Lin Xin
A b s t r a k t
The article proposes a new interpretation of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris. Indeterminism and determinism clash both in Lem’s prose and in his understanding of physics. The latter, according to Lem, is governed by a probabilistic force, the propeller of all events, including the emergence of consciousness and perhaps even intelligence. In contrast to neopositivists, Lem could be described as an absurdist for whom the emergence of consciousness and intelligence marks the limits of scientific inquiry, because, as I point out, the planet Solaris is a macro-metaphor for the human brain, and Solaristics is an ironic response to the origins of intelligent life. In the world of “alien(ated/ing) consciousness” found in Solaris, one’s and the other’s consciousness becomes alien, and perhaps being alien is a way to live.