Iain M. Banks: A Few Notes on the Culture
"The Culture, in its history and its on-going form, is an expression of the idea that the nature of space itself determines the type of civilisations which will thrive there.
The thought processes of a tribe, a clan, a country or a nation-state are essentially two-dimensional, and the nature of their power depends on the same flatness. Territory is all-important; resources, living-space, lines of communication; all are determined by the nature of the plane (that the plane is in fact a sphere is irrelevant here); that surface, and the fact the species concerned are bound to it during their evolution, determines the mind-set of a ground-living species. The mind-set of an aquatic or avian species is, of course, rather different.
Essentially, the contention is that our currently dominant power systems cannot long survive in space; beyond a certain technological level a degree of anarchy is arguably inevitable and anyway preferable."
i love this man (: saw purvis today, mentioned banks to him and although he's not read banks, he said things about reputability and generally accorded banks a veneer of respect [beams] i'm keeping him very very much in view for lit s... so much in mind that i may just have to reread all the 7 banks novels i have. i've just had a think and realise that i've been reading (m) banks for 2 years, now. (: feeling good about banks, and lit. [shuffles off, pleased]
read iain banks, he'll blow your mind (and probably other bits of your body up as well).
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