斜芯褋褟卸薪邪 锌邪胁褍褌懈薪褟薪邪 褋褨褌褜 褉邪蟹芯屑 蟹 邪薪褌械薪邪屑懈, 褟泻褨 谢邪屑邪谢懈褋褜 褍 锌芯谢褍屑鈥櫻�, 胁锌邪谢邪 薪邪 薪褜芯谐芯, 胁褨薪 蟹褉芯蟹褍屑褨胁, 褖芯 锌芯斜邪褔懈胁 泻胁褨薪褌褟薪.
December 25, 2024
FIASKO, cosi si chiama il titolo originale di quest'Opera, e non potrebbe essere piu azzeccato.
脠 difficile incasellarla sotto il genere fantascienza perche contiene cosi tante divagazioni su religione, storia, strategia, dilemmi morali, psicologia che si rischia di rimanere confusi e sperduti. Andrebbe rilettp un paio di volte.
Io ci ho visto una bella metafora sul genere umano ma anche sull'occidente. Sulla sua incapacita di relazionarsi, sui bias che permeano il nostro pensiero e sull'antropocentrismo (intergalattico in questo caso).
Del resto siamo cosi abituati a vedere tutto dal nostro punto di vista che riusciamo ad avvelenare anche il nostro primo contatto con un nuovo mondo (cosi come abbiamo fatto quasi sempre quando ci siamo incontrwti fra noi sulla terra).
Infine, se uno si vuole fermare ad un livello piu "superficiale", 猫 un libro di cose grosse. Dove succedono cose grosse, si muovono cose grosse nell'universo. E Lem questo gigantismo te lo fa sentire tutto.
Era tanto che non leggevo qualxosa che mi fatto ragionare cosi tanto nella narrativa, sono contanto di esserci entrato in contatto.
脠 difficile incasellarla sotto il genere fantascienza perche contiene cosi tante divagazioni su religione, storia, strategia, dilemmi morali, psicologia che si rischia di rimanere confusi e sperduti. Andrebbe rilettp un paio di volte.
Io ci ho visto una bella metafora sul genere umano ma anche sull'occidente. Sulla sua incapacita di relazionarsi, sui bias che permeano il nostro pensiero e sull'antropocentrismo (intergalattico in questo caso).
Del resto siamo cosi abituati a vedere tutto dal nostro punto di vista che riusciamo ad avvelenare anche il nostro primo contatto con un nuovo mondo (cosi come abbiamo fatto quasi sempre quando ci siamo incontrwti fra noi sulla terra).
Infine, se uno si vuole fermare ad un livello piu "superficiale", 猫 un libro di cose grosse. Dove succedono cose grosse, si muovono cose grosse nell'universo. E Lem questo gigantismo te lo fa sentire tutto.
Era tanto che non leggevo qualxosa che mi fatto ragionare cosi tanto nella narrativa, sono contanto di esserci entrato in contatto.
August 15, 2013
This book is not boring at all -- in fact it deals with a lot of fascinating ideas -- but damn it has problems. Not the least of which is the writing style, which might suffer from a bad translation but I doubt it. Much of the second half of the book is pure tell-don't-show, which must have started out that way in the original Polish unless the translator has been horribly irresponsible, and I would've loved to have instead read those scenes through the POV of a character. Lem can do this: we know because he occasionally does it. But often he's too lazy.
Heck, the first few pages of the book -- the most important pages, the ones in which you hook the reader -- are a deeply lazy narrative. I couldn't tell how many characters were in the scene, or who was speaking to whom, without rereading. And beyond those first pages ... well, the story arc was pretty random. (Spoiler alert: read on only if you don't care about spoilage.) Really, what is the point of the first third of the novel? The main character sets out to rescue an unknown number of survivors of an unknown event on Triton, but fails. He's unfrozen many years (centuries?) later to partake in unrelated events. It's as if King's Roland Deschain starts his quest in The Gunslinger, dies abruptly, and awakens to take the lead in Red Mars for the remainder of the book. The tales are so disjointed I wonder why Lem fused them together like two unrelated slivers of soap in the shower.
But I can deal with the narrative more than I can deal with the surprisingly male-only culture Lem (again, kind of lazily) describes. The novel doesn't even come close to passing the : not only do the female characters not talk about a subject that isn't a man, and not only are there few named female characters, there aren't actually any female characters at all. None.
Let's put that in context. The second two thirds of this book take place on a ship filled with experts of every subject area you can imagine -- pilots, clerics, philosophers, doctors, physicists, chemists. I'm not sure if the population is specified, but let's be conservative and say there are dozens of people on a mission to the distant world of Quinta. None are female. At least, none that Lem bothers to introduce. This strikes me as very weird, and I've read plenty of dawn-of-the-space-age Bradbury and Asimov stuff. This wasn't from the dawn of the space age: it was published in the 80s! And the ideas are more complex and well realized! And yet it's a sausage fest.
Heck, the first few pages of the book -- the most important pages, the ones in which you hook the reader -- are a deeply lazy narrative. I couldn't tell how many characters were in the scene, or who was speaking to whom, without rereading. And beyond those first pages ... well, the story arc was pretty random. (Spoiler alert: read on only if you don't care about spoilage.) Really, what is the point of the first third of the novel? The main character sets out to rescue an unknown number of survivors of an unknown event on Triton, but fails. He's unfrozen many years (centuries?) later to partake in unrelated events. It's as if King's Roland Deschain starts his quest in The Gunslinger, dies abruptly, and awakens to take the lead in Red Mars for the remainder of the book. The tales are so disjointed I wonder why Lem fused them together like two unrelated slivers of soap in the shower.
But I can deal with the narrative more than I can deal with the surprisingly male-only culture Lem (again, kind of lazily) describes. The novel doesn't even come close to passing the : not only do the female characters not talk about a subject that isn't a man, and not only are there few named female characters, there aren't actually any female characters at all. None.
Let's put that in context. The second two thirds of this book take place on a ship filled with experts of every subject area you can imagine -- pilots, clerics, philosophers, doctors, physicists, chemists. I'm not sure if the population is specified, but let's be conservative and say there are dozens of people on a mission to the distant world of Quinta. None are female. At least, none that Lem bothers to introduce. This strikes me as very weird, and I've read plenty of dawn-of-the-space-age Bradbury and Asimov stuff. This wasn't from the dawn of the space age: it was published in the 80s! And the ideas are more complex and well realized! And yet it's a sausage fest.
April 9, 2011
I consider this Lem's masterpiece. A brilliant story showing a step by step undermining of ideals in the face of foreign thinking, incomplete infornation, suspicion, and prejudices.
