Mindhunter: Transcending Geocentrism and Psychocentrism in Stanislaw Lem’s The Invincible and Peace on Earth
Minding the Future January 1, 2021 Milan M. Cirkovic
Stanislaw Lem's opera presents a kaleidoscope of ideas centered on the place of evolving minds in the evolving universe. The concept of fragmented, non-conscious intelligences that belong to neither strictly natural nor strictly artificial realms appears throughout his writing. This analysis examines how these ideas are implemented in an early novel, The Invincible, and a late one, Peace on Earth, which superficially have little in common. The argument connects these ideas with recent developments in astrobiology, evolutionary biology, and philosophy of mind, suggesting Lem was decades ahead of his time, as contemporary pop-cultural elaborations demonstrate.