Continually producing bizarre and multicolored formations, the ocean on the planet Solaris has the ability to create deceptively real copies of humans. Circumstantial evidence suggests that it is an intelligent being and may possess some form of consciousness, but even after about a hundred years of intensive research, humanity is little closer to understanding it.

Stanislaw Lem’s genre-defining novel “Solaris” raises questions that take on a new, tangible relevance in the era of AI.