Stanislaw Lem was a science fiction and philosophy Polish writer. Among his brilliant works, Non Serviam comes out as a poetic (yet highly detailed by drawing from computer science, evolution and  artificial intelligence) description of conscious software simulations. This conscious software reaches a level of complexity of thought very similar to humans till the point of wondering about their hypothetical creators:

“Nothing is due Him. A God who craves such feelings must first assure his feeling subject that He exists beyond all question. Love may be forced to rely on speculations as to the recipricocity it inspires; that is understandable. But a love forced to rely on speculations as to whether or not the beloved exists is nonsense. He who is almighty could have provided certainty. Since He did not provide it, if He exists, He must have deemed it unnecessary. Why unnecessary? One begins to suspect that maybe He is not almighty. A God not almighty would be deserving of feelings akin to pity, and indeed to love as well; but this, I think, none of our theodicies allow. And so we say: We serve ourselves and no one else.”

Unfortunately, their creators are not Gods but scientists that know that “the bills for the electricity consumed have to paid quarterly, and the moment is going to come when my university superiors demand the “wrapping up” of the experiment”.

About information regarding the meaning of the title of the story “Non Serviam” click here.

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