Iain M. Banks, The Culture Series

[@dominicdelprincipe2583]

I do love the Culture books, and am glad to see it disseminated more widely. Kudos

[@TheOrbitalArray]

Thank you! I love it too

[@mathiesondl]

I knew Ian...he was a regular customer of the restaurant I managed in Edinburgh. Such a lovely guy. We both played the game Civilization and would talk about strategies often. Sad loss.

[@TheOrbitalArray]

Thanks for leaving your comment, a loss indeed

[@nicolassalamanca8051]

You may hsve changed my life with that comment I'll probably look to play that game got any tips?

[@Tubesmaney]

Get out! Really!?! Now there’s a man I would’ve loved to have had discussions with! He was a brilliant writer whom I’m a big fan of, and we lost him too soon. I’m sorry you lost your friend.

[@ro9uemancer]

You'd love dominions

[@fuffoon]

I gobbled up the whole series in just a few weeks. These videos are like mini vacations back home.

[@maroontide31]

Thanks for the not helping anyone

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

Ugh, I want to be a citizen of The Culture.

[@MacCionnaith]

Me too!!

[@treacherousjslither6920]

Ditto. F current earth.

[@lillyanneserrelio2187]

Sign me up. Finally no more people racist against us dumb blondes...

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

My fellow transhumanists, unite!

[@fallsprig4581]

and if you disagree with the culture you can just go live in a system with at least a few trillion people that will completely agree with you and the culture will provide you need anyway

[@4_am]

Got to meet Banks once, lovely intresting man.

[@greyareaRK1]

It's been a while, but I came away from the Culture books with the impression that they actively divert nascent cultures towards 'compatible' values and ethics, if for no other reason than to avoid future conflict with the Culture (a preoccupation after the Idaran Wars?), if not to reduce suffering generally. Special Circumstances are the pragmatists who manage 'reality' clandestinely while the rest of the Culture debate ethics in a general way. SC has a checkered reputation within the Culture, non?

[@kevinkelsey9845]

AI generated scripts, voiceover, and imagery are so weird. Still, glad to see more content on the culture.

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

How do you know the script is AI? How do I get AI script?

[@lachlanwelsh5880]

There are a lot of cliches in the text. Expressions that I would personally try to avoid in order to not sound so glib and rehashed. Really, when you think about what an AI does this outcome is to be expected… it “reads” all the other documents on the subject/adjacent subjects and uses them. No real, truly original insight. Just a clever re-hashing. But like the other commenter said - that’s ok, it is nice to see more Culture related content!

[@antonyjh1234]

It's got that hope for humanity that humans might need, makes me wonder if the kids brought up with it will be called A1's

[@AAron-gr3jk]

If only this could be our future. Out of the many very bad options, this would be the 1 in a million good outcome

[@scottabc72]

Well put

[@halberderdier8073]

Let's wait for another 10 000 years....

[@stevensamuels5130]

Interesting, thanks for the great video. I have been trying to find a series that takes a different perspective on galactic civilizations and the ethics of AI. I think I may have to start reading this series. Thanks!

[@TheOrbitalArray]

Glad you enjoyed it! Consider subscribing for other scifi series

[@elephantman2415]

Nothing else I have read comes close. These books have had an inestimable impact on my thinking.

[@stevenredpath9332]

The BBC adapted one of Iains’ short stories into an audio version. Worth listening to if it’s still available.

[@seenew]

Narrator said “in a galaxy far, far away, exists the Culture” that’s not true. The Culture exists in the Milky Way and encounters Earth at some point.

[@EndingSimple]

And thank God they passed us up.

[@lfrands]

@@EndingSimplelol isn’t there a short story where they visited and decided we weren’t worth it? It’s like Star Trek but the Vulcans said pass

[@stevenredpath9332]

Thank you for this homage to a great author and a brilliant series. Funny, insightful and enduring. ❤

[@SFJayAnt]

This was actually a really great video. However, I did notice that there were some repetitive topics, but great job overall.

[@TheOrbitalArray]

Thank you for the feedback, will do better next video!

[@kuang-yuliu2702]

Thanks!

