Abstract

Science Fiction literature described for decades an intelligent form of life on other planets. This scenario raises obvious questions, such as whether we can understand a mind developed in an entirely different environment than our own and equipped with different perceptual capacities. Stanisław Lem’s “Solaris” is perhaps the best realisation of this scenario – a novel where mankind tries to communicate with a giant ocean of plasma, a living organism radically different from human life. “Roadside Picnic” by the Stugatsky brothers raises another problem exemplified in the title itself, which is a metaphor for potential cultural differences between alien civilisation and homo sapiens. Yet another intriguing question concerns the metaphysical and theological consequences deriving from exchanges with non-human civilisations. There seems to be a problem of ‘substitution in metaphysics’ in Science Fiction literature (i.e., replace a wonder with technology, or God with technologically almighty aliens).