September 11, 2019
校 卸邪薪褉褨 薪邪褍泻芯胁芯褩 褎邪薪褌邪褋褌懈泻懈 褟 鈥� 褔懈褌邪褔-薪芯胁懈褔芯泻. 携 褔懈褌邪谢邪 泻褨谢褜泻邪 泻薪懈卸芯泻 写邪胁薪芯, 胁芯薪懈 屑械薪褨 褋锌芯写芯斜邪谢懈褋褜, 邪谢械 褟 胁卸械 薪褨褔芯谐芯 薪械 锌邪屑鈥櫻徰傂把�. 袉 芯褌 蟹邪褉邪蟹 褟 胁蟹邪谢邪褋褟 蟹 鈥溞ぱ栃把佇盒锯€�, 褖芯斜 胁褨写薪芯胁懈褌懈 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 褑懈屑 卸邪薪褉芯屑.
肖褨邪褋泻芯 - 胁懈泻谢懈泻邪胁 胁 屑械薪械 斜邪谐邪褌芯 褉褨蟹薪懈褏 械屑芯褑褨褩 褨 褉芯蟹写褍屑褨胁.
袩械褉褕邪 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪邪 褉芯屑邪薪褍 泄褕谢邪 写褍卸械 胁邪卸泻芯. 袩褉褟屑芯 写褍卸械. 携 谢褞斜谢褞 芯谢写褋泻褍谢褜薪懈泄 褋褌芯褉褨褌械泄谢褨薪谐: 褨褋褌芯褉褨褟 泄 褨写械褩 褉芯蟹泻褉懈胁邪褞褌褜褋褟 褔械褉械蟹 锌芯写褨褩, 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸褨胁 褨 写褨邪谢芯谐懈. 携泻 锌懈褋邪胁 袣械褉褉芯 胁 袗谢褨褋褨, 褖芯 胁 泻薪懈卸褑褨 屑邪褞褌褜 斜褍褌懈 泻邪褉褌懈薪泻懈 褨 写褨邪谢芯谐懈. 袗褍写褨芯泻薪懈卸泻邪, 蟹胁褨褋薪芯, 薪械 锌褉芯锌芯薪褍褦 泻邪褉褌懈薪芯泻, 邪谢械 褏芯褔邪 斜 写褨邪谢芯谐懈! 袥械屑 卸械 屑邪胁 褨薪褕褨 褋屑邪泻懈 褨 褉芯屑邪薪 薪邪锌芯胁薪械薪懈泄 (锌械褉械锌芯胁薪械薪懈泄?) 芯锌懈褋邪屑懈 褨 屑芯薪芯谢芯谐邪屑懈. 袛芯胁谐懈屑懈 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻懈屑懈 屑芯薪芯谢芯谐邪屑懈. 小褍锌械褉 写械褌邪谢褜薪懈屑懈 芯锌懈褋邪屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨泄. 袟 褑褜芯谐芯 胁懈锌谢懈胁邪褦 屑芯褟 写褉褍谐邪 锌褉芯斜谢械屑邪 蟹 褌械泻褋褌芯屑 - 褍 薪褜芯屑褍 斜褍谢芯 薪邪写蟹胁懈褔邪泄薪芯 斜邪谐邪褌芯 褌械褉屑褨薪芯谢芯谐褨褩 泄 芯锌懈褋褨胁 褎褍褌褍褉懈褋褌懈褔薪芯褩 褎褨蟹懈泻懈. 袟胁褨褋薪芯, 褑褜芯谐芯 褨 胁邪褉褌芯 斜褍谢芯 芯褔褨泻褍胁邪褌懈, 锌械褉褕械 褋谢芯胁芯 褍 薪邪蟹胁褨 卸邪薪褉褍 鈥溞叫把冃盒拘残扳€� 褨 褑械 屑芯褟 谢褨褔薪邪 锌褉芯斜谢械屑邪, 褖芯 屑械薪褨 胁邪卸泻芯 斜褍谢芯 薪械 胁褌褉邪褔邪褌懈 薪懈褌泻褍 褨褋褌芯褉褨褩. 携 薪械 屑邪锟斤拷 薪褨褔褜芯 锌褉芯褌懈 褎褨蟹懈泻懈, 褟 谢褞斜谢褞 褔懈褌邪褌懈 薪邪褍泻-锌芯锌, 褟泻 芯褌 袦褨褔褨芯 袣邪泻褍 褨 锌械褉械写懈胁懈谢邪褋褜 胁褋褨 写芯泻褍屑械薪褌邪褉褨褩 袙袙小 锌褉芯 褎褨蟹懈泻褍 褨 邪褋褌褉芯薪芯屑褨褞, 褟泻褨 蟹薪邪泄褕谢邪. 袗谢械 褍 胁懈泻芯薪邪薪薪褨 袥械屑邪 屑械薪械 蟹芯胁褋褨屑 薪械 斜褉邪谢芯. 袧邪锌械胁薪芯, 褑械 胁褋械 卸 褌邪泻懈, 斜褉邪泻 蟹薪邪薪褜, 邪写卸械 褔邪褋芯屑 胁邪卸泻芯 斜褍谢芯 蟹褉芯蟹褍屑褨褌懈, 写械 芯锌懈褋 褉械邪谢褨褋褌懈褔薪懈褏 锌褉芯褑械褋褨胁, 邪 写械 胁懈谐邪写邪薪懈褏. 袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 胁褋褨 褑褨 芯锌懈褋懈 褟 褔邪褋褌芯 锌褉芯泻褉褍褔褍胁邪谢邪 薪邪 锌褉懈褋泻芯褉械薪芯屑褍.
袨写薪邪泻 写褉褍谐邪 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪邪 褉芯屑邪薪褍, 写械 薪邪褉械褕褌褨 锌芯褔邪胁褋褟 褋褞卸械褌 屑械薪褨 写褍卸械 褋锌芯写芯斜邪谢邪褋褜.