[@TheOrbitalArray]

Thank you ! Much appreciated 🦾

[@RedmotionGames]

It's culture-style utopia ... or broke. The next 20 years will define whether we ascend or crash back to fire-lit medieval levels of living permanently.

[@Afronautsays]

Essentially, this century will determine our entire species future.

[@fast1nakus]

Delusion of grandeur.

[@alistaircrookes5825]

Is it believable that you should be born into such a time? I mean, are we in a simulation and should you think it more likely if you live a more extraordinary life? I’m not sure I’m convinced by the simulation idea, as there might be other possible ways reality is not what it seems, beyond a simulation. Maybe things are too strange for our minds to even consider?

[@RedmotionGames]

@@alistaircrookes5825 If we are in a simulation, I think its an itch for disorder and spiraling chaos that being here is scratching. Like a holiday to the past from somewhere advanced, possible not even human. :)

[@Introvertaashiq]

I am glad I found this channel.

[@kennethschalhoub6627]

I have read all the Culture novels, a few twice, and it just struck me that the Culture is the future of the world created by Samuel R. Daleny in his masterpiece novel "Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand."

[@Eris123451]

I've read all The Culture books and loved them but I'm still stuck with an impression that struck me early on that on at least one level The Culture is a brilliantly clever and sometimes vicious caricature of the British middle classes ?

[@michaelporter6341]

That is a most interesting viewpoint, and I can see where it comes from. The British middle classes not living in fear like their working class compatriots. However, that may be about to change, as they do not control our AI future..

[@EndingSimple]

The Minds have BBC English accents. The humans act like people from California.

[@jamesraykenney]

Orbitals do NOT encircle stars, those are ringworlds(which the Culture has a few, if I remember correctly) but MUCH smaller rings that orbit around stars. The closest thing most people may be familiar with are the Halo rings in HALO...

[@TheOrbitalArray]

In the culture series I believe Orbitals are space habitats in the shape of a ring, or ring world ie the Halo rings

[@seanbrazell7095]

​@@TheOrbitalArrayIn the Culture orbitals are a catch all term for all kinds of large scale non terrestrial mostly non mobile megastructures with populations far in excess of the millions or multiple millions of individual culture citizens - biological and human equivalent AI drones etc - that might live on a typical Culture ship and it's Mind. That's why he had to actually invent a way of expressing the losses incurred in the destruction of an Orbital in the series: "gigadeath"! RIP Iian M. Banks!! 👋😔

[@geraldpaznokaitis1431]

Elysuim?

[@jamesraykenney]

@@geraldpaznokaitis1431 Ahhh, I forgot about that one, though I think orbitals are 'usually' hundreds of times larger. Woops, I just tried to look up the exact size of Elysuim, and realized that I had totally forgot that it has spokes... Ringworlds and orbitals normally do not have spokes, and they usually do not have roofs, either... They keep their air in with gravity and tall walls. When i looked it up, it said that the design of Elysuim was based on the 'Stanford Torus'. The torus is 1.8KM in diameter and designed to house 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents. So that sounds about right. Halo rings were 30,000KM in diameter for the largest, and 10,000KM for the smallest ones. Culture Orbitals were 4,000,000KM in diameter(calculated from their stated 24 hour rotation rate and 1G gravity. So I was WAY off in my Hundreds of times estimate... A halo ring is somewhere in the range of 10,000 times larger, and an orbital around 2,000,000 times larger... For comparison, a ringworld is 300,000,000KM in diameter, so around 166,666,666 times bigger than Elysuim... So, yea, this really do not compare P.S. There is also Luna Base from "Starship Troopers"(the movie), which seems to be around 4,000KM in diameter. It was a ring that circled the moon about 300KM above the surface... Also, 'The Book of Boba Fett" showed the Glavis Ringworld, which I THINK is a very small (but real) ringworld...

[@Aeolusdallas]

Rings are a great deal bigger than elysium which is basically a particularly large stanford torus. @@geraldpaznokaitis1431

[@Chalky-ze6js]

Thank you so much for making this. It’s terrific!

[@TheOrbitalArray]

Thank you for your feedback

[@krimsonsun10]

Please 🙏 some higher entity send me to this reality of the Culture. I do not want to live in this reality anymore.

