3 ms·

Have you read Ian Banks Culture series? It's kind of a best case scenario of AI in the far future.

by datakan 1mo ago

noir_lord 1mo ago
The Culture is what I'd want to happen, the Polity (from Neal Asher) is closer to what I'd expect to happen. Both are good series if you haven't read one or the other (or either) though I'd say Banks was the better writer, Asher world builds better than anyone I can think of in contemporary science fiction though, Spatterjay is a brilliantly realised genuinely alien feeling world and the Prador are superb "villains" (from a human perspective, totally rational from their own).
- deater 1mo ago
  even some of Banks' stuff starts to get a bit dated. I was re-reading Consider Phlebas the other day, and in one sequence he snuck into a high-security concert type event and he's making narrow escapes because concert security is humans checking for paper tickets. And while I am sure you could come up with an in-universe reason for why a super-technological somewhat morally ambiguous future event with pervasive technology would be relying on 1980s levels of surveillance, I think it's just funny how people not that long in the past couldn't easily imagine how willing we'd be to overcomplicate things like that.
  - WorldMaker 1mo ago
    I think Banks would argue that books like Consider Phlebas are set on the border planets and outskirts of the Culture for many reasons, including keeping the books relatable to the audiences of their time. The in-universe explanation is usually "backwater planet" across a lot of the Culture novels.
alasdair_ 1mo ago
I still think Iain Banks was the best sf writer ever to have existed. The Player of Games is an easy read if anyone wants to try him for the first time.
- noir_lord 1mo ago
  I entirely agree but I'm entirely biased, in a world without Sir Terry Pratchett he'd easily be my favourite writer. It's one of the reason that Musk referencing The Culture makes me want to smash my head on a desk (or someone's at least). On a personal level I suspect Banks would have deeply disliked Musk (based on his political leanings during his life time and his works in aggregate).
- datakan 1mo ago
  He's definitely up there with Asimov and others.

Have you read Ian Banks Culture series? It's kind of a best case scenario of AI in the far future.

by datakan 1mo ago

Have you read Ian Banks Culture series? It's kind of a best case scenario of AI in the far future.

The Culture is what I'd want to happen, the Polity (from Neal Asher) is closer to what I'd expect to happen. Both are good series if you haven't read one or the other (or either) though I'd say Banks was the better writer, Asher world builds better than anyone I can think of in contemporary science fiction though, Spatterjay is a brilliantly realised genuinely alien feeling world and the Prador are superb "villains" (from a human perspective, totally rational from their own).

deater 1mo ago
even some of Banks' stuff starts to get a bit dated. I was re-reading Consider Phlebas the other day, and in one sequence he snuck into a high-security concert type event and he's making narrow escapes because concert security is humans checking for paper tickets. And while I am sure you could come up with an in-universe reason for why a super-technological somewhat morally ambiguous future event with pervasive technology would be relying on 1980s levels of surveillance, I think it's just funny how people not that long in the past couldn't easily imagine how willing we'd be to overcomplicate things like that.
- WorldMaker 1mo ago
  I think Banks would argue that books like Consider Phlebas are set on the border planets and outskirts of the Culture for many reasons, including keeping the books relatable to the audiences of their time. The in-universe explanation is usually "backwater planet" across a lot of the Culture novels.

alasdair_ 1mo ago

I still think Iain Banks was the best sf writer ever to have existed. The Player of Games is an easy read if anyone wants to try him for the first time.

noir_lord 1mo ago
I entirely agree but I'm entirely biased, in a world without Sir Terry Pratchett he'd easily be my favourite writer. It's one of the reason that Musk referencing The Culture makes me want to smash my head on a desk (or someone's at least). On a personal level I suspect Banks would have deeply disliked Musk (based on his political leanings during his life time and his works in aggregate).
datakan 1mo ago
He's definitely up there with Asimov and others.