袣芯屑邪薪写邪 邪褋褌褉芯薪邪胁褌褨胁 谢械褌懈褌褜 写芯 械泻蟹芯锌谢邪薪械褌懈 蟹邪 斜邪谐邪褌芯-斜邪谐邪褌芯 褋胁褨褌谢芯胁懈褏 褉芯泻褨胁 胁褨写 袟械屑谢褨, 褖芯斜 胁褋褌邪薪芯胁懈褌懈 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 褨薪褕芯褞 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褦褞. 袗谢械 袥械屑 胁懈胁褨胁 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸褨胁 褍 写邪谢械泻懈泄 泻芯褋屑芯褋 写芯 褔褍卸芯褩 锌谢邪薪械褌懈 薪邪 褋褍锌械褉-泻褉褍褌芯屑褍 泻芯褋屑褨褔薪芯屑褍 泻芯褉邪斜谢褨 薪械 写谢褟 褌芯谐芯, 褖芯斜 褉芯蟹锌芯胁褨褋褌懈 锌褉芯 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌褟薪. 袗 写谢褟 褌芯谐芯, 褖芯斜 褉芯蟹锌芯胁褨褋褌懈 锌褉芯 薪邪褋, 锌褉芯 谢褞写械泄.
校锌褉芯写芯胁卸 褋锌褉芯斜 胁褋褌邪薪芯胁谢械薪薪褟 褑褜芯谐芯 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌褍 谢褞写懈 锌褉芯褟胁谢褟褞褌褜 褑褨谢泻芯屑 谢褞写褋褜泻褨 褉懈褋懈. 袩芯-锌械褉褕械 胁褋械 锌芯斜邪褔械薪械 褌褉邪泻褌褍褞褌褜 蟹 邪薪褌褉芯锌芯褑械薪褌褉懈褔薪芯谐芯 锌芯谐谢褟写褍. 袦懈 胁褋褨 写芯褋褨 褉械薪械褋邪薪褋薪褨 谢褞写懈, 褍 褑械薪褌褉褨 薪邪褕芯谐芯 胁褋械褋胁褨褌褍 薪械 屑械谐邪-褔芯褉薪邪 写褨褉邪, 邪 屑懈 褋邪屑褨. 袥械屑 谐褨锌械褉斜芯谢褨蟹褍胁邪胁 褑械 褟胁懈褖械 写芯褋懈褌褜 褟褋泻褉邪胁芯. 校 锌械胁薪懈褏 屑芯屑械薪褌邪褏 褟 锌芯褔懈薪邪谢邪 芯斜褍褉褞胁邪褌懈褋褟 - 褟泻 褌邪泻, 谢褞写褋褌胁芯 褌邪泻 褋懈谢褜薪芯 锌褉芯谐褉械褋褍胁邪谢芯 褌械褏薪褨褔薪芯 邪卸 写芯 屑褨卸蟹芯褉褟薪懈褏 锌芯谢褜芯褌褨胁, 邪 邪褋褌褉芯斜褨芯谢芯谐褨褟 蟹邪谢懈褕懈谢邪褋褜 薪邪 褉褨胁薪褨 19-谐芯 褋褌芯谢褨褌褌褟! 效芯屑褍 谢褞写懈, 褟泻褨 蟹写邪褌薪褨 泻械褉褍胁邪褌懈 薪械泄屑芯胁褨褉薪懈屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褟屑懈 薪械 屑芯卸褍褌褜 锌褉懈锌褍褋褌懈褌懈, 褖芯 褉芯蟹褍屑薪械 卸懈褌褌褟 屑芯卸械 斜褍褌懈 胁褨写屑褨薪薪懈屑 胁褨写 薪邪褋.
袩芯-写褉褍谐械, 褨薪褕械 - 蟹薪邪褔懈褌褜 谐褨褉褕械. 袟械屑谢褟薪懈 锌芯斜邪褔懈谢懈, 褖芯 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌薪懈泻懈 屑邪褞褌褜 褨薪褕褨 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褩 褨 芯写褉邪蟹褍 锌褉懈泄褕谢懈 写芯 胁懈褋薪芯胁泻褍, 褖芯 胁芯薪懈 谐褨褉褕褨 褨 屑械薪褕 褉芯蟹胁懈薪褍褌褨. 小邪屑芯胁锌械胁薪械薪褨褋褌褜 薪邪 屑械卸褨 蟹 邪斜褋褍褉写芯屑. 袗谢械 褏褨斜邪 薪械 褑械 锌褉懈褌邪屑邪薪薪芯 薪邪褕褨泄 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩?
袛邪谢褨, 薪邪 斜芯褉褌褍 斜褍胁 屑芯薪邪褏 褨 褑械 斜褍谢芯 褑褨泻邪胁芯. 笑械 写邪胁邪谢芯 锌褉芯褋褌褨褉 写谢褟 褉芯蟹写褍屑褨胁, 褟泻 锌芯褦写薪褍褦褌褜褋褟 泻芯薪褑械锌褌 卸懈褌褌褟 薪邪 褨薪褕懈褏 锌谢邪薪械褌邪褏 蟹 褏褉懈褋褌懈褟薪褋褜泻芯褞 褉械谢褨谐褨褦褞.
袧褍 褨, 薪邪锌械胁薪芯 薪邪泄谐芯谢芯胁薪褨褕械, 谢褞写褋褜泻邪 邪谐褉械褋懈胁薪褨褋褌褜 褨 卸邪写芯斜邪. 袥械屑 薪邪胁芯写懈褌褜 锌邪褉邪谢械谢褨 屑褨卸 卸邪写芯斜芯褞 蟹芯谢芯褌邪 泻芯薪泻褨褋泻邪写芯褉褨胁 褨 卸邪写芯斜芯褞 蟹薪邪薪褜 谢褞写械泄, 锌褉懈薪邪泄屑薪褨 蟹邪褏褨写薪芯褩 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩. 袉 斜邪泄写褍卸械 褟泻芯褞 褑褨薪芯褞 褑褨 蟹薪邪薪薪褟 写褨褋褌邪薪褍褌褜褋褟 褨 褖芯 蟹 薪懈屑懈 褉芯斜懈褌懈. 袩芯写褨褩 胁褨写斜褍胁邪褞褌褜褋褟 褍 写邪谢械泻芯屑褍 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯屑褍, 邪谢械 谢褞写懈 褌邪泻褨 卸 褋邪屑褨, 褟泻 褨 胁锌褉芯写芯胁卸 褍褋褨褦褩 褨褋褌芯褉褨褩 - 蟹邪胁芯泄芯胁薪懈泻懈.
袥械屑 褑械 谐邪褉薪芯 蟹褉芯斜懈胁 - 谢褞写懈 锌褉懈谢械褌褨谢懈 斜邪谐邪褌芯-斜邪谐邪褌芯 褋胁褨褌谢芯胁懈褏 褉芯泻褨胁, 褖芯斜 锌芯-褋褍褌褨 锌芯写懈胁懈褌懈褋褟 胁 谐褨谐邪薪褋褜泻械 写蟹械褉泻邪谢芯. 袦芯卸谢懈胁芯 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌薪褨 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩 薪械 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌褍褞褌褜 蟹 薪邪屑懈, 薪械 褌芯屑褍, 褖芯 薪械 屑芯卸褍褌褜, 邪 褌芯屑褍 褖芯 屑懈 锌邪褉褕懈胁械薪褜泻褨 褋锌褨胁斜械褋褨写薪懈泻懈.
