The Culture

[phantom power]

That is, Iain M. Banks's Culture.

Are we supposed to be in it? Because there is that one novella he wrote "State of the Art" where the Culture is studying us, and in the end the decision is apparently that they leave us alone. And our chances of long-term survival aren't actually looking so awesome.

He talks a lot about "humanoids" in the Culture. There's a weasel word. It's a bit ambiguous to me, but then I also haven't read every Culture novel.

[Fumesucker]

1. A wise decision indeed, at least from our point of view..

The record of lower tech societies coming into contact with those of much superior tech is not a pleasant read indeed.

On the whole I don't think we would handle it well.

[phantom power]

2. I've been thinking about this for a few days now...

and I've realized -- it amuses me to believe that humans never made it into The Culture. Until further notice, I think I'm going to adhere to a deconstructionist theory that none of Banks' characters are actual homo sapiens. They are some other convergently-evolved humanoids.

:evilgrin:

[Fumesucker]

3. I've read a considerable amount of SF that could be classified..

As something like "very close alternate universes" where it appears you are reading about our own universe until some subtle detail lets you know you really aren't.

A good chunk of the fun of SF for me is being dropped into a situation and spending most of the story figuring out just when and where the hell you are. Then when the author drops a triple reverse whammy on you and you guessed wrong it just makes it that much more entertaining.

I'm so good at guessing where a plotline is going on TV shows now that my grandkids think I'm either psychic or have seen every show they like before. I did it to them this afternoon, they were watching some kind of show that had a kid and an adult standing in an office and the adult is talking about how much this particular vase means to him and how it changed his life, the kid has some kind of quarterstaff or something like that, it took me about three seconds into the scene and I told the grandkids that the kid was going to knock the vase on the floor and break it. Sure enough, after about three or four minutes of conversation, kid turns around and the quarterstaff bonks the vase onto the floor, smashing it.

[StarfarerBill]

4. Here's an explanatory essay by Banks regarding the Culture:

http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm