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With the Culture series, Banks has made a very decent attempt at answering the question "if you could do absolutely anything that's physically possible, what wo
by marvin 6y ago
With the Culture series, Banks has made a very decent attempt at answering the question "if you could do absolutely anything that's physically possible, what would you do?"
It is a deeply philosophical work that has the potential real-world implication of guiding advanced AI research, once we get to that point. The books explore the motivations of humans. What we value, what we aspire to, what we do, the crazy ambiguity and uncertainty in our moral aspirations.
Free will, freedom to choose, diversity, tolerance of views that we disagree with. While at the same time maintaining values that are in many senses absolute. "Your right to swing your fist ends where my face begins".
I suppose in one sense it's a very Western democratic view of ethics and morality. But if any moral code was to be the starting point for a vastly more powerful society, it should be one that's both open to change and also embodies humanity.
I absolutely adore this book series, and it's a tragedy that Banks died far too young.
- chillacy 6y agoIan Banks tackles the very essential question or our times with the battle between ascribed and achieved identities and how cultures built around either are incompatible. One of my favorite essays, very thought provoking https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php/2017/11/12/why-the-culture-wins-an-appreciation-of-iain-m-banks/ https://www.sciphijournal.org/index.php/2017/11/12/why-the-c...
- marvin 6y agoThis is an excellent essay. Lots of interesting thoughts on how culture develops and and spreads. Thanks for linking it, I feel wiser after reading it =)
- tialaramex 6y agoOf course the Culture novels are fairly soft SF, with liberal use of FTL travel for example which isn't physically possible. Greg Egan's Amalgam stories are maybe closer to what you might do if you could do anything that's actually physically possible (although it does assume mind upload, which is a considerable stretch). Unlike The Culture, The Amalgam doesn't have wars or indeed an enemy, it consists of all interstellar capable civilisations in our galaxy, and even if you disagree with somebody fighting at that scale is not practical at all. The characters in Analgam stories mostly have questions nobody has answered yet and they try to find out the answers, including "These guys who don't have space travel yet but whose ancestors did lots of amazing math, did their ancestors leave them a proof of interesting number theory questions we haven't solved yet?" and "Why when we try to send probes into the middle of our galaxy do they just come back not remembering why they were sent?". That second one is online as a taste if anybody is intrigued: https://www.gregegan.net/INCANDESCENCE/00/Crocodile.html https://www.gregegan.net/INCANDESCENCE/00/Crocodile.html