[@_h1tman_]

I am that higher entity, and i won't grant you that wish.

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

​@@_h1tman_ Lil bro thinks he's funny.

[@EndingSimple]

you've been spared death by Florida.

[@EndingSimple]

"Special Circumstances" is a sub division of "Contact." Contact is the diplomatic force of The Culture. Its difficult to get into because Culture citizens are not used to dealing with un-Cultured people. The "Special Circumstances" part of Contact is the part of The Culture that has to do the Machiavellian things every government has to do in order to survive amongst civilizations hostile to it. Its even harder to get into then Contact. SC uses Culture citizens and Minds that are sort of "bent," or more politely "morally complex." SC also works through non-culture mercenaries who are good at doing what SC needs done. Its a comment on The Culture itself that most of the novels are about the doings of Special Circumstances. The Culture is actually so boring that SC is the main way the novels are at all interesting. The Minds have BBC English accents. The humans act like people from California.

[@znotch87]

Video seems confused with ringworld. Orbitals don't "encircle" stars.

[@robfraser5181]

Great art!

[@larrymcmacarroon9529]

Was this composed by an artificial intelligence? The way it jumps from concept to concept faster than a person would usually write made me wonder, combined with how it kept circling back to stress some points like it was satisfying a user's requests for what to cover. People who see this might expect the books to focus on the utopia when really most pages are devoted to the more grimy problems they're having with lesser civs or major threats. Great stuff though. If a porn star rode on one of the Culture spaceships they'd exclaim, "it's so big!" (Big ships.) Also, the Culture's avatars are better than the ones in Avatar.

[@TheOrbitalArray]

My earlier videos have some inconsistencies which hopefully will be fixed in the upcoming videos, please forgive the content

[@smokestacklightning]

Also an AI like response 😅

[@marrickvillian]

I think this video is 90% AI, script, voice and images. And I think Ian M Banks would approve. And find it very amusing.

[@TheDailyPOV-2024]

my dreams and hopes

[@schiz0phren1c]

I'm weirdly OK with an AI speaking on Iain M. Banks...tbh he was if not the first, certainly one of the best Sci Fi writers to put what we Humans consider as thought, deed, and action in artificial life, Knife missiles actually talking back and forth to their Avatar in *"The Hydrogen Sonata"* is one of my favorite Sci Fi moments and a scene which is constantly re-read, The future Banks painted is in the most part hopeful(cough cough poor everliving soldier Zakalwe etc cough) in the way the vastly more intelligent and powerful AI Minds treat their Human creators.

[@seanbrazell7095]

This is the kind of series just begging to be adapted to a live action streaming series. The ship names ALONE make it so!

[@nicolassalamanca8051]

There's no movie tv exec or Hollywood producer alive smart enough to be aware of let alone understand any of what banks was trying to do an adaptation would be doomed before it ever began

[@Eris123451]

Just no, there isn't a commercial producer alive who'd, "get it."

[@seanbrazell7095]

@@nicolassalamanca8051 @Eris123451 The team that produced The Expanse or The BSG reboot certainly could.

[@dicoughlan]

But a nerdy game created would.

[@doransshield9176]

my favorite is "Frank Exchange of Views"

[@SleepyBrein]

Special circumstances 🌠

[@kennethschalhoub6627]

I never got the sense that the Culture "spanned galaxies" as stated in this video.

[@will-vi9pk]

The AI did a fairly good job at describing these books about AI in the future.

[@SoonGone]

Do you think we'll ever get there?

The Culture books rule!

[@kennethschalhoub6627]

I do not agree that the Culture is in a galaxy far far away, In his short stories it is obvious that the Culture knows of humans on Earth.

[@likefire1617]

🔥

[@frankmontez6853]

Which book has the swarm ? The all consuming civilization that eats planets and civilizations? I’ve read most culture books and I’ve heard of them

[@calumfinlayson7382]

nice job getting an ai to do the art, the script, and the voice, i guess its fitting for the subject matter.

[@kennethschalhoub6627]

As Delany explained, certain cultures with lack of diversity can descend into "Cultural Fugue" where the society spirals into chaos. I wonder how the Culture avoids this.

[@billyboyles]

Did ah, um , a mind write the dialogue?

