A Conversation for Ask h2g2
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Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Jun 15, 2013
The main thing that Banks' sci-fi explored was the idea of a civilisation that has everything. This is the way that Western Civilisation is heading - it's certainly what people are striving for, that we should have as much of everything as we want.
Banks's civilisation is called The Culture, and it has everything. They are technologically advanced enough to do anything they want, there's no shortage of food, or any form of worldly goods, and medicine is good enough to keep people alive forever, or for as long as they want.
So, the questions that Banks attempts to answer are:
- what will people do to keep themselves interested?
- how will such a civilisation relate to other less advanced civilisations?
- will there still be war?
- how will we stop those people whose only wish is to spread mayhem?
- if we build computers that are more intelligent than us, and they build computers that are even more intelligent, and so on, will these superintelligent machines take control, ignore us humans, enter into a partnership with us, or what?
He wrote a few books which are not set in the "Culture" universe, but they still feature many of these questions.
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
hygienicdispenser Posted Jun 15, 2013
>>He wrote a few books which are not set in the "Culture" universe<<
Twenty books out of a total of twenty-nine aren't set in the Culture, by my count.
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
U14993989 Posted Jun 15, 2013
This idea of a culture free from want ... sounds a bit like the Eloi of HG wells time machine (the ones eaten by the Morlocks).
Also some social theorists and historians would suggest a culture free from want would be decadent and wouldn't survive external threats, and would likely decay from within since those in power are likely to become corrupted ... todays 1% have everything ... but they still strive for more as well as to protect their own interests (cartel like). I am also reminded of the Third Man and Orson Welles famous speech about Cuckoo Clocks (which apparently the Swiss didn't invent).
Anyway it does sound like a fertile ground to explore (like Asimov's robot series and foundation series).
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Jun 15, 2013
hygienicdispenser, I was talking about his Science Fiction books, as I had already said that I hadn't read any of his non-Science Fiction. Of the 12 Science Fiction, books, only 3 are not in the Culture. (although it's not clear with Against a Dark Background - it could be in same Universe, just not in the same galaxy).
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
Just Bob aka Robert Thompson, plugging my film blog cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk Posted Jun 15, 2013
The key to the Culture is they have SO MUCH PLENTY that it just overwhelms everything. Even if, for some reason, someone were to decide they wanted to hoard, they could claim 99.9% of everything, and the remaining 0.1% would still be SO MUCH that every other person simply wouldn't notice a lack. Thus, possession loses all meaning, so nobody bothers hoarding.
Similarly, they have SO MUCH power that 'external threats' just can't compete with it. After the very first book, that is, in which a character sides with any enemy he can find because he believes it's the last chance to stop the Culture before they reach a kind of critical mass beyond which they are "too big to fall". Occasionally in the books thereafter, someone tries to compete with them on something, and they pretty much crush them with a shrug.
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
hygienicdispenser Posted Jun 15, 2013
Sorry Gnomon. Rereading your post, your comment was right. I would also agree that Iain M Banks is one of the greatest SF writers. But I also think that he is a great not-SF writer. I also envy you because you are shortly going to read some of his best books for the first time. You are, arent you...?
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
hygienicdispenser Posted Jun 15, 2013
Just don't start with Dead Air. Or finish with Dead Air. Or put Dead Air at any of the convenient inter-booky points that might present themselves during your Iain Banks Readathon. That's all I have to say,
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
atinythorn Posted Jun 16, 2013
<<<<<<<<I've read, I think, every science fiction book he wrote, and none of the others.
Oddly, I have done the reverse, but I intend to make a start on the SF books now.
Personal favourites were The Wasp Factory, Raw Spirit (the road trip), and the sublimely convoluted The Bridge.
I must admit, I found the later ones to be a bit formulaic, and the same plot ideas were recycled, but there was always something to shock or confound. Even dead Air had it's moments !!
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
Hoovooloo Posted Jun 16, 2013
The Culture is something very rare in sf - an imagined society that it's fans would actually want to live in. Most clear-thinking fans of any sf would not want to actually live in any of the universes they spend their leisure time reading about.
The Duneiverse is pretty harsh for the majority of the population, the little people, and for the leaders it's even worse, they're continually on pins avoiding assassination.
The Star Wars universe looks like it pretty much sucks a lot of the time.
The Star Trek universe is, as has been firmly established, a nasty communist military dictatorship, where if you're not Starfleet you're meat for the grinder, and if you are Starfleet, don't put on a red shirt.
Whereas the Culture is an explicitly excellent place to live, if you're Culture and avoid getting involved with the Contact Section, and especially Special Circumstances. Keep away from those trouble magnets, and life is pretty sweet.
Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
atinythorn Posted Jun 19, 2013
I watched the Kirsty Wark interview with Banks last night. It will be on I-Player I'd imagine , titled Raw Spirit.
We have lost a witty and engaging character.
If anyone does watch it, I noticed something. In the part where Banks is playing his symphony to Kirsty, I thought wow, that sounds very Scottish, just before Kirsty says......"That sounds Scottish"
The Rocks and the Thunder from Local Hero maybe?
Key: Complain about this post
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Iain (M.) Banks - 1954-2013
- 21: Gnomon - time to move on (Jun 15, 2013)
- 22: hygienicdispenser (Jun 15, 2013)
- 23: U14993989 (Jun 15, 2013)
- 24: Gnomon - time to move on (Jun 15, 2013)
- 25: Just Bob aka Robert Thompson, plugging my film blog cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk (Jun 15, 2013)
- 26: hygienicdispenser (Jun 15, 2013)
- 27: Gnomon - time to move on (Jun 15, 2013)
- 28: hygienicdispenser (Jun 15, 2013)
- 29: hygienicdispenser (Jun 15, 2013)
- 30: atinythorn (Jun 16, 2013)
- 31: Hoovooloo (Jun 16, 2013)
- 32: atinythorn (Jun 19, 2013)
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