Summa Technologiae


Summa Technologiae is a 1964 book by Polish author Stanisław Lem. Summa is one of the first collections of philosophical essays by Lem. Its name alludes to Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas.

Description

Paraphrasing the author, the book tries to "examine the thorns of roses that have not flowered yet"—in other words, to deal with problems of the remote future. The primary question Lem treats in the book is that of civilization in the absence of limitations, both technological and material. He also looks at moral-ethical and philosophical consequences of future technologies.
Despite its age and a number of inaccuracies in specific domains, the book has lost no momentum in the past years. Among the themes that Lem discusses in the book and that were completely in the realm of science fiction then, but are gaining importance today, are virtual reality, theory of search engines, technological singularity, molecular nanotechnology, cognitive enhancement, artificial intelligence.
In the preface to the first edition Lem mentions the crucial role of Iosif Shklovsky's popular science monograph Вселенная, жизнь, разум in shaping the Summae.
In 1996 the book received the award of the Czech Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in the category "Nonfiction titles".

Contents

The book has eight chapters, each dealing with far-fetched implications of a certain concept:
; 1. Dilemmas
; 2. Two Evolutions
; 3. Space Civilizations
; 4. Intellectronics
; 5. Prolegomena to Omnipotence
; 6. Phantomology
; 7. Creation of the Worlds
; 8. Pasquinade on Evolution
The first edition also contained:
; 9. Art and Technology
The 4th, expanded edition contains an additional essay:
; Afterword. 20 Years Later.
In 1991 Lem wrote a yet another afterword, Thirty Years Later, published separately and translated in A Stanislaw Lem Reader.

English translations

The book was originally published in Polish.
  • , first complete English translation; translated by Joanna Zylinska
  • Chapter I "Dilemmas" and fragments of chapters II "Two Evolutions", IV "Intellectronics" and VI "Pasquil on the Evolution" had earlier been translated by Frank Prengel.