Autor Wątek: Lem´s political views  (Przeczytany 21668 razy)

Karel

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Lem´s political views
« dnia: Kwietnia 30, 2004, 05:42:10 pm »
I wish someone could write own opinion here. I think Lem opens many questions in his books, but answer is missing or it is well encrypted. "Cyberiad"- here is a clear vision of tragical effects of non-controlled natality. Well, it is not the actual problem of mankind, but...
http://www.mikrobos.szm.sk/people/

Terminus

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #1 dnia: Maja 01, 2004, 01:14:26 am »
Cytuj
http://www.mikrobos.szm.sk/people/


Gosh man, that PEOPLE METER - is it true? What algorhytm is it based on?

It's quite impressive !!!

Terminus

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #2 dnia: Maja 01, 2004, 01:20:53 am »
Cytuj
"Cyberiad"- here is a clear vision of tragical effects of non-controlled natality. Well, it is not the actual problem of mankind, but...


Hmm... I think Lem's political views are as follows: he is not interested in politics, as it is a worthless activity.

I mean his actual, nowadays views.

Lem's evaluated from social-realism ( see 'The Magellan Nebula' - I'm not sure how is it titled in Your country (Slovakia, right?) ) to apolitic statements of Pirx the pilot.

I think nowadays Lem is just concerned abouth mankind's future, as we all should be.

Cheers

Karel

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #3 dnia: Maja 02, 2004, 11:09:06 am »
Yes, it´s true that Lem´s stories are not as many interferenced by regime as it could be seen by other authors (especially in another kind of literature)
About PEOPLEMETER: I don´t know how exact it could be

Rashid

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #4 dnia: Maja 02, 2004, 09:45:17 pm »
http://lib.bigmir.net/read.php?e=8440 article about Lem's ideology--both political and literary. Bruce Sterling. The Spearhead of Cognition I think this important opinion.  

Karel

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #5 dnia: Maja 20, 2004, 11:13:36 am »
I´ve read out the "Futurological congres." Really great. It is simmilar story to The Matrix, isn´t it?
« Ostatnia zmiana: Maja 20, 2004, 11:14:26 am wysłana przez Karel »

flexi

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #6 dnia: Maja 22, 2004, 03:21:24 am »
Terminus is right...
"..worthless activity.",
a silly and funny "game".
 

god is a drunk coder..

Ritch

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #7 dnia: Lipca 24, 2004, 02:08:44 am »
Next is a recent (April 2004) interview to Lem about politics.

Taken from:
http://www.mosnews.com/interview/2004/04/06/lem.shtml

(there are a tip about Solaris film, I'll post in the Solaris thread)

Sci-Fi Writer Stanislaw Lem on Down-to-Earth Issues

08.04.2004

Valery Masterov

The Moscow News Weekly (Warsaw Bureau)

If there were an instrument to gauge thought concentration, it would show an off-scale reading in a house on the outskirts of Krakow where an 83-year-old writer/philosopher has been closely observing the world. We climb to Lem’s study up a ship’s ladder, and from a pile of periodicals cluttering his desk he fishes out a parcel with Chinese characters:
“See, they are already publishing me in China.”

Didn’t you write yourself that the center of gravity is now shifting to Southeast Asia?

That’s right. They say the Chinese have so many greenbacks that they can regulate the dollar exchange rate. They also have their own space program, and have set their sights on the Moon.

Where do you get your facts?

I watch a couple of foreign TV channels, and I get lots of books, newspapers, and journals — from all over the world. The world is unsettled. There is no balance between West and East, the way things were during the Cold War.

Are you saying that it was easier to live in a bipolar world?

Not really. But back then problems were of a different kind, and they were more predictable. There was a balance of fear. Moscow and Washington understood only too well what the prospect of a nuclear war meant. But now the threat is spreading like a pandemic — Pakistan, India, China, North Korea... The very statistics are frightening. In a sleepy little town traffic is light, and the probability of vehicle collision is far less than in megalopolises, where millions of cars are trapped in monstrous traffic jams. Everyone is saying that trouble could strike at any moment, but no one knows exactly where. We have entered an era of international terrorism.
The Americans thought that in Iraq, they would meet with native residents very much as they did with Soviet Army soldiers on the Elbe River, at the end of World War II: All very nice and pally. Bush triumphantly proclaimed the end of the military operation, but that was only the beginning. Madrid is another conundrum… What happened there [Lem means the new, Socialist government’s decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq. — Ed.] is a big concession to God knows what terrorists.

Your latest book, Dilemmas (in Polish, DyLEMaty), opens with an essay on Putin after election to his first presidential term. Now he has just been elected to a second term. Are there any additions you feel you ought to make?

