OMWAT

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As easy as boiling water

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Maybe they're being sarcastic.

work from home kafkan

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I had to take a firm stance at work today. When working at home, this is my dress code. There will be no more discussion.

The Culture Series

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I just finished the 10th and last book of Iain M Banks Culture series and I'm thinking of starting over and reading them again.

The culture series is science fiction set in an advanced age where a society known as 'the culture' has developed advanced artificial intelligence that caters to their every whim. These AI (call minds) are fully sentient and conscious, probably more than the people that inhabit the society, and they serve the society as drones and ships with a wry humor.

These minds often play the primary protagonists in the narrative, working alongside the people to interact with alien cultures.

It is the star trek promise of a post-capitalist society expanded with more modern ideas and better humor. Most of the protagonists in the last book are these AI driven ships.

You should probably read the books in order to get a sense of the way the society is structured but this is unfortunate because I found the first book an exhausting action adventure with only glimmers of interesting philosophical ideas. Fortunately Banks expands on these ideas in later books and with the consistent universe (or as consistent as you can get when techonology is so advanced as to be like magic), they just get better and better.

The series falters in a few books that concentrate on less advanced medieval/feudal societies infiltrated by individuals from the culture but overall I found the series very enjoyable. Here's an overview of the books in chronological order:


Consider Phlebas 1987 "An episode in a full-scale war between the Culture and the Idirans, told mainly from the point of view of an operative of the Idiran Empire."

I found this one exhausting but still of enough interest to continue with the series


The Player of Games 1988 "A bored member of the Culture is blackmailed into being the Culture's agent in a plan to subvert a brutal, hierarchical empire. His mission is to win an empire-wide tournament by which the ruler of the empire is selected."

An excellent book full of intriguing ideas.


Use of Weapon 1990 "Chapters describing the current mission of a Culture special agent born and raised on a non-Culture planet alternate with chapters that describe in reverse chronological order earlier missions and the traumatic events that made him who he is."

A maudlin story with glimmers of interesting ideas.


The State of the Art 1991 "A short story collection. Two of the works are explicitly set in the Culture universe ("The State of the Art" and "A Gift from the Culture"), with a third work ("Descendant") possibly set in the Culture universe. In the title novella, the Mind in charge of an expedition to Earth decides not to make contact or intervene in any way, but instead to use Earth as a control group in the Culture's long-term comparison of intervention and non-interference."

I need to re-read this one. I remember I enjoyed it but it went by too fast.


Excession 1996 "An alien artifact far advanced beyond the Culture's understanding is used by one group of Minds to lure a civilisation (the behaviour of which they disapprove) into war; another group of Minds works against the conspiracy. A sub-plot covers how two humanoids make up their differences after traumatic events that happened 40 years earlier."

A bit depressing. Still some interesting ideas here.


Inversions 1998 "Not explicitly a Culture novel, but recounts what appear to be the activities of a Special Circumstances agent and a Culture emigrant on a planet whose development is roughly equivalent to that of medieval Europe. The interwoven stories are told from the viewpoint of several of the locals."

This story was a drag. Skip it!


Look to Windward 2000 "The Culture has interfered in the development of a race known as the Chelgrians, with disastrous consequences. Now, in the light of a star that was destroyed 800 years previously during the Idiran War, plans for revenge are being hatched."

Excellent!


Matter 2008 "A Culture special agent who is a princess of an early-industrial society on a huge artificial planet learns that her father and brother have been killed and decides to return to her homeworld. When she returns, she finds a far deeper threat."

Another medieval throwback. I skipped through about a third of this book thinking it was another Inversions but it picked up near the end. The ending took me by surprise.


Surface Detail 2010 "A young woman seeks revenge on her murderer after being brought back to life by Culture technology. Meanwhile, a war over the digitized souls of the dead is expanding from cyberspace into the real world."

This was good though his description of a simulated hell was a bit over the top and his villain is the most outrageous capitalist.


The Hydrogen Sonata 2012 "In the last days of the Gzilt civilisation, which is about to Sublime, a secret from far back in their history threatens to unravel their plans. Aided by a number of Culture vessels and their avatars, one of the Gzilt tries to discover if much of their history was actually a lie."

Excellent!

There are so many ideas explored in these books I want to go back and make a list. Iain M Banks died in 2013 so there won't be any more but I encourage you to check out the series.

Picture taken from the Iain M Banks deviant art page

Seductively Gimli...

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baby pygmy nuthatch

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