Znak, 1997
I'll admit that I never read Summa Technologicae though I always wanted to, as it's one of these books which looked beyond time when it was written, it was a prediction of the future... that happened to be real. Lem during the 90s wrote lots of essays and columns where he did return to one of his seminal works where he did reflect on what became reality in 30 years since it was first published. Dziury w całym is one collection of these essays and columns, written for Tygodnik Powszechny* between 1995-1997.
Contrary to other collections from this period like Okamngnienie, Tajemnica Chińskiego Pokoju or Bomba Megabitowa this one is broader in range of topics - from cloning, societal changes, history, current politics, the Internet or even the language and literature. It was conveniently split into 8 chapters arranged by topic, the way essays are arranged actually made it really smooth to read.
Lem's writing style might be heavy for some people, but surprisingly some of his essays and columns, especially if they aren't either about technology or commentary on current science, are really pleasant to read. Even more science related essays. It surprised me how quickly I did read it, it usually took me a while to digest everything and think about it... though I wish I took time while reading as so many things Lem did predict in the 90s became reality some years after publication. Like euro being only beneficial for strong economies like German one - introduction of it in many countries lead to costs of living being too high for an average pay.
Lots of these essays are laced with sort of uncertainity and anxiety about development of new technologies and new scientific achievements, the moral and ethical dilemmas about cloning and biotechnology or issues around the internet, the censorship and free speech. First chapter is focused on topic of biotechnology, known cases like famous mouse with human ear grown on it and Dolly the sheep on how many theses in biology got shattered by more and more rapid development enabling newer branches of science like biotechnology to thrive.
Chapter on the Internet was more lighter than his technology focused essay collection, but still it's really, really correct on many things that happened in next 20, 30 years since. I was thinking a lot about one essay where Lem did took the side of publishers and other IP owners, where he did predict death of print, in extension of physical media. Internet gives you loads of media and other interesting things for free but sometimes... flipping the magazine or holding the book just feels more natural. He did also lament on how internet, already in the middle of the 90s, was prone to be clogged by useless information (he wrote about it more extensively in Bomba Megabitowa, published 1999). MUDs and early internet RPGs were discussed and the probality of them being used for sexual gratification which contuined since then, but later on with nicer games and graphics. Another prediction that became so painfully true was that Internet is basically a tool of anglo cultural imperialism, as most of sources were in English and to communicate with people all over the word you ended using it. Connecting the world together resulted in bleeding foreign, american cultural patterns in cultures that are totally different which is really, really tiresome.
Another part that made me think a lot, as situation didn't change since then and got even worse, was Lem's thoughts on Neil Postman's Disappearance of the Childhood. One sentence that is still in my head was basically that... when children get more mature, the society/adults becomes more infantile, childish. You nowadays have 12-13 years old girls trying to buy expensive skincare and try to look like adult women or men collecting pokemon cards at 40... Plus scientific and academic circles get dumbed down more and more. There were also lots of pondering on current events back then like Balkan Wars, about the evil and morality. Loads of it was tied into reflections on history, especially WW2 and even Lem's very own experiences from this period. Most unexcepted chapter was about the literature, poetry and language itself which was a bit refreshing and somewhat lighter than rest of the collection.
It's a type of book I like the most, a collection of well-written short essays and columns. Lem was the type of person that doesn't really exist anymore in current internet age where you don't need to know anything as you can find information instantly, someone who did grew up in period where education did pass the general knowledge to the children, a person who was deeply interested in so many topics and was a good observator coming to conclusions and predictions aided by his vast knowledge of science. The entire collection has such a common sense, I'd say centrist politically (as Lem did criticize both capitalism (especially corporations) and communism) and very balanced but laced with anxiety about the future. Anxiety that was actually justified.