I would, rather, repeat what I have already said: He is wholeheartedly supported by the Russian people, and you can’t resist the people. Of course, there was an element of randomness in Yeltsin’s choice of his successor. All we knew about Putin then was that he had once been a KGB resident in the GDR. There, one could improve one’s German and learn anything — except democracy. Now the world knows a great deal more about Putin. People want order and stability while Russia has in the past few years been steadily developing, which is also admitted by Western experts.

In that case, your observation that “chaos in Russia would have been more useful to us than attempts to run the country more efficiently” should be seen as ironic?

Above all, with regard to Polish politicians. It is always possible to derive political benefit from a time of trouble. Yet it would be simply ridiculous if I were to become a political prophet for Russia. Russia is a vast country with a host of problems, including demographic ones. There is no way you can shake off intellectual sluggishness after 70 years of Communist rule. I do not anticipate any hostile moves toward Poland in Putin’s foreign policy. He has plenty on his plate already. Today, the West prefers to talk to Moscow directly, not through Warsaw. We cannot match Russia’s potential. And this is something that our overambitious politicians should realize.

...

Ritch

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #8 dnia: Lipca 24, 2004, 02:09:11 am »
Almost 40 years ago, your hero, Ijon Tichy, made an appeal to save outer space. Are his concerns still relevant, given some sweeping plans like Bush’s “space program”?

Bush is seeking reelection. His advisers remembered the effect of the first landing on the Moon, and proposed a repeat, but on a grander scale. So Mars came in handy. It will take at least 20 years to prepare a flight to Mars. Bush, however, is only concerned with the next four years. But the attempt to portray him as a forward-looking pragmatist has produced an impression.

But he’s been talking about the countless riches on the Moon and Mars.

There is nothing up there. And what about the money for these space adventures? Do you think U.S. Congress will come up with hundreds of billions on a silver platter? Besides, what is the dollar really worth now? In Communist-era Poland it could buy 100 zlotys: That was some money. But now it is worth a mere 3.5 zlotys. Today I am getting more dollars for new editions of my books from Russia than from the United States. We should deal with earthly problems, not with space chimeras.

Yet space has become an arena of rivalry between the great powers, and a hallmark of prestige.

This is not development but militarization, pure and simple. Moreover, it has nothing to do with the Universe: All that matters is within 300 kilometers from the Earth. Militarily, say, the Moon is not very important: After all, 400,000 km is way too far. As for prestige, it is not worth a brass farthing. What really counts is the speed of information transfer. Should a stock exchange go bust someplace in Hong Kong, the whole world will learn about this within two seconds. I am not an expert on economics, but this is what globalization is all about. As for space, it will be the domain of astronomers, astronauts, astrophysics, and so on.

What about Solaris then?

Excuse me, but this is science fiction.


Continue in Solaris thread...

SoGo

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #9 dnia: Grudnia 12, 2004, 02:48:44 pm »
If you read his books, you see:
He didn't look on actual events and politics because his view is far away, in the future.

And for the future, actual political problems are unequal

Terminus

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #10 dnia: Grudnia 13, 2004, 12:20:29 am »
We do read his books. And some of them, i.e. the elder ones , contain some political statements.

SoGo

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #11 dnia: Grudnia 19, 2004, 02:04:37 pm »
In his Book "Astronauts" or "Planet of Death"
(published 1953)
he wrote the first five pages only about the glory and the victory of the communistic revolution.
The same in the book "Guest in Space", but not so much an not so directly, more suggestible.
Had he believed his own words this time, is he still believing them or had he never did?

Terminus

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #12 dnia: Grudnia 19, 2004, 11:58:06 pm »
Of course he didn't. Lem doesn't allow this book to be  relased again, since he still feels bad about it :)
You must understand the historical background. Back in 1953 Poland was under a steel fist of totalitarism it its most brutal form. It was a 'Stalinism' - no disobedience from fanatic comunism was allowed. So he had to write those things.

I don't think he anymore gives a damn about politics.
« Ostatnia zmiana: Grudnia 19, 2004, 11:59:11 pm wysłana przez Terminus »

SoGo

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #13 dnia: Grudnia 20, 2004, 12:52:26 pm »
Dictature:
One Person or a Group forcing their Will over the others.
I can't imagine, because I've never lived such a society.
We only see how good is Freedom, if we haven't got them any more. :-/
« Ostatnia zmiana: Grudnia 20, 2004, 12:52:57 pm wysłana przez SoGo »

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Re: Lem´s political views
« Odpowiedź #14 dnia: Grudnia 20, 2004, 12:56:36 pm »
Well as a matter of a fact as I was born in 1979 I haven't seen much totalitarism myself. Before 1989 we had only remains of comunism. (But there were hard times too, like in 1981).