[@swainscheps]

13:00 uh…ok…we’ve covered this ground already - I’m bored. Get into some specifics or some interesting dilemmas….please… 16:30 what does love look like? It kinda looks like a Victoria Secret catalog, where all the models have weird lower rib cages….

[@elchasai]

"an equal utopia with no formal governance" except that with the minds ans 'special circumstances' it does have leadership and elites that do or can manipulate and control the rest. it is not different than what we already have. scarcity may be eradicated but inequality cannot be eliminated.

[@personanongrata987]

Who is the narrator? --

[@TheOrbitalArray]

AI narrator

[@EndingSimple]

@@TheOrbitalArray How very appropriate.

[@RoseMarieLeo]

Sounds like the future

[@nicolassalamanca8051]

Nah we won't get there imaginary people in the sky and greed will make sure of that

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

@@nicolassalamanca8051 There is no such thing as greed. There are no scientific work on this

[@tedhoward2606]

There are real issues with both hedonism and utilitarianism. When you delve deeply enough into the strategic and systemic complexities of evolution, deep enough to see the necessarily fundamental role of cooperation in the emergence and survival of every level of complexity, and the need (at every level) for emergent evolving ecosystems of cheat detection and mitigation systems in the long term survival of cooperative systems; then it becomes clear that hedonism is based on a set of systems that are tuned by the contexts of that deep past, and are not necessarily a good fit to an ever evolving, ever emergent, present. And sometimes, a reliance on the past is the best option we have, and not always. When one can view life as systems capable of searching the space of possible systems for the survivable, then the classic biological mechanism of search, of replication with variation, becomes just one of an infinite class of possible search mechanisms. In one sense, the real step change that is embodied in humanity and our techno-cultural systems, is precisely this ability, to use both new search algorithms, and new sets of technologies, to instantiate new levels and classes of systems; but we can change not simply the biological aspects (the DNA and chemistry and culture) but also the physical aspects of contexts of those systems. The huge issue for us, is our tendency to over simplify the complexities actually present. So few have much idea of the complexities actually embodied in each and every one of us, and our relationships to the rest of biology. Our deeply evolved tendencies to simplify, which are built into our sensory and neural systems, such that what we get to experience as reality is already, necessarily, a vastly simplified and slightly predictive model of whatever it is that reality actually is. This reality, of experience being simplified, leads to multiple levels of over simplification of understandings of "reality" and to multiple levels of confirmation bias to those simple models. The biases in our neural networks to simplify, to be right, to defend "Truth", are so strong that very few seem able to break their shackles, and venture into a realm of eternal uncertainty, eternal novelty, eternal responsibility and creativity. These biases for simple certainty keep many bound within the simplest of possible logics, with only two possible truth states {True, False}, and present consideration of trinary logic {True, False, Undecided}, let alone consideration of probabilistic logic, or ontologically probabilistic systems of interpretation or being. In the face of eternal novelty, the lessons of the past are not always as applicable as they were in that past. It is never wise to ignore those lessons, but nor is it wise to be entirely bound by them. We must be able to let responsibility and creativity take us beyond the lessons of the past, while taking as much wisdom and responsibility as we can from them, into the eternal novelty of the future. Freedom is an essential part of life, it is a fundamental aspect of the definition, of the ability to search, yet freedom without responsibility is necessarily destructive, as there are far more vectors that lead to destruction than lead to survival in the that highly dimension space of all possible systems. Part of the responsibility of life, is avoiding those terminating vectors. Such a life demands more than hedonism. more than utility; it demands responsibility, cooperation, respect for diversity, respect for life, at the highest levels we can create. As the Nuremberg trials clearly demonstrated, we all have responsibilities that demand more from us than simply obeying any set of rules, laws or orders. We have responsibilities to life. And life is demonstrably complex in ways that such responsibilities must contain eternal uncertainties at the margins. So while I love many of the post scarcity aspects of Banks, and the consensus aspects of trust networks, the issues really are deeply more complex than any form of hedonism or utilitarianism can possibly approach optimality of survival probabilities. Life must, eternally, be much more than "the pursuit of happiness". And right now, as we are creating AIs into a context that values scarcity and devalues abundance to zero (market values, value in exchange, monetary systems - think air - arguably the most important commodity to any of us, yet of zero market value due to its abundance); we are in a time of extreme risk - perhaps The Great Filter. The deeply complex systems of market values that now underpin much of the complexity of our technological societies, are actually now one of the greatest risks to our survival, to freedom, to the continued existence of complexity. The idea that competition can solve all problems is such a gross over simplification of the real complexity present that it is essentially an inversion of the reality. It is much more accurate to say that the survival of complexity is based on cooperation, and that competition alone will always drive systems to some local minima on the available complexity landscape, and that the complexity that made that competition possible will be unable to exist in that minima - it will self terminate - necessarily, but take a lot of other complexity with it. How do we rapidly transition systems and cultures from scarcity based values of competition, to abundance based values of cooperation and automation and respect for diversity? On current trends in AI development, we have about 1 year left to sort that out. I align with Banks in part, in that post scarcity is required, but it is necessarily deeply more complex than any form of hedonism or utilitarianism. It demands a respect for life, and life is deeply more complex and fundamentally uncertain than most have ever considered the possibility of.

