The Invincible

The Invincible Analysis

The Invincible is about the unknowability of the technological future, and the fearful humility that humans should have when playing with fire, the fire in this case being the prospect of interconnected technological beings. This could be seen as a prediction of the internet; however, the dominant feature of the plot line is still within the realm of fantasy right now, namely the idea of self-replicating, bionic lifeforms, with their own evolutionary timeline.

Look at the attitude of the humans in the story. When they see the strange, exotic vision of alien robotic life, they name it after death, calling it the "necrosphere." This is the underworld. This feature is also part of what makes The Invincible a work of horror as well as science fiction. The occult terminology for the development of a new evolutionary timeline seems to be an accurate depiction of what such a discovery might feel like emotionally. The prospect of unguided, organic evolution being available to other types of life than our own, would cause terror and panic, because it seems to threaten our own survival, especially in a world with space travel, because leaving the planet may not mean solving the problem.

Therefore, in the face of uncertainty and eminent threat, the humans are left with their ultimate recourse, the same ultimatum from Stanislaw Lem's actual time in Poland, that of nuclear war.

In other words, the story is about the true risk of artificial intelligence or lifeforms outside of the animal kingdom, alien or robotic. It's a terrifying prospect that the only recourse we might have in a situation where technology advanced beyond our ability to control it, that we might have to start from scratch and destroy the planet.

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