Robots of Stanisław Lem

Robots of Stanisław Lem are best known from writer's series Fables for Robots (1964), written in the grotesque form of folk fairy tales, set in the universe populated by robots. In this universe there are robot kings, robot peasants, robot knights, robot scientists; a robot damsel in distress is pestered by a robot dragon, robot dogs have robot fleas, etc.[1] The collection The Cyberiad (1965) belongs to the same grotesque cross-genre of fairy tale and science fiction. Its main protagonists are robots-"constructors" Trurl and Klapaucius, who are something of both sorcerers and engineers.[2]

A mural by Filip Kużniarz in Kraków

Robots of different kind are major characters in several stories from Lem's Tales of Pirx the Pilot cycle, as well as in some occasional stories, such as The Mask. [3][2]

An ultimate evolution of military robotics is described in the novel The Invincible, where a human crew is defeated by a swarm of microrobots evolved by natural selection in the course of wars waged by robots. The idea was pursued by Lem further in his fictitious review "Weapon Systems of the Twenty First Century or The Upside-down Evolution". [4]

List of Lem's robot stories
  • "The Hunt" (1950s Stanisław Lem short story)
  • "Faithful Robot", (1961), a comedy/mystery/drama science fiction TV play
  • In the 1963 short story "Tragedia pralnicza" ("Washer Tragedy") from the memoirs of Ijon Tichy (Ze wspomnień Ijona Tichego), a rat race of the competition among washing machine manufacturers, Nuddlegg and Snodgrass corporations construct progressively smarter washer robots, which gradually acquire wider and wider legal rights as intelligent entities, [5] which leads to all kinds of legal perplexities.[6]

A mural in Kraków depicts a typical grotesque fabular robot, with a quotation from Dialogs: "Eventually the humans will dwarf down to the level of brainless servants of iron geniuses and may be even start to worship them as Gods". The mural was created by Filip Kużniarz in 2012. [7]

An elaborate interactive robot-themed Google Doodle inspired by The Cyberiad was created for the 60th anniversary of Lem's first published book: The Astronauts.[8][9][10][11]

gollark: For regenerative braking?
gollark: UNLIMITED RANGE, none of those pesky batteries.
gollark: Use an RTG to power your e-bike!
gollark: I have an even BETTER idea.
gollark: Maybe add an extra two wheels to keep it stable.

See also

Lem also wrote about intelligent machines other than robots

References
  1. An introduction to the 1992 edition of the Mortal Engines (ISBN 0156621614), a collection of translations, whose bulk consisting of Lem's Fables...
  2. Jerzy Jarzębski, "Stanisław Lem, Rationalist and Visionary", Science Fiction Studies, vil. 4, part 2, issue 12, 1977, pp.110–125
  3. Dominika Oramus, "The Uncanny Robots of Plot Pirx: Stanisław Lem's Tales", Interlitteraria, vol. 21, no. 1, 2016, 143-157
  4. "CAŁY TEN ZŁOM" an afterword to The Invincible by Jerzy Jarzębski
  5. "Tragedia pralnicza", at Lem's official website
  6. "Stanisław Lem - Mensch, Denker, Schriftsteller : Beiträge einer deutsch-polnischen Konferenz im Jahr 2000 in Greifswald und Szczecin", 2005, ISBN 3447051477, p.121
  7. "Kraków’s Street Art: A Walk Through History, Creativity & Profound Thought", culture.pl, September 12, 2018
  8. "Stanisław Lem on Google’s homepage", an interview of Lem doodle creators, Marcin Wichary and Sophia Foster-Dimino
  9. "Case Study: Building the Stanisław Lem Google doodle", by Marcin Wichary, one of the LEM doodle developers
  10. "Stanisław Lem doodle". Google.com. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
  11. "Google creates doodle in Stanislaw Lem's book". The Guardian. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.

Further reading
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