[@daviddean707]

oh dear

[@blackthorne-rose]

Explore Damien Walter's KZbin take on The Culture... more nuanced and insightful... and WAY more fun!

[@KeithSader]

This feels AI generated. It repeats many of the same items that a human editor wouldn't.

[@TheOrbitalArray]

This is my 2nd video ever , it gets better after this :)

[@ronsandahl274]

@@TheOrbitalArray It seemed like the entire thing - text, voice, images and soundtrack - were all AI generated. I thought it was a magnificent way to inform about the Culture. Very well done!

[@The_Hero_Is_Back]

Perhaps a few Culture minds have KZbin accounts. Wouldn't that be fun?

[@TontonMacoute]

Believe it or not the voice over is AI.

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

no it's not. there is no AI in this video

[@iain075]

Better to have spelled his name correctly I'd suggest.

[@CoreyCaliSD]

😊👍

[@shawnburnham1]

20:00

[@raul0ca]

We do have the Culture already. Want to eat organic beef from a balloon with a view of an active volcano? Want to send a small mercenary team to Mali to do something? You can do that; just not you exactly. But someone's doing that and much more besides

[@tristanx3508]

Narration sounds like another form of Western Imperial dialect but in a modified modern form of Anglo-Saxon-sphere utopian mindset. Makes me gag in it's cult-like style...

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

How?

[@cassianopaulo1]

That would be impossible to achieve without taking away the human of the human. What makes you ask, if it's worthily if the ones "enjoying" this reality are not even us, but some heavily genetically altered new type of hominid

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

Is that a problem? What's wrong with that evolving beyond human?

[@Grazzmazzium]

​@@Dave_of_Mordorit's an ideal that requires faith in something beyond human

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

@@Grazzmazzium What do you mean by that? Why does it "requires faith in something beyond human"? From my pov, having a more in-depth understanding of our biology can help us go beyond being human. Are you talking about religion? If you are, then I think we're done here since you and I have different values, and we're not going to convince each other

[@Grazzmazzium]

@@Dave_of_Mordor for all we know, there is no intelligence beyond human, and thinking we can conceptualize one as humans is inherently faulty

[@Grazzmazzium]

@@Dave_of_Mordor did I reply? It's not showing mine

[@nightlogic1]

I like your reviews normally but I have to ask. This review is so whitewashed it’s a little repulsive. As I consider reading these novels I’d like to know if the material (the books themselves) are this diversity narrow, or is that perception a by-product of your review? If that sounds insulting to you I apologize in advance. This is not my intention

[@dirtyfrank9924]

This review mearly discripes the universe in which the unrelated stories are set

[@JornSales]

I don't want to be cared for as if I were a PET to a machine.

[@matthewstagg9786]

This was written by a proto-mind

[@Paul-rs4gd]

I was excited to see a video about The Culture because I love Iain Banks' books. However, this video seems to have been scripted by an AI, and it has not done a good job. The script is repetitive, full of factual errors and rambles without any structure. The (I presume) AI generated art is not so bad, although I think it misses the true nature of the Culture by a fair margin. I'd love to see a video about the Culture by a real enthusiast, with art by real artists. To avoid doubt, I am not against AI produced work - I just want it to be higher quality. If future AIs are trained on this material, factual errors are going to be amplified.