袦械薪褨 褋锌芯写芯斜邪谢芯褋褜, 褖芯 胁 褌械泻褋褌褨 斜邪谐邪褌芯 锌芯褋懈谢邪薪褜 薪邪 屑褨褎懈: 谐褉械褑褜泻褨, 斜褨斜谢褨泄薪褨, 褦胁褉芯锌械泄褋褜泻褨 (谢械谐械薪写邪 锌褉芯 泻芯褉芯谢褟 袗褉褌褍褉邪). 笑械 写芯写邪胁邪谢芯 邪褌屑芯褋褎械褉薪芯褋褌褨 泄 蟹胁鈥櫻徯沸貉栃� 蟹 褨褋褌芯褉褨褦褞 谢褞写褋褌胁邪. 袨写懈薪 蟹 屑芯褩褏 褍谢褞斜谢械薪懈褏 屑芯屑械薪褌褨胁, 褟泻 蟹械屑谢褟薪懈 褌褉邪薪褋谢褞胁邪谢懈 泻邪蟹泻褍 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌褟薪邪屑. 孝邪泻懈泄 泻褉邪褋懈胁懈泄 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 薪邪褕芯褞 写褉械胁薪褜芯褞 褨褋褌芯褉褨褦褞 褨 邪斜褋芯谢褞褌薪芯 斜械蟹褌芯谢泻芯胁懈泄 胁 泻芯褋屑褨褔薪懈褏 屑邪褋褕褌邪斜邪褏. 袨写薪邪泻, 褖芯 屑芯卸械 谢褨锌褕械 薪褨卸 泻邪蟹泻邪, 写邪褌懈 薪邪屑 芯锌懈褋, 褟泻 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩?
袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 褔懈褌邪褌懈 斜褍谢芯 褋泻谢邪写薪芯, 邪谢械 胁 写褉褍谐褨泄 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪褨 写褍卸械 褑褨泻邪胁芯. 袧械 卸邪谢泻褍褞!
肖褨邪褋泻芯 - 胁懈泻谢懈泻邪胁 胁 屑械薪械 斜邪谐邪褌芯 褉褨蟹薪懈褏 械屑芯褑褨褩 褨 褉芯蟹写褍屑褨胁.
袩械褉褕邪 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪邪 褉芯屑邪薪褍 泄褕谢邪 写褍卸械 胁邪卸泻芯. 袩褉褟屑芯 写褍卸械. 携 谢褞斜谢褞 芯谢写褋泻褍谢褜薪懈泄 褋褌芯褉褨褌械泄谢褨薪谐: 褨褋褌芯褉褨褟 泄 褨写械褩 褉芯蟹泻褉懈胁邪褞褌褜褋褟 褔械褉械蟹 锌芯写褨褩, 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸褨胁 褨 写褨邪谢芯谐懈. 携泻 锌懈褋邪胁 袣械褉褉芯 胁 袗谢褨褋褨, 褖芯 胁 泻薪懈卸褑褨 屑邪褞褌褜 斜褍褌懈 泻邪褉褌懈薪泻懈 褨 写褨邪谢芯谐懈. 袗褍写褨芯泻薪懈卸泻邪, 蟹胁褨褋薪芯, 薪械 锌褉芯锌芯薪褍褦 泻邪褉褌懈薪芯泻, 邪谢械 褏芯褔邪 斜 写褨邪谢芯谐懈! 袥械屑 卸械 屑邪胁 褨薪褕褨 褋屑邪泻懈 褨 褉芯屑邪薪 薪邪锌芯胁薪械薪懈泄 (锌械褉械锌芯胁薪械薪懈泄?) 芯锌懈褋邪屑懈 褨 屑芯薪芯谢芯谐邪屑懈. 袛芯胁谐懈屑懈 褎褨谢芯褋芯褎褋褜泻懈屑懈 屑芯薪芯谢芯谐邪屑懈. 小褍锌械褉 写械褌邪谢褜薪懈屑懈 芯锌懈褋邪屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨泄. 袟 褑褜芯谐芯 胁懈锌谢懈胁邪褦 屑芯褟 写褉褍谐邪 锌褉芯斜谢械屑邪 蟹 褌械泻褋褌芯屑 - 褍 薪褜芯屑褍 斜褍谢芯 薪邪写蟹胁懈褔邪泄薪芯 斜邪谐邪褌芯 褌械褉屑褨薪芯谢芯谐褨褩 泄 芯锌懈褋褨胁 褎褍褌褍褉懈褋褌懈褔薪芯褩 褎褨蟹懈泻懈. 袟胁褨褋薪芯, 褑褜芯谐芯 褨 胁邪褉褌芯 斜褍谢芯 芯褔褨泻褍胁邪褌懈, 锌械褉褕械 褋谢芯胁芯 褍 薪邪蟹胁褨 卸邪薪褉褍 鈥溞叫把冃盒拘残扳€� 褨 褑械 屑芯褟 谢褨褔薪邪 锌褉芯斜谢械屑邪, 褖芯 屑械薪褨 胁邪卸泻芯 斜褍谢芯 薪械 胁褌褉邪褔邪褌懈 薪懈褌泻褍 褨褋褌芯褉褨褩. 携 薪械 屑邪锟斤拷 薪褨褔褜芯 锌褉芯褌懈 褎褨蟹懈泻懈, 褟 谢褞斜谢褞 褔懈褌邪褌懈 薪邪褍泻-锌芯锌, 褟泻 芯褌 袦褨褔褨芯 袣邪泻褍 褨 锌械褉械写懈胁懈谢邪褋褜 胁褋褨 写芯泻褍屑械薪褌邪褉褨褩 袙袙小 锌褉芯 褎褨蟹懈泻褍 褨 邪褋褌褉芯薪芯屑褨褞, 褟泻褨 蟹薪邪泄褕谢邪. 袗谢械 褍 胁懈泻芯薪邪薪薪褨 袥械屑邪 屑械薪械 蟹芯胁褋褨屑 薪械 斜褉邪谢芯. 袧邪锌械胁薪芯, 褑械 胁褋械 卸 褌邪泻懈, 斜褉邪泻 蟹薪邪薪褜, 邪写卸械 褔邪褋芯屑 胁邪卸泻芯 斜褍谢芯 蟹褉芯蟹褍屑褨褌懈, 写械 芯锌懈褋 褉械邪谢褨褋褌懈褔薪懈褏 锌褉芯褑械褋褨胁, 邪 写械 胁懈谐邪写邪薪懈褏. 袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 胁褋褨 褑褨 芯锌懈褋懈 褟 褔邪褋褌芯 锌褉芯泻褉褍褔褍胁邪谢邪 薪邪 锌褉懈褋泻芯褉械薪芯屑褍.
