4 ms·

The way I think about that is simply - the Culture is what I'd want to happen, the Polity is what I'd expect to happen. Banks had grander ideas, Asher has bett

The way I think about that is simply - the Culture is what I'd want to happen, the Polity is what I'd expect to happen. Banks had grander ideas, Asher has better world building (I'd argue his world building is as good or better than any other sci-fi author - the world of Spatterjay particularly). Having read both series completely multiple times I'd struggle to choose which I prefer (and happily I don't have to).

goatlover 3y ago
Good way to put it. But I'm a little put off by the Culture's hegemonizing swarm tendencies, however enlightened they are as "the Borg". But the Polity has some real nightmare stuff in it.
- noir_lord 3y ago
  I think both the author and through him The Culture are aware of that risk, it's why he created `Special Circumstances` to provide an outlet (and useful outcomes) for the people (including the AI's and drones here) who really don't want to be a space communist hippy in a post-scarcity economy. Asher has a similar thing with the rogue AI's but his Polity is more centrally directed and unified because of Earth Central been the dominant AI (though some of the rogues do approach EC in terms of raw computing power). Both are my favourite series in sci-fi and it's fascinating that two plausible (within the rules of their own universes) can emerge from fairly similar starting points. That and the Prador are truly horrific protagonists well written, one of the best realisations of what genuinely alien thought processes might be like. From the Contact Wiki > Banks has noted that the perfect society of the Culture creates well-adjusted, content people — who are (for story purposes) rather boring.[2] Therefore, many of the Culture novels deal with outside agents or mercenaries in the employ of Special Circumstances.

4 ms·

The way I think about that is simply - the Culture is what I'd want to happen, the Polity is what I'd expect to happen. Banks had grander ideas, Asher has bett

by noir_lord 3y ago

goatlover 3y ago
Good way to put it. But I'm a little put off by the Culture's hegemonizing swarm tendencies, however enlightened they are as "the Borg". But the Polity has some real nightmare stuff in it.
- noir_lord 3y ago
  I think both the author and through him The Culture are aware of that risk, it's why he created `Special Circumstances` to provide an outlet (and useful outcomes) for the people (including the AI's and drones here) who really don't want to be a space communist hippy in a post-scarcity economy. Asher has a similar thing with the rogue AI's but his Polity is more centrally directed and unified because of Earth Central been the dominant AI (though some of the rogues do approach EC in terms of raw computing power). Both are my favourite series in sci-fi and it's fascinating that two plausible (within the rules of their own universes) can emerge from fairly similar starting points. That and the Prador are truly horrific protagonists well written, one of the best realisations of what genuinely alien thought processes might be like. From the Contact Wiki > Banks has noted that the perfect society of the Culture creates well-adjusted, content people — who are (for story purposes) rather boring.[2] Therefore, many of the Culture novels deal with outside agents or mercenaries in the employ of Special Circumstances.