[@frankshifreen]

there is a lot of violence in the Culture Series

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

I haven't read it but what kind of violence?

[@EndingSimple]

@@Dave_of_Mordor The Culture itself is boring as hell, so the novels are mostly about the activities of Special Circumstances - part of the Culture that does the Machiavellian things a civilization has to do in order to survive other civilizations that want to destroy it.

[@clancykelly5508]

Your music is annoying and distracting.

[@TheAnbyrley]

The culture sounds like a nightmare.

[@nicolassalamanca8051]

I'm really intrigued as to your reasoning care to elaborate please?

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

@@nicolassalamanca8051 Well just like your "greed" comment, kids in the US are condition to believe any egalitarian, stable or fair society to be bad

[@EndingSimple]

The French aristocrats who lost their heads in the French Revolution had a word. It was "ennui" " refers to the feeling of jadedness that can result from living a life of too much ease." A feeling of "been there, done that" for just about everything in life. Thomas Jefferson warned a relative to keep up with hard pursues like mathematics and science to avoid it. In a society that gives you everything you want at no cost, ennui is what you will get. Supposedly, in The Culture, people will self delete after about 300 years because they accomplished everything they can think of. In reality, in about 5-10 years after retiring comfortably to Florida, most people just drop dead.

[@doojin-bek]

The culture's moral limitations are obvious to me because the author himself doesn't truly understand morality. Democracy is a form of moral relativism. Anarchy cannot be achieved under moral relativism. Another word for anarchy is god's government. Under god's government, morality is objective, and god is the arbitor of right and wrong. Basic moral principles are simple. Non-aggression principle. Self-defense principle. 7 deadly sins(Don't steal, don't rape, don't murder, ...). Full ramifications of morality have yet to be fleshed out, but the basic principles are simple. Jesus christ was killed by rulers because he was actively teaching objective moral principles. If I was the founder of the culture, its goal would be to learn, grow, and build on top of objective moral foundation.

[@maximopagano]

This whole crappy, biased, generative imagery is kind of ironic to see, as you hear such descriptions of the Minds and the Culture.

[@notsuretoday]

I was never a fan. Underneath the ‘complexity’ of the culture is a childish view of humanity and identity. The books were tedious and substituted volume for substance.

[@noiJadisCailleach]

I was about to ask how were the books. You saved me tons of hours from feeling out if the book i'm currently reading is good or not. Thank you! 5 mins in, i had a feeling i was listening to some propaganda shoved down my ear canals. 10 mins in, i had to stop the vid, suspecting the books were made by some immature writer. LOL!

[@notsuretoday]

​@@noiJadisCailleach Glad I could help! "Good scifi isnt about the future, its about today IN the future" is a common phrase often used to explain why objectively bad scifi is popular. Such scifi is 'good' only if you happen to share the author's worldview. Then theres the bloat, the fluff, the pad, the endlessly tedious character development that does nothing but thicken the book. I dont care about the life story of an obnoxious non entity. The best modern scifi imo are books that divide events or characters into chapters, that way I can just skip whole chunks of 50 or so pages at a time and lose nothing in the telling of the story. In other words, I can do while reading what an editor should have done before publishing.

[@nicolassalamanca8051]

I'm intrigued by your views care to elaborate on why you think its a childish view of humanity and identity? I've read matter phlebas player of games and currently going through use of weapons Liked all of them except phlebas which i *hated*

[@Eris123451]

We seem not have read the same books then or perhaps you're thinking of a different Ian M. Banks or perhaps you didn't really understand them or then again perhaps you haven't even read them in the first place ?

[@amandagordon7932]

Your loss, then :\ @@noiJadisCailleach

[@Liam-zl1kj]

This is the most cringe thing I've tried to watch in recent memory. I would rather just buy the book and read it than watch this to find out if I want to first. The culture The culture ahh the culture 😂

[@nurashiny]

Oh look, AI art in a video. Bye bye

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

AI art > human art. if you don't want this future then do better than AI