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Second this. Also helps you reverse-engineer an Elon Musk somewhat.

• tialaramex 8y ago
  In that it suggests he's thirsty for "just" wars? Or you think that running for-profit companies that produce expensive luxury goods counts as socialism? Or... he's a bit shallow and just enjoys a fun novel? The Culture setting is a sort-of utopian socialist society, its people literally don't have money, and the most obviously valuable "things" made in their society, Ships, are people, not products. Musk doesn't look like any flavour of socialist to me, let alone a Utopian one. The book those two names are from, specifically, is about the Culture using below the belt tactics first on our protagonist (he's blackmailed into doing what they want), and then on an entire alien civilisation, sparking a massive civil war apparently as a means to the end of regime change. It's very easy to be gung-ho about the Culture's intervention here because the alien civilisation in question is clearly both corrupt and bigoted - but the thing about massive civil wars is that even if you like the eventual outcome it sucks for ordinary people caught in the crossfire.
  • jessaustin 8y ago
    Published in '88, but yeesh, that's a bit on-the-nose for recent military-media-industrial-complex adventures...
  • B1FF_PSUVM 8y ago
    > it sucks for ordinary people Hey, that has not stopped anyone since whenever. Especially those hell-bent on installing Paradise on Earth soonest.