袨写薪邪泻 写褉褍谐邪 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪邪 褉芯屑邪薪褍, 写械 薪邪褉械褕褌褨 锌芯褔邪胁褋褟 褋褞卸械褌 屑械薪褨 写褍卸械 褋锌芯写芯斜邪谢邪褋褜.
袣芯屑邪薪写邪 邪褋褌褉芯薪邪胁褌褨胁 谢械褌懈褌褜 写芯 械泻蟹芯锌谢邪薪械褌懈 蟹邪 斜邪谐邪褌芯-斜邪谐邪褌芯 褋胁褨褌谢芯胁懈褏 褉芯泻褨胁 胁褨写 袟械屑谢褨, 褖芯斜 胁褋褌邪薪芯胁懈褌懈 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 褨薪褕芯褞 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褦褞. 袗谢械 袥械屑 胁懈胁褨胁 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸褨胁 褍 写邪谢械泻懈泄 泻芯褋屑芯褋 写芯 褔褍卸芯褩 锌谢邪薪械褌懈 薪邪 褋褍锌械褉-泻褉褍褌芯屑褍 泻芯褋屑褨褔薪芯屑褍 泻芯褉邪斜谢褨 薪械 写谢褟 褌芯谐芯, 褖芯斜 褉芯蟹锌芯胁褨褋褌懈 锌褉芯 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌褟薪. 袗 写谢褟 褌芯谐芯, 褖芯斜 褉芯蟹锌芯胁褨褋褌懈 锌褉芯 薪邪褋, 锌褉芯 谢褞写械泄.
校锌褉芯写芯胁卸 褋锌褉芯斜 胁褋褌邪薪芯胁谢械薪薪褟 褑褜芯谐芯 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌褍 谢褞写懈 锌褉芯褟胁谢褟褞褌褜 褑褨谢泻芯屑 谢褞写褋褜泻褨 褉懈褋懈. 袩芯-锌械褉褕械 胁褋械 锌芯斜邪褔械薪械 褌褉邪泻褌褍褞褌褜 蟹 邪薪褌褉芯锌芯褑械薪褌褉懈褔薪芯谐芯 锌芯谐谢褟写褍. 袦懈 胁褋褨 写芯褋褨 褉械薪械褋邪薪褋薪褨 谢褞写懈, 褍 褑械薪褌褉褨 薪邪褕芯谐芯 胁褋械褋胁褨褌褍 薪械 屑械谐邪-褔芯褉薪邪 写褨褉邪, 邪 屑懈 褋邪屑褨. 袥械屑 谐褨锌械褉斜芯谢褨蟹褍胁邪胁 褑械 褟胁懈褖械 写芯褋懈褌褜 褟褋泻褉邪胁芯. 校 锌械胁薪懈褏 屑芯屑械薪褌邪褏 褟 锌芯褔懈薪邪谢邪 芯斜褍褉褞胁邪褌懈褋褟 - 褟泻 褌邪泻, 谢褞写褋褌胁芯 褌邪泻 褋懈谢褜薪芯 锌褉芯谐褉械褋褍胁邪谢芯 褌械褏薪褨褔薪芯 邪卸 写芯 屑褨卸蟹芯褉褟薪懈褏 锌芯谢褜芯褌褨胁, 邪 邪褋褌褉芯斜褨芯谢芯谐褨褟 蟹邪谢懈褕懈谢邪褋褜 薪邪 褉褨胁薪褨 19-谐芯 褋褌芯谢褨褌褌褟! 效芯屑褍 谢褞写懈, 褟泻褨 蟹写邪褌薪褨 泻械褉褍胁邪褌懈 薪械泄屑芯胁褨褉薪懈屑懈 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褟屑懈 薪械 屑芯卸褍褌褜 锌褉懈锌褍褋褌懈褌懈, 褖芯 褉芯蟹褍屑薪械 卸懈褌褌褟 屑芯卸械 斜褍褌懈 胁褨写屑褨薪薪懈屑 胁褨写 薪邪褋.
袩芯-写褉褍谐械, 褨薪褕械 - 蟹薪邪褔懈褌褜 谐褨褉褕械. 袟械屑谢褟薪懈 锌芯斜邪褔懈谢懈, 褖芯 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌薪懈泻懈 屑邪褞褌褜 褨薪褕褨 褌械褏薪芯谢芯谐褨褩 褨 芯写褉邪蟹褍 锌褉懈泄褕谢懈 写芯 胁懈褋薪芯胁泻褍, 褖芯 胁芯薪懈 谐褨褉褕褨 褨 屑械薪褕 褉芯蟹胁懈薪褍褌褨. 小邪屑芯胁锌械胁薪械薪褨褋褌褜 薪邪 屑械卸褨 蟹 邪斜褋褍褉写芯屑. 袗谢械 褏褨斜邪 薪械 褑械 锌褉懈褌邪屑邪薪薪芯 薪邪褕褨泄 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩?
袛邪谢褨, 薪邪 斜芯褉褌褍 斜褍胁 屑芯薪邪褏 褨 褑械 斜褍谢芯 褑褨泻邪胁芯. 笑械 写邪胁邪谢芯 锌褉芯褋褌褨褉 写谢褟 褉芯蟹写褍屑褨胁, 褟泻 锌芯褦写薪褍褦褌褜褋褟 泻芯薪褑械锌褌 卸懈褌褌褟 薪邪 褨薪褕懈褏 锌谢邪薪械褌邪褏 蟹 褏褉懈褋褌懈褟薪褋褜泻芯褞 褉械谢褨谐褨褦褞.
