The Humans of The Culture

[@QuinnsIdeas]

4:30 "50 *Trillion."

[@Witty_Jackson]

4:00 "Look To Windward" 😉

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

This branch or sub genre of sci fi was far more intriguing before the ability to examine ancient DNA existed. I once would have been able to suck up volumes of stories like this. Now though, we know we are a mainly African isolate of the descendents of Homo Erectus, and as we marched over the globe, searching for more food and more space, we met and bred with the European and Asian isolates of other descendants of Homo Erectus. The science of DNA has taken away those theories of being some sort of special genetic splicing of an alien creature. We seemingly became better and better at using rocks and hunting food until we eventually learned to farm this food. At least the science fiction of futurism still has a wide open scope.

[@Witty_Jackson]

@Vryn These are big elements of the Culture's world-building that it brought up in many of the stories. And despite being labelled as a Utopia, there is a lot of nuance and bias to it. They are certainly worth a read, even if you disagree with the philosophy on a fundamental level. It certainly isn't as perfect as it makes out and as for people finding their purpose, Banks uses that in fantastic way to tell superb stories.

[@earlwajenberg]

@Vryn - I agree about the shortcomings of the Culture, but I think Banks does too. He notes, as I recall, that Contact and Extraordinary Circumstances are hotly sought-after jobs, exactly because they give meaning to an otherwise meaningless but pleasant existence.

[@Vallesmanni]

@Vryn This is one of the primary misconceptions people have about the Culture. That "meaning" you consider as missing is there all along. The Culture allows every single being living within it to create the meaning they want. Of all the people to whom I've talked about the Culture and the idea of a society Iain M. Banks introduced, the greatest problem always seems to be that people are incapable of imagining a meaning for themselves outside of that being told to them. What if the societal rules are limited to the most obvious ones (don't murder as that steals the ability to create meaning to existence)? What if there's no battle for economical means to survive? What if there's no need to struggle for basic necessities to survive? This is what makes the Culture so interesting, if you remove all of the frankly ridiculous shit that governs much of the daily lives of people today, then how do we define the meaning of our existence? One option is to simply choose absolute cynicism, we as beings possessing consciousness do not matter if those things are removed from our existence. The other is the consideration that perhaps our existence as conscious beings shouldn't be limited to simple survival, but rather that the existence of our individual minds is a reason in itself for existing. How we spend that time as existing conscious beings is all the reason we need. I've always loved to debate life in the Culture with people. I've met some who've argued that they'd rather live in 40k Imperium of Man and some who've instantly decided that they'd rather live in the Culture. The explanations of why people choose between these two (arguably absolute extremes) have always been very interesting to read and consider. Ultimately though, every individual has chosen to describe their own "meaning" of life, which has guided their decision on whether to hang out with the Culture or the always as awesome Emperor of Mankind. Never mind how much of polar opposites these two are when it comes to providing safety and comfort to sentient life.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

Nice to see some more Culture attention. They're extremely rich books with fresh nuance in every read.

[@ConsciousnessisRough]

Every book in the series is brilliant and enthralling. Ian Banks' death was a terrible loss.

[@chrisboyne5791]

I have Banks's book on Whisky by my bed, 2/3 through. I cannot bring myself to finish it because in some crazy part of my brain it feels like reading that book is sitting having a pint with him and listening to his stories. I don't want it to end. Mental, eh

[@ryan7565]

I didn’t know he had died!!! 😭

[@AmazePaulz]

I feel it still. He must have smashed hard for h sonata

[@geroffmilan3328]

He's almost ruined sci-fi for me, everything I read afterwards was just paler. That's the thing about genius: there's nothing else like it. Rest easy, Iain.

[@testing-nj2ne]

I bought a second hand copy. There was writing in the front. Some Bastard has written in it. I suddenly released it's a sign copy. To Richard .... What car crash - all the best Ian M Banks 3/11/89. Who is Richard?

[@ThomasAndersonPhD]

8:40 "Drones are about as intelligent as people." I can imagine the fields of every drone dramatically changing colour in response to that understatement.

[@dm121984]

Indeed. But on the scale of intelligence the Culture would use, Drones are vastly closer to human intelligence than Mind intelligence.

[@jankom.7783]

@@dm121984 You are trying to suck up to minds, aren't you? It won't work. They know what you're doing

[@lepusmalignis1628]

My favorite bit is still the awesome ship names. Being their own person and having access to massive databases of words & phrases leads to some incredibly funny names.

[@DavidSmith-gr4wx]

