3 ms·

Yeah I've only read The Dispossessed and a few short stories so I might have a tilted view of her bibliography. I've tried to get into Ian Banks. One feeling I

Yeah I've only read The Dispossessed and a few short stories so I might have a tilted view of her bibliography. I've tried to get into Ian Banks. One feeling I get is that there's two kinds of optimist sci fi. Technology magically solves our problems - or technology can be both force for good and bad, let's use it for good. I have a feeling that Ian M Banks writes the former but I'm probably wrong here? There can still be interesting conflict even if the bigger problems have been solved. Dispossessed is one good example I think. The conflict is partially about flaws inherent in the "better" society that they created. And in Star Trek and to some degree in "The long way to a small angry planet" the conflict is between the larger society and the hold outs.

bawolff 1y ago
I think Iain M Banks tries to answer the question: in a hypothetical future where all our material needs are met, where does that leave society? Do people still do stuff if they don't need money and why? Who runs it? Etc. Its sort of an optimistic exploration of post-scarcity anarchism. It remindsme a bit of how internet communities work. I think it takes its premise much more seriously than star trek does. E.g. Star trek has free replicators for everyone and yet everyone is spending tons of money at Quark's for some reason. Which is fine, star trek has a lot of other good qualities, but i don't think it does a great job of exploring the implication of its technologies.
TimorousBestie 1y ago
I can’t think of a plot problem in a Banks novel that is magically solved by technology. They’re mostly about humans/human-equivalent-aliens finding a fringe niches on the boundary of a utopia that they don’t want to live in for one reason or another.
ergsef 1y ago
"The Word for World is Forest" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" are probably my two favorites "sci-fi" Le Guin books, highly recommend them.

bawolff 1y ago

I think Iain M Banks tries to answer the question: in a hypothetical future where all our material needs are met, where does that leave society? Do people still do stuff if they don't need money and why? Who runs it? Etc. Its sort of an optimistic exploration of post-scarcity anarchism. It remindsme a bit of how internet communities work. I think it takes its premise much more seriously than star trek does. E.g. Star trek has free replicators for everyone and yet everyone is spending tons of money at Quark's for some reason. Which is fine, star trek has a lot of other good qualities, but i don't think it does a great job of exploring the implication of its technologies.

TimorousBestie 1y ago

I can’t think of a plot problem in a Banks novel that is magically solved by technology. They’re mostly about humans/human-equivalent-aliens finding a fringe niches on the boundary of a utopia that they don’t want to live in for one reason or another.

ergsef 1y ago

"The Word for World is Forest" and "The Left Hand of Darkness" are probably my two favorites "sci-fi" Le Guin books, highly recommend them.