When Iain Banks discusses the appearance of Culture ships he tends to describe them as being very boring -- a cylinder with a flattened area or whatever. This i

When Iain Banks discusses the appearance of Culture ships he tends to describe them as being very boring -- a cylinder with a flattened area or whatever. This is a little odd because of all the major SF settings, the Culture has the least trouble making spacecraft and could presumably shape them any way it pleases. Arthur C. Clarke's "Discovery" is a shielded sphere joined to nuclear propulsion systems by a long shaft -- seems pretty plausible to me. "Realistic" spacecraft are probably going to look very utilitarian until/if space travel becomes technically easy and safe. The vast majority of aircraft look pretty much alike for similar reasons.