High tech space civilizations from fiction
Authleft: The Affini Compact from Human Domestication Guide. They’ll enslave your species and keep you as a pet, but you’ll love it because of their mind control pheromones and gender affirming healthcare.
Authright: The Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40,000. “Suffer not the xenos, heretic, nor mutant to live”. Their god-emperor is a corpse, they lost all their best technology, and their empire is doomed.
Libleft: The Culture from The Culture. Their society is controlled by anarcho-communist AIs. They have no laws and great games, but sometimes they destabilize foreign empires as a treat.
Libright: FICSIT Inc from Satisfactory. They’ll sell you all the plundered natural resources from foreign worlds you can afford in their Awesome Shop, just don’t ask what happened to the native lifeforms.
Both the right wing high tech space civilizations are satire made by leftists, and the authleft one is porn. Only the libleft one is a serious attempt at writing a nice place to live. Maybe that means something.
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i gotta check out the culture. my heart craves sci-fi/fantasy fiction that explores authentic anarchism <3
One of my all time favourites series of books.
Ironically, Bezos and Musk are both fans, because they see all the cool scifi stuff and miss everything else that’s going on. Neither of them understand that Banks would have spit on them if he’d ever met them. The man was a proud socialist and fucking detested men like them.
It’s great. Some people recommend starting with Player of Games, since Consider Phlebias is a bit different to most of the books in that the protagonist is someone from outside The Culture working against them, but I think the publishing order works fine too.
IMO, Consider Phlebas really is the best way to introduce the Culture, because it explores the kind of mentality that would want to reject a genuinely utopian society. Horza and the Idirans are a searing critique of our present society, just as much as the Eaters are. The whole book is laying out his thesis for why the Culture really is a better way forward, by examining it through the eyes of someone who fucking hates it.
Be that as it may, Consider Phlebas is boring and I couldn’t get through it on the first attempt. Player of Games is a page turner
I mean, I think that comes down to what kind of scifi is more your cup of tea. Player of Games is exciting to someone who wants intrigue and suspense. On the other hand, Consider Phlebas has some of the craziest action set pieces in the entire series. I love them both, but I could easily see someone finding Player of Games boring compared to Consider Phlebas. Part of Banks’ skill is that his books cover everything from explosive action at staggering scales to a pair of alien diplomats spending an entire novel talking about how weird humans are.
Mortality is voluntary in the Culture. You can back up your consciousness or not, it’s your choice. Millions of people choose whether to be immortal based on what social media influences say is the current fashion. Every few years the fad switches from “it’s important to practice good safety” to “life is only precious if it’s finite” and back again. Nobody is going to force you into either choice, it’s up to you.
Masaq’ Orbital is a ringworld orbiting a slightly unstable sun. It has a very high backup rate in case a solar flare destroys it (which has never happened, but it might in the future). Because of the high backup rate, it’s also home to the most dangerous extreme sports. If you want to fly in a wingsuit or go lava-rafting across the unfinished plates, knock yourself out.
Most organic culture citizens live hundreds of years thanks to good healthcare and ethical genetic engineering. They also have 200 artificial glands full of non-addictive psychoactive drugs, which can be activated with a thought. Some people use them for improved focus or other useful things, but mostly they’re used for recreation.
There are no laws. Nobody steals, because nothing is scarce. Some people murder, but then a drone follows them around to stop them from doing it again, and they don’t get invited to the cool parties anymore. Very few people intentionally hurt others, because very few people want to be thought of as a loser.
When people say “Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism”, the Culture is what they’re describing.
Just a forewarning. The first book “Consider Phlebus” is all action, pretty much non-stop. It’s good but you may have to take a breath every couple chapters.
