Memory and Algorithms: Who Preserves the Past? A Review of the Roundtable Discussion of the VIII Lem Readings (Samara, 2026)

This article presents an overview of the papers and discussions from the roundtable discussion "Memory and Algorithms: Who Preserves Our Past and Where?", held as part of the international academic conference "VIII Lem Readings" (Samara, March 26–28, 2026). The overarching theme of the conference was understanding key issues in contemporary philosophy, culture, and technology in the context of the writer's creative legacy. The roundtable discussion focused on technologically mediated changes in the limits of the human, the differences between human and algorithmic memory, the study of collective experience through computational philosophy, artificial intelligence in the context of Freud's teachings, and the phenomenon of the right to be forgotten as a condition of human identity, forgiveness, and personal development in the digital age. The discussion confirmed the growing relevance of the issues raised in the writer's works and their significance in the context of the most important socio-humanitarian questions posed by the digital age. The speakers formulated and related to S. Lem's artistic and philosophical vision a number of theses related to the expanding technologically mediated multidimensionality of human existence in the digital age. The results of the roundtable confirmed the importance of further research into the phenomenon of digital memory and the human right to be forgotten in the context of philosophical anthropology, cultural studies, and ethical and legal assessment.