Lęk przed maszyną i lęk (z) maszyny. Sztuczna inteligencja i technolęki Stanisława Lema

The article is devoted to technofears – complex and diverse fears of technology, which undergo conceptualization, are analysed in terms of problems they may cause and are visualized in the works of Stanisław Lem. Three basic issues have been analysed. Firstly, Lem’s anxiety related to predictions of civilizational development, present in his studies and late opinion journalism. Secondly, fear of progress that is ever-present in his works (particularly of: a machine, technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence), haunting an individual and humanity in nearer or further future. Thirdly, fears felt by machines depicted in his works as personified literary characters (robots, artificial intelligence). The concluding part includes a question about extreme, identity-related dimension of fear, which, also in reference to artificial intelligence, turns out to be, at least in the works of Solaris’ author, a fundamental existential experience required for the creation of a subject – person.