袧褍 褨, 薪邪锌械胁薪芯 薪邪泄谐芯谢芯胁薪褨褕械, 谢褞写褋褜泻邪 邪谐褉械褋懈胁薪褨褋褌褜 褨 卸邪写芯斜邪. 袥械屑 薪邪胁芯写懈褌褜 锌邪褉邪谢械谢褨 屑褨卸 卸邪写芯斜芯褞 蟹芯谢芯褌邪 泻芯薪泻褨褋泻邪写芯褉褨胁 褨 卸邪写芯斜芯褞 蟹薪邪薪褜 谢褞写械泄, 锌褉懈薪邪泄屑薪褨 蟹邪褏褨写薪芯褩 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩. 袉 斜邪泄写褍卸械 褟泻芯褞 褑褨薪芯褞 褑褨 蟹薪邪薪薪褟 写褨褋褌邪薪褍褌褜褋褟 褨 褖芯 蟹 薪懈屑懈 褉芯斜懈褌懈. 袩芯写褨褩 胁褨写斜褍胁邪褞褌褜褋褟 褍 写邪谢械泻芯屑褍 屑邪泄斜褍褌薪褜芯屑褍, 邪谢械 谢褞写懈 褌邪泻褨 卸 褋邪屑褨, 褟泻 褨 胁锌褉芯写芯胁卸 褍褋褨褦褩 褨褋褌芯褉褨褩 - 蟹邪胁芯泄芯胁薪懈泻懈.
袥械屑 褑械 谐邪褉薪芯 蟹褉芯斜懈胁 - 谢褞写懈 锌褉懈谢械褌褨谢懈 斜邪谐邪褌芯-斜邪谐邪褌芯 褋胁褨褌谢芯胁懈褏 褉芯泻褨胁, 褖芯斜 锌芯-褋褍褌褨 锌芯写懈胁懈褌懈褋褟 胁 谐褨谐邪薪褋褜泻械 写蟹械褉泻邪谢芯. 袦芯卸谢懈胁芯 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌薪褨 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩 薪械 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌褍褞褌褜 蟹 薪邪屑懈, 薪械 褌芯屑褍, 褖芯 薪械 屑芯卸褍褌褜, 邪 褌芯屑褍 褖芯 屑懈 锌邪褉褕懈胁械薪褜泻褨 褋锌褨胁斜械褋褨写薪懈泻懈.
袦械薪褨 褋锌芯写芯斜邪谢芯褋褜, 褖芯 胁 褌械泻褋褌褨 斜邪谐邪褌芯 锌芯褋懈谢邪薪褜 薪邪 屑褨褎懈: 谐褉械褑褜泻褨, 斜褨斜谢褨泄薪褨, 褦胁褉芯锌械泄褋褜泻褨 (谢械谐械薪写邪 锌褉芯 泻芯褉芯谢褟 袗褉褌褍褉邪). 笑械 写芯写邪胁邪谢芯 邪褌屑芯褋褎械褉薪芯褋褌褨 泄 蟹胁鈥櫻徯沸貉栃� 蟹 褨褋褌芯褉褨褦褞 谢褞写褋褌胁邪. 袨写懈薪 蟹 屑芯褩褏 褍谢褞斜谢械薪懈褏 屑芯屑械薪褌褨胁, 褟泻 蟹械屑谢褟薪懈 褌褉邪薪褋谢褞胁邪谢懈 泻邪蟹泻褍 褨薪芯锌谢邪薪械褌褟薪邪屑. 孝邪泻懈泄 泻褉邪褋懈胁懈泄 泻芯薪褌邪泻褌 蟹 薪邪褕芯褞 写褉械胁薪褜芯褞 褨褋褌芯褉褨褦褞 褨 邪斜褋芯谢褞褌薪芯 斜械蟹褌芯谢泻芯胁懈泄 胁 泻芯褋屑褨褔薪懈褏 屑邪褋褕褌邪斜邪褏. 袨写薪邪泻, 褖芯 屑芯卸械 谢褨锌褕械 薪褨卸 泻邪蟹泻邪, 写邪褌懈 薪邪屑 芯锌懈褋, 褟泻 褑懈胁褨谢褨蟹邪褑褨褩?
袟邪谐邪谢芯屑, 褔懈褌邪褌懈 斜褍谢芯 褋泻谢邪写薪芯, 邪谢械 胁 写褉褍谐褨泄 锌芯谢芯胁懈薪褨 写褍卸械 褑褨泻邪胁芯. 袧械 卸邪谢泻褍褞!
May 22, 2018
Although I liked this book and will give it 4 stars as a rating, there are a couple of objections that if taken into account, would drop the rating to at least 3 stars.
1. Mr. Lem was a great thinker, no doubt about that, but a lazy writer in my humble reader's opinion (at least in this book). Throughout the book events are told to us, not shown and also the pov changes sometimes from tell to show and the reverse as well, and it is not consistent. I would expect that from a rough draft or an unfinished book. Also, he infodumps, a lot.
2. He also digresses a lot. There are three digressions inside that take too much space. I understand their meaning and how they are connected to the main story and how we need to come back to them to ponder after finishing the book, but they are too big, it's like you forget you read the same book. Especially the first one, you get told a story for many pages about a person then this ends abruptly and we fast forward to the future where only some parts of the story are relevant to the meaning. And I kept waiting for the story to earn its place and I felt tricked when it didn't.
3. Apparently, after some centuries women don't exist, they have become genetically obsolete. No, Lem doesn't say that, I did because I had to find some theory why women are not present in this book (not even mentioned), to stop being so annoyed by the fact, while reading. Suppose I do the opposite, I give you a book where there are no males. You'll find it strange and start wondering why. And this is not even a case where women are in unimportant roles or just decorative (I'm used to this in old books and especially old scifi),here there are no women, period. There is only one woman that appears in a decorative role in a memory simulator (past) and in a dream (also past). Oh, and one mentioned in a derogatory way in an argument. So, my theory stands. Or I develop another theory, not very flattering about Mr.Lem. *PS And don't argue that he was interested in the ideas and not the characters, because he took his time to put males of various nationalities with distinct names, in the spaceship.
But, the thinking, the philosophy is great. The writing, in my opinion, not so much. I need both. You choose.
1. Mr. Lem was a great thinker, no doubt about that, but a lazy writer in my humble reader's opinion (at least in this book). Throughout the book events are told to us, not shown and also the pov changes sometimes from tell to show and the reverse as well, and it is not consistent. I would expect that from a rough draft or an unfinished book. Also, he infodumps, a lot.
2. He also digresses a lot. There are three digressions inside that take too much space. I understand their meaning and how they are connected to the main story and how we need to come back to them to ponder after finishing the book, but they are too big, it's like you forget you read the same book. Especially the first one, you get told a story for many pages about a person then this ends abruptly and we fast forward to the future where only some parts of the story are relevant to the meaning. And I kept waiting for the story to earn its place and I felt tricked when it didn't.
