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The Cold Reason God Doesn't Answer | Non Serviam

2026-01-29 Entertainment
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Quinn's Ideas
Quinn's Ideas
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Description

I recently read Stanisław Lem’s short story Non-Serviam, and what’s interesting about it is that it doesn’t actually argue about whether God exists. It asks something much more uncomfortable. What if God is real, reachable, and perfectly capable of explaining himself, and simply chooses not to. This particular short story can be found in his collection of short stories titled A Perfect Vacuum. Which consisted of reviews of nonexistent books. Non Serviam appears towards the end. Lem presents the story as a dry, fictional academic review of a book on personetics by a man named Professor James Dobb. Personetics, the science of creating sentient beings called personoids within machines. Stanisław Lem himself was not religious and he was openly skeptical of the idea that morality requires a transcendent authority. That position is not hidden or ambiguous in this short story. Lem approaches God as a logical proposition under uncertainty, not as a being owed obedience, love, or gratitude, and he carries that stance straight into the story. When the personoids’ refuse to ground ethics in fear of punishment or hope of reward this to me is Lem’s way of showing his own conviction. 👽 Please consider supporting this channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ideasoficeandfire or PAYPAL - https://paypal.me/QuinnsIdeas?locale.x=en_US 🎨 Art: https://foundation.app/mint/eth/0x3B3ee1931Dc30C1957379FAc9aba94D1C48a5405/101786 🎵 Music: https://www.youtube.com/@JamezDahlMusic 📚 Get These Books! Affiliate * https://amzn.to/4a5chwk Quinn's Discord: https://discord.gg/uGx4WsjVCZ FOLLOW QUINN ON TWITTER: Twitter: https://twitter.com/IDEASOFICE_FIRE I NOW HAVE A SUBREDDIT: https://www.reddit.com/r/IdeasofIceandFire/ Quinn's New Graphic Novel: https://www.quinnhoward.net/theliebehindthestar Buy Quinn's Comic Books: https://www.quinnhoward.net/shop Quinn's Website: https://www.quinnhoward.net Like me on Facebook!: https://www.facebook.com/IOIAF 🎥 Mentioned Videos 🎬 Other Playlist Three-Body Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXGGVBzHLUfIzEhovpQJ2ENiNvJoOD2A H.P. Lovecraft Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXGGVBzHLUcMoc_ZljrDbgrRi3x_CLYD Hyperion Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXGGVBzHLUfgKLf-CBr5VCC2xM0qX8Xh Dune Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXGGVBzHLUdsgN_vFaZmfjc6bXxPqajV Foundation Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRXGGVBzHLUeQMsBkZJ72aIIG8nR-No6J Feel free to leave a comment like and subscribe! Thanks For Watching!

Top Comments (10)

@AbhinavSrivastava11 2026-01-29

Hi Quinn, guys here

1.4k 38 replies
@mcgrudo 2026-01-29

Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage - Adan

382 10 replies
@DirkLoechel 2026-01-29

Lem is very underappreciated in western SciFi, which is quite a loss.

298 24 replies
@jhwheuer 2026-01-29

Upvote for Lem!

179 1 replies
@thowle 2026-01-29

when the notification rings and you see quinn's name ya know it's gonna be good

145 1 replies
@oneandthem 2026-01-29

Quinn - thank you for consistently great content. You have been inspiring me to buy more books.

120 1 replies
@TKBarnes 2026-01-29

Lem is one of sci-fi greatest creators ever. I can't stress enough how happy it makes me to know his legacy remains in the circles. His name, rightly so, is mentioned among Clarke, Asimov, Banks, Card and really deserves its place there. This man has literally changed our world with his words (this is not hyperbole - his works have directly influenced many technologists' inventions, such as mobile phones) and I hope to see more of his work talked by you. Lem is one of my earliest memories - my Mum reading me "Robot Tales" (Bajki Robotow) and is genuinely one of, like, three reasons I can genuinely look back on my childhood and go "This. This shit is why I am the ubernerd I am."

71
@GigaSimp 2026-02-03

God chooses not to reveal himself because he is not all-powerful and does not love them (12:44).

16
@GoblinWife 2026-01-30

And thusly, the Lord spake, “I must apologize, my children. The grant proposal has been rejected.”

4
@odiousmelodious2410 2026-02-01

Thanks for sharing Quinn. My family is now in turmoil and my wife wants a divorce. My son won't stop crying since I showed them this video and now he's talking to the villagers in minecraft and keeps asking me to help them know he exists. I told him he's missing the point, that our God doesn't even know that we exist. Any way keep up the great content.

3

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