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I was speaking less about specific capabilities and more about total economic size. How big is the Azadian civilization in terms of worlds/stations/industry? >

by ethbr1 2y ago

I was speaking less about specific capabilities and more about total economic size. How big is the Azadian civilization in terms of worlds/stations/industry? > It sounds like you have the impression that the Culture dominates all other civilisations. There's three places I'm getting this from, more as a pervasive slant than an absolute truth. (1) Ian Banks' writings on the Culture (outside of the books themselves) demonstrate a very strong belief that the Culture approach to things is superior (to those used on current Earth, and to many alternatives) (2) The Culture as zeitgeist moment is very focused on how superior it is to alternatives (civilization evolution wise, if not explicitly). Rarely do people post blog entries about how interesting and aspiration other civilizations from the Culture series are (3) If Banks had wanted to set up a peer-powered civilization that made alternative choices, he would have. He didn't. At least aside from oddities or deus ex machina The most convincing point I've heard in this thread is that essentially the Culture is OP not because of inherent superiority of their beliefs, but specifically because their belief system keeps most of them hanging around past the technological stage other civilizations would have transcended.

n4r9 2y ago
Points 1-3 show that Banks thought the Culture was morally superior. It's not obvious that they dominated the galaxy/universe on a technological or economic level. I concede that there's an suggestion that the Culture are doing very well and continuing to evolve at a greater rate than their peer civilizations due to several factors including their reluctance to Sublime and their idealistic nature. However on Wikipedia there's a well-sourced paragraph stating (emphasis mine): > Although the Culture has more advanced technology and a more powerful economy than the vast majority of known civilizations, it is only one of the "Involved" civilizations that take an active part in galactic affairs. The much older Homomda are slightly more advanced at the time of Consider Phlebas (this is, however, set several centuries before the other books, and Culture technology and martial power continue to advance in the interim);[b] the Morthanveld have a much larger population and economy, but are hampered by a more restrictive attitude to the role of AI in their society.[4] The capabilities of all such societies are vastly exceeded by those of the Elder civilisations (semi-retired from Galactic politics but who remain supremely potent) and even more so by those of the Sublimed, entities which have abandoned their material form for existence in the form of non-corporeal, multi-dimensional energy being. The Sublimed generally refrain from intervention in the material world.[5]

by ethbr1 2y ago

n4r9 2y ago

Points 1-3 show that Banks thought the Culture was morally superior. It's not obvious that they dominated the galaxy/universe on a technological or economic level. I concede that there's an suggestion that the Culture are doing very well and continuing to evolve at a greater rate than their peer civilizations due to several factors including their reluctance to Sublime and their idealistic nature. However on Wikipedia there's a well-sourced paragraph stating (emphasis mine): > Although the Culture has more advanced technology and a more powerful economy than the vast majority of known civilizations, it is only one of the "Involved" civilizations that take an active part in galactic affairs. The much older Homomda are slightly more advanced at the time of Consider Phlebas (this is, however, set several centuries before the other books, and Culture technology and martial power continue to advance in the interim);[b] the Morthanveld have a much larger population and economy, but are hampered by a more restrictive attitude to the role of AI in their society.[4] The capabilities of all such societies are vastly exceeded by those of the Elder civilisations (semi-retired from Galactic politics but who remain supremely potent) and even more so by those of the Sublimed, entities which have abandoned their material form for existence in the form of non-corporeal, multi-dimensional energy being. The Sublimed generally refrain from intervention in the material world.[5]