3. Apparently, after some centuries women don't exist, they have become genetically obsolete. No, Lem doesn't say that, I did because I had to find some theory why women are not present in this book (not even mentioned), to stop being so annoyed by the fact, while reading. Suppose I do the opposite, I give you a book where there are no males. You'll find it strange and start wondering why. And this is not even a case where women are in unimportant roles or just decorative (I'm used to this in old books and especially old scifi),here there are no women, period. There is only one woman that appears in a decorative role in a memory simulator (past) and in a dream (also past). Oh, and one mentioned in a derogatory way in an argument. So, my theory stands. Or I develop another theory, not very flattering about Mr.Lem. *PS And don't argue that he was interested in the ideas and not the characters, because he took his time to put males of various nationalities with distinct names, in the spaceship.
But, the thinking, the philosophy is great. The writing, in my opinion, not so much. I need both. You choose.
January 26, 2015
Philosophical. Hard. Interminable.
The premise is fascinating and unique: what if we finally make contact with aliens but they have zero interest in meeting or even communicating with us?
Unfortunately we have to endure every discussion involved in answering that question, including all of the details of the future history required to understand it, and in painstaking detail, over the course of however long it takes to finally reach the other intelligent beings in another galaxy.
At times it is amazing how thorough the author is in his conception of all details but it's just way too much. Plus the things the crew is able to deduce with almost no first-hand info is too incredible, 鈥渓ogic鈥� computers or not. The fact that the alien's world just happens to reflect a more extreme version of eighties global politics also dates the whole thing too much.
But the interesting parts, especially those where things actually happen besides conversation or inner monologues, are riveting. There's just too much of the other stuff.
I'm glad to have finally read some Lem but I am disappointed in how rambling it is, and how much it reflects a specific point in time. I may try to read Solaris since it's one of my favorite movies (Tarkovsky's version) but otherwise I don't have much interest in enduring his other works any time soon.
The premise is fascinating and unique: what if we finally make contact with aliens but they have zero interest in meeting or even communicating with us?
Unfortunately we have to endure every discussion involved in answering that question, including all of the details of the future history required to understand it, and in painstaking detail, over the course of however long it takes to finally reach the other intelligent beings in another galaxy.
At times it is amazing how thorough the author is in his conception of all details but it's just way too much. Plus the things the crew is able to deduce with almost no first-hand info is too incredible, 鈥渓ogic鈥� computers or not. The fact that the alien's world just happens to reflect a more extreme version of eighties global politics also dates the whole thing too much.
But the interesting parts, especially those where things actually happen besides conversation or inner monologues, are riveting. There's just too much of the other stuff.
I'm glad to have finally read some Lem but I am disappointed in how rambling it is, and how much it reflects a specific point in time. I may try to read Solaris since it's one of my favorite movies (Tarkovsky's version) but otherwise I don't have much interest in enduring his other works any time soon.
November 21, 2023
Contatto a tutti i costi
Il titolo originale polacco del romanzo di Stanislaw Lem pubblicato in Italia come 鈥淚l pianeta del silenzio鈥� 猫 鈥淔iasko鈥�. Sono andato a controllare sul traduttore e il termine ha lo stesso significato che gli diamo noi, cio猫 鈥淔allimento, Fiasco鈥�. Questa osservazione non 猫 una pignoleria, ma la conferma che l鈥檃utore intendeva conferire a questa avventura fantascientifica, inquadrabile nell鈥檃mbito del genere sulla conquista dello spazio, un鈥檃ccezione negativa ben lontana dal trionfalismo sotteso nella SF classica alla ricerca di nuovi mondi, fossero questi abitati da 鈥渕ostri鈥� o da razze propense a una cooperazione spesso interpretata come colonizzazione.
Niente di trionfale invece nel romanzo di Lem, ma un鈥檃ccanita e sempre pi霉 aggressiva ostinazione da parte dei 鈥渘ostri鈥� ad imporre un contatto a un pianeta che di contatto proprio non vuole saperne, gi脿 impelagato com鈥櫭� nei problemi suoi. Il silenzio dei suoi abitanti, di cui al titolo italiano, viene inteso subito come ostilit脿 da parte di chi suole approcciare l鈥檈straneo su un presupposto di superiorit脿 e diffidenza.
Ci sono falchi e colombe nell鈥檈quipaggio dell鈥橦ermes, ma come spesso accade sono i primi a prevalere e ad imporre la loro bellicosa convinzione, trascinando le vicende ad un finale che non riveler貌 per timore di spoiler, un finale che alcuni commenti hanno deprecato, ma che io ritengo perfetto, imprevedibile ed originale.
Lo stile del libro 猫 quello della classica hard-sf speculativa, in questo caso fin troppo ricco di dettagli tecnologici e lunghissime digressioni in materia di astrofisica che sottraggono pathos alla narrazione e alla definizione del carattere dei singoli personaggi.
Nonostante ci貌 鈥淚l pianeta del silenzio鈥� si rivela un romanzo di notevole interesse, portatore di un messaggio forse legato al clima del periodo della guerra fredda in cui fu pubblicato ma che, anche a distanza di una quarantina di anni, appare di straordinaria attualit脿 nella sua critica sottesa all鈥檌ncapacit脿 (o peggio ancora alla non volont脿) di rapportarsi pacificamente all鈥檃ltro e a comprenderne il linguaggio e i costumi, tanto pi霉 quanto differiscono dai nostri.
Il titolo originale polacco del romanzo di Stanislaw Lem pubblicato in Italia come 鈥淚l pianeta del silenzio鈥� 猫 鈥淔iasko鈥�. Sono andato a controllare sul traduttore e il termine ha lo stesso significato che gli diamo noi, cio猫 鈥淔allimento, Fiasco鈥�. Questa osservazione non 猫 una pignoleria, ma la conferma che l鈥檃utore intendeva conferire a questa avventura fantascientifica, inquadrabile nell鈥檃mbito del genere sulla conquista dello spazio, un鈥檃ccezione negativa ben lontana dal trionfalismo sotteso nella SF classica alla ricerca di nuovi mondi, fossero questi abitati da 鈥渕ostri鈥� o da razze propense a una cooperazione spesso interpretata come colonizzazione.
Niente di trionfale invece nel romanzo di Lem, ma un鈥檃ccanita e sempre pi霉 aggressiva ostinazione da parte dei 鈥渘ostri鈥� ad imporre un contatto a un pianeta che di contatto proprio non vuole saperne, gi脿 impelagato com鈥櫭� nei problemi suoi. Il silenzio dei suoi abitanti, di cui al titolo italiano, viene inteso subito come ostilit脿 da parte di chi suole approcciare l鈥檈straneo su un presupposto di superiorit脿 e diffidenza.
Ci sono falchi e colombe nell鈥檈quipaggio dell鈥橦ermes, ma come spesso accade sono i primi a prevalere e ad imporre la loro bellicosa convinzione, trascinando le vicende ad un finale che non riveler貌 per timore di spoiler, un finale che alcuni commenti hanno deprecato, ma che io ritengo perfetto, imprevedibile ed originale.
Lo stile del libro 猫 quello della classica hard-sf speculativa, in questo caso fin troppo ricco di dettagli tecnologici e lunghissime digressioni in materia di astrofisica che sottraggono pathos alla narrazione e alla definizione del carattere dei singoli personaggi.
Nonostante ci貌 鈥淚l pianeta del silenzio鈥� si rivela un romanzo di notevole interesse, portatore di un messaggio forse legato al clima del periodo della guerra fredda in cui fu pubblicato ma che, anche a distanza di una quarantina di anni, appare di straordinaria attualit脿 nella sua critica sottesa all鈥檌ncapacit脿 (o peggio ancora alla non volont脿) di rapportarsi pacificamente all鈥檃ltro e a comprenderne il linguaggio e i costumi, tanto pi霉 quanto differiscono dai nostri.
May 18, 2019
Oh, how delighted I was after trudging slowly through 60-odd pages of detailed descriptions of alien landscapes and the complex geological processes which created them to discover, a third of the way through the book, that it was all totally irrelevant to the rest of the story. This is self-indulgence on the part of the writer that verges on rudeness to the reader. It鈥檚 self-gratification, not storytelling. FIASCO was Stanislaw Lem鈥檚 final work of fiction, and you can tell that he had no real interest in the form. Two of the players introduced in this early part are given no characterisation beyond one being tall and the other being short. This might be my last foray into proper hard sci-fi. It鈥檚 too much like homework.
December 19, 2016
I have to admit, the sole reason I took this novel off the shelf was love for the word 鈥榝iasco鈥�. (There鈥檚 something so satisfying about it!) It then joined my library book pile because I know Stanislaw Lem to be an author of high quality science fiction weirdness (cf ). On the back cover, a puff quote describes 鈥楩iasco鈥� as 鈥楤rilliant and challenging鈥�. Although my reflex was to scoff at the latter term, I am now inclined to agree with it. This is a dense, complicated book that isn't particularly easy to read. Lem spends a great deal of time on the technical aspects of the interstellar space travel scenario that is being recounted, including a lot about collapsars that I didn鈥檛 really understand. The plot is essentially concerned with first contact between humans and aliens. The first half sets this up, the second plays it out. I found the former hard work and the latter extremely compelling. Unless I鈥檓 missing something, the first fifty pages were wholly unnecessary.
By contrast, the second half included some extraordinary and fascinating conversations on AI, game theory, and political philosophy. Lem advances many thought-provoking ideas, which by turns I both disagreed with (鈥�...technology, once it gained momentum, became a variable independent of the civilisational substructure鈥�) and agreed with (鈥�...if technologies for saving or replacing the biosphere did not come to the rescue of technologies of expansion, the given civilisation would enter a crisis to end all crises, ie extinction鈥�). The progression of events once the mission arrives in the alien solar system is inexorable and brilliantly handled. It forms a pretty spectacular critique of the Cold War, unsurprising given the publication date of 1986. Nonetheless, I can only award three stars as it takes quite a lot of patience to reach the excellent chapters. I think the level of technobabble was somewhat excessive, even for a story set largely in space. The title is extremely apposite, though.
By contrast, the second half included some extraordinary and fascinating conversations on AI, game theory, and political philosophy. Lem advances many thought-provoking ideas, which by turns I both disagreed with (鈥�...technology, once it gained momentum, became a variable independent of the civilisational substructure鈥�) and agreed with (鈥�...if technologies for saving or replacing the biosphere did not come to the rescue of technologies of expansion, the given civilisation would enter a crisis to end all crises, ie extinction鈥�). The progression of events once the mission arrives in the alien solar system is inexorable and brilliantly handled. It forms a pretty spectacular critique of the Cold War, unsurprising given the publication date of 1986. Nonetheless, I can only award three stars as it takes quite a lot of patience to reach the excellent chapters. I think the level of technobabble was somewhat excessive, even for a story set largely in space. The title is extremely apposite, though.
January 22, 2025
Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) is considered to be one of the most important science fiction writers of the 20th century. His prolific output includes 18 books of fiction, dozens of short stories and dozens of philosophical essays. "Fiasco", published in 1986, was Lem's last book of fiction, crowning a literary career that includes his most important work, "Solaris" (1961). In this, final work, Lem revisits themes such as space exploration and the confrontation with alien intelligences in order to question the ethical, political and philosophical implications of technological development.
Complete discussion in Portuguese on Nx:
Complete discussion in Portuguese on Nx:
June 23, 2009
This is a tough one, even for Lem fans. Stick with it though, the long, dense build up in the beginning pays off.
Like many of Lem's other works, this book documents the complete lack of cultural reference points, and thus any basis for communication whatsoever, between human and alien intelligence. In this case, repeated mis-communication leads to the worst of all possible outcomes. A fiasco indeed.
The book contains some very interesting musings concerning human conceptions of alien life and the attempt to map out the possibilities along which an alien civilization might evolve. Lem compellingly explores the limits to which the human mind can understand something completely different than itself or the environment that shaped it. Highly recommended.
Like many of Lem's other works, this book documents the complete lack of cultural reference points, and thus any basis for communication whatsoever, between human and alien intelligence. In this case, repeated mis-communication leads to the worst of all possible outcomes. A fiasco indeed.
The book contains some very interesting musings concerning human conceptions of alien life and the attempt to map out the possibilities along which an alien civilization might evolve. Lem compellingly explores the limits to which the human mind can understand something completely different than itself or the environment that shaped it. Highly recommended.
April 19, 2018
Unfortunately "Fiasco" was over written. This was LEM's final book of fiction I believe (1986). Admittedly, long scifi novels were the trend during the 80's and there is a great story in there, but it is buried under many long technical info dumping. It was like reading a series of Cosmos episodes on PBS. Some might like this more than others, I personally don't mind too much, unless of course, there is far too much of it. And this was that. I felt it harmed the pace; made it difficult to follow the narrative. However I can't fault it for any other reason than that. It was intelligent, original, clever and mysterious. This was a serious LEM work. It deserved an Athur C. Clarke Award nomination, though I preferred the tighter more humorous stories I read just before this one.
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