Peace on Earth ( ) is a 1985 science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. The novel describes, in a satirical tone, the ultimate implications of the arms race. It is a continuation of the adventures of Ijon Tichy.
Plot summary
The evolution of artificial intelligence has allowed major world powers to sign a rather curious treaty: the Moon is divided into national zones (proportional to each nation's Earth real estate) and all weapons development and production must be moved there to be handled by factories. This is supposed to completely demilitarize Earth, achieving the long-sought dream of world peace. A MAD stabilizing factor is apparently preserved by the ability of countries, in case of war, to quickly ship weapons down from the Moon.
Unknown to most people, a problem arises. The ever-increasing amount of autonomy given to Moon's automata, in order to conduct more-effective espionage in neighbors' nation facilities and also to defend one's own, leads to localized robotic conflicts on the Moon's surface. Eventually, after a number of events, there is a total discontinuation of any communication with the Moon. After a number of failed expeditions to reveal the truth on what is going on beneath the Moon's surface, Ijon Tichy is called to the rescue.
Wojciech Orliński notes that the novel is a fabularization of the ideas put forth in the Library of the 21st Century, Lem's faux review of the (non-existing) book "Weapon Systems of The Twenty First Century or The Upside-down Evolution". In fact, in Chapter 2 Tichy reads this book.
Jerzy Jarzębski observes that the finale of the novel involving the destruction of information resembles the finales of several other Lem's novels: Professor A. Dońda, The Invincible, and Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. and in West Germany as Frieden auf Erden by , .
The first edition in Poland by Wydawnictwo Literackie was in 1987,
The first Russian translation (Мир на Земле) was published in the literary magazine Звезда Востока () in Uzbek SSR in 1988, issues 9 and 10, translated by И. Левшин and К. Душенко. In book form it was published in the collection Операция «Вечность» [Operation "Eternity"], Mir Publishers, , pp. 19–272 translated by Е. Вайсброт.
It was translated into English in 1994.