Solaris explores many methods of network communications, not all of them are mentioned in chapter but they are still related to the chapter's themes and worth mentioning. Solaris has a few examples using phone calls and video calls. Berton video calls Chris from his car. The Solaris station allows people to call others on the station. Cell phones allow us to instantaneously communicate long-distance. Continuous video calling is one way to socialize on the internet. The movie seems to use a signal box like a modern cell phone to transmit voice and video even when one signal is moving.
The projections or “visitors” are neutrino-based conscious life-forms that resemble humans created by Solaris and they often appear on the station. They are a form of communication from Solaris since they often look identical to a human. In Chris’s case, his dead wife, Hari, allows him to socialize with her. The false Hari looks indistinguishable from the real Hari This technology is like a virtual person or hologram becoming physical and artificial intelligence becoming human. For the other scientists, the visitors are false humans and represent undesired communication like spam. They want to censor the visitors. Solaris can create false people and impersonate or steal someone’s identity.
The scientists on the station try to communicate with Solaris using X-rays. X-rays are a form of signal communication such as cell phones or radio. Here they serve as potentially destructive communication. The scientists then try to broadcast Chris’s thoughts as an encephalogram using X-rays to communicate with the planet. Encephalograms are transmitting one’s thoughts in a signal. This form of communication may be possible but the internet can be used to publicize or post one’s thoughts to an audience. The planet responds by stopping the visitors and growing islands. The internet allows people to quickly respond to messages, posts, etc. Humans may not have communicated with extraterrestrials yet but networked communication can be confusing, destructive, and sometimes impossible.