Any other fans of The Culture novels?

[Riedquat]

indeed, the problem with living in the culture is how do you find satisfaction with your life? You would need to be really good at setting goals and tests for yourself unless you want to engage in unbridled (or hey bridled i won't judge) hedonism

Such a setting would normally make it rather hard to come up with stories - that, plus the huge power they've got to do whatever they feel like leads to "where's the challenge?", and whilst everything going smoothly is what people want from life a decent life doesn't make an interesting story. But in their own way those are limits, and trying to convincingly weave interesting stories within limits is a good part of what makes an interesting, inventive story. Such an approach could easily fail with someone without the necessary inventiveness.

[Yukaphile]

Question. Was Iain Banks a fan of Star Trek?

[Riedquat]

In one of the short stories in The State of the Art a Culture ship heads towards Earth and one of the crew becomes a bit of a Trek fan, so possibly. Whether it's a good or bad portrayal I couldn't say, although from the sounds of it that particular character isn't the best example, sounding like a downright hypocrite based on the summary I read, not having read that book (I'm not really a fan of "other cultures say what a mess humans are", particularly in a series which has far, far worse ones ).

[Yukaphile]

Man, these Shellworlds sound FASCINATING... and they were possibly built to shield the WHOLE GALAXY? I wonder if the Forerunners could have used that technology to save them from the Flood?

[Yukaphile]

HOLY SHIT. As I transcribe "Matter..." Anaplian stopped a war rape, and we all know how much that irks me, given how some Feminist assholes today would probably call that woman victim a "criminal" for her mistaken beliefs and the possibly tyrannical, ruthless and cruel king she supports, but still... seeing her swoop in to murder those disgusting sons of bitches was soooooooo satisfying. Didn't save the poor woman, but that boy? Well, poor thing. I feel sorry for him, but happy she rescued him and OMG, the Culture is NOTHING like the Federation. For one, others were right, they regularly interfere to help make a less developed planet a better place. If this were Picard or Janeway, I could see them spouting some "they must progress in their own way, no matter how violent" or "these kind of things are natural when it comes to evolution" bullshit that was so common in the TNG era, ugh. Also... wow, are the Culture books a bastion for the LGBT community. Shit, I'm at best hetero-flexible, and I still find this empowering. I LOVE IT.

[Yukaphile]

Wow, so that's what Effectors are! And Gridfire can take out whole planets?!

[Steve]

Yeah, the Culture is a bit overpowered. I remember that back when someone introduced them on SB, a Star Wars vs. debater tired to play up "Oh, so they'd be the USSR to the Galactic Empire's USA", and the resident Culture fan replied, "No, the Homomdan Empire is the USSR to the Culture's USA." That analogy was then expanded by someone to add, "The Galactic Empire from Star Wars is the mugger at the corner of Fifth and Main, and the United Federation of Planets is the bum he's curb-stomping".

But the stories usually work around that because A) some of the other space-faring cultures are even more powerful, or at least just as powerful, and B) the Culture has its own issue with its citizens sometimes falling into a kind of ennui. Arguably Banks subverts the utopia element of the Culture by showing how many people end up rejecting it, either leaving the Culture or allowing themselves to die or becoming Special Circumstances agents so that, through helping other cultures, they find personal justification for the luxury they were raised in.

Then there's the whole question of Sublimation, essentially Stargate-style Ascension, and how that keeps the galaxy "fresh", so to speak, as advanced cultures eventually Sublimate en masse. "Hydrogen Sonata" made for a really good look at how that goes, and is generally a brilliant, bittersweet piece for the series to end on.

[clearspira]

Yeah, the Culture is a bit overpowered. I remember that back when someone introduced them on SB, a Star Wars vs. debater tired to play up "Oh, so they'd be the USSR to the Galactic Empire's USA", and the resident Culture fan replied, "No, the Homomdan Empire is the USSR to the Culture's USA." That analogy was then expanded by someone to add, "The Galactic Empire from Star Wars is the mugger at the corner of Fifth and Main, and the United Federation of Planets is the bum he's curb-stomping".

But the stories usually work around that because A) some of the other space-faring cultures are even more powerful, or at least just as powerful, and B) the Culture has its own issue with its citizens sometimes falling into a kind of ennui. Arguably Banks subverts the utopia element of the Culture by showing how many people end up rejecting it, either leaving the Culture or allowing themselves to die or becoming Special Circumstances agents so that, through helping other cultures, they find personal justification for the luxury they were raised in.

Then there's the whole question of Sublimation, essentially Stargate-style Ascension, and how that keeps the galaxy "fresh", so to speak, as advanced cultures eventually Sublimate en masse. "Hydrogen Sonata" made for a really good look at how that goes, and is generally a brilliant, bittersweet piece for the series to end on.

The Culture is closer to the Time Lords in tech level than the Federation or the Empire (minus time travel obviously).

[clearspira]

HOLY SHIT. As I transcribe "Matter..." Anaplian stopped a war rape, and we all know how much that irks me, given how some Feminist assholes today would probably call that woman victim a "criminal" for her mistaken beliefs and the possibly tyrannical, ruthless and cruel king she supports, but still... seeing her swoop in to murder those disgusting sons of bitches was soooooooo satisfying. Didn't save the poor woman, but that boy? Well, poor thing. I feel sorry for him, but happy she rescued him and OMG, the Culture is NOTHING like the Federation. For one, others were right, they regularly interfere to help make a less developed planet a better place. If this were Picard or Janeway, I could see them spouting some "they must progress in their own way, no matter how violent" or "these kind of things are natural when it comes to evolution" bullshit that was so common in the TNG era, ugh. Also... wow, are the Culture books a bastion for the LGBT community. Shit, I'm at best hetero-flexible, and I still find this empowering. I LOVE IT.

When you consider that these books started in 1980s, the LGBT tolerance is even more comendable. In other ways though Banks was a man of his time. Here's one thing that once you see you can't unsee: despite everyone being able to change sex and despite being told that gender roles no longer exist; no male ever wears a skirt, dress or make-up despite many females doing so. You would think that clothes taboos would be laughable to these people.

[Yukaphile]

@Steve I've seen that analogy. It's quite funny.

@clearspira And the Time Lords are no slouch themselves. And yeah, no kidding about the LGBT stuff.