Revisiting Stanislaw Lem's Prescient Sci-Fi as Fresh Perspective on AI and Technology
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Stanislaw Lem's novel Solaris features an inscrutable, alien ocean planet that reflects human desires in distorted ways. This could be seen as a prototype for non-human-centered AI systems.
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Lem's theoretical work Summa Technologiae reframes theological questions as technological problems, exploring the limits of knowledge and the role of technology in human evolution.
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There is growing interest in Lem's work as people look beyond Western Europe and the US for technological narratives, but his perspectives should not be overly essentialized.
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Rather than an "AI ethics" approach, Lem can be seen as a formidable philosophy of technology theorist in line with thinkers like Haraway, Hayles and McLuhan.
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Lem discards human-centered ethics, instead contributing hypotheses on the mediating role of technology in knowledge and evolution, not seeking to redeem "Western AI."