What a book this was! I was blown away by the breadth and depth of imagination of the author. Written in 1965 by the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, “The Cyberiad” is a collection of stories that happen in a distant future, when space travel between galaxies is a simple affair.
The book chronicles the adventures of two master-engineers, called constructors, named Trurl & Klapaucius, who could build anything that they set their mind to. The constructors create civilizations, thinking machines, dreaming machines, philosophical machines, machines that can create machines, move around planets, create dragons, then dragon-hunting machines, mind-altering machines to save kingdoms and machines to help them to escape from ruthless kings.
Though classified as Science Fiction, I will put the book under “Fantasy Fiction” & “Philosophy Fiction”. Initially, you don’t get it, but as you keep reading, you get a feel of the brilliance of the author and understand that the tons of scientific sounding words from Astronomy, Quantum Physics and Artificial Intelligence are there to be humorous and to be philosophical. The book was originally written in Polish but has been skilfully translated to English with the humours making their way, which normally gets lost in translation. The translation featured numerous arcane English words, I had to frequently call upon Kindle’s built-in dictionary to explain them, but it was not easy, I had to figure out which were real English words and which were made-up words (of which there were a plenty).
In the fifth chapter listed below, the two Constructors, Trurl to beat Klapauciu, builts an ultimate poetry machine and to train it, simulates an entire universe from the first atom to the second world-war. In that chapter to instruct the machine to write the greatest poetry, he gives the following command, which can be seen as prompts in modern conversational AI parlance.
Let's have a love poem, lyrical, pastoral, and expressed in the language of pure mathematics. Tensor algebra mainly, with a little topology and higher calculus, if need be. But with feeling, you understand, and in the cybernetic spirit.
I will now give a summary into each of the short stories in the book. Though I will not share the ending, I may be revealing a part of the mystery in each story, if you don’t miss out on the fun of discovering it on your own reading, please skip the remainder of this review.
Click here to reveal spoilers
- How the World was Saved: Trurl builds a machine that can create anything starting with the letter “n.” When Klapaucius tries it, he gives it a word starting with “n” (not the one you are thinking of), leading to calamity.
- Trurl’s Machine: Trurl constructs an eight-story thinking machine and asks it, “How much is two plus two?” The machine answers “Seven.” Despite Trurl’s efforts to fix it, the machine remains stubborn, putting Trurl’s life in danger.
- A Good Shellacking: Trurl gifts Klapaucius a machine that can grant any wish. Klapaucius asks it to create a clone of Trurl. Did it succeed or not?
- The First Sally or the Trap of Gargantius: The universe was orderly, with stars aligned perfectly. After earning their Diploma of Perpetual Omnipotence, the constructors embark on a voyage. They discover a planet with two neighboring kingdoms. Trurl assists King Atrocitus, a miser who executes condemned citizens himself. Klapaucius aids King Ferocitus, an enlightened and generous lord. Prepared to use the Gargantius Effect if needed, the constructors proceed. What unfolds next?
- The First Sally (A) or Trurl’s Electronic Bard: Trurl aims to build the ultimate poetry machine. He realizes that programming such a machine requires recreating the entire universe. The machine crafts beautiful poems. Klapaucius challenges it with complex poetry tasks. Does it succeed? If so, why does Trurl send the electronic bard to a distant asteroid?
- The Second Sally or the Offer of King Krool: Trurl and Klapaucius advertise their services and are approached by King Krool to create a new beast for hunting—wild and challenging. They face a dilemma: a beast too formidable might kill the king, leading to their execution; a beast too weak would bore the king, also leading to their execution. They devise a meticulous plan to navigate this predicament.
- The Third Sally or the Dragons of Probability: Trurl and Klapaucius attempt to create a real dragon using statistical probability and a probability amplifier. Their efforts reveal that the spontaneous manifestation of a dragon is astronomically improbable.
- The Fourth Sally, or How Trurl Built a Femfatalatron to Save Prince Pantagoon from the Pangs of Love, and How Later He Resorted to a Cannonade of Babies: An electroknight from Aphelion and Perihelion seeks Trurl’s help to cure their prince’s unrequited love for an unattainable princess. After multiple failed attempts, Trurl builds a machine that bloodlessly defeats the princess’s kingdom.
- The Fifth Sally or the Mischief of King Balerion: King Balerion of Cymberia oppresses his people not through cruelty but by indulging in innocent games. To satisfy him, Trurl provides a machine suitable for hide-and-seek—a portable bilateral personality transformer. This perilous device threatens Trurl’s life, prompting Klapaucius to intervene.
- The Fifth Sally (A) or Trurl’s Prescription: In a distant galaxy, the Steelypips live carefree, thanks to a perfect machine. When a comet threatens them, Trurl employs bureaucratic procedures rather than building a new machine to save them.
- The Sixth Sally or How Trurl and Klapaucius Created a Demon of the Second Kind to Defeat the Pirate Pugg: The constructors explore a perilous trail and are captured by the monstrous pirate Anonymoid. To escape, they create a Demon of the Second Kind—a magical, thermodynamical, nonclassical, and stochastical entity designed to extract information from the tiniest atoms. What becomes of the pirate after this creation?
- The Seventh Sally or How Trurl’s Own Perfection Led to No Good: Trurl hears of two unmatched constructor-benefactors, only to realize it’s a reflection of their own fame. An exiled king on an asteroid requests Trurl’s help to reclaim his kingdom. Instead, Trurl crafts a miniature kingdom for him to rule.
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Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius: Trurl designs three storytelling machines for King Genius, each capable of exercising, entertaining, and edifying the king’s mind. This extensive chapter contains multiple stories:
- The first machine narrates the tale of King Mandrillion, his Perfect Adviser, and Trurl’s eventual destruction of it.
- The second machine shares short stories, including one where Trurl visits a planet where perfectionist ideals lead to unexpected outcomes.
- The third machine recounts the story of Mymost the Selfbegotten, a being born out of sheer chance.
- The final story features Klapaucius meeting Chlorian Theoreticus the Proph, a philosopher whose profound knowledge goes unnoticed.
- Altruizine, or a True Account of How Bonhomius the Hermetic Hermit Tried to Bring About Universal Happiness, and What Came of It: A robot hermit visits Trurl to relay how Klapaucius, in his quest for the Highest Possible Level of Development (H.P.L.D.), encounters its inhabitants. Unable to glean their secrets, Klapaucius builds a machine that reveals a profound truth: superior civilizations cannot aid lower ones; each must evolve independently.
- Prince Ferrix and the Princess Crystal: A handsome prince desires to wed the universe’s ugliest creature (Paleface). The story unfolds how Prince Ferrix cunningly wins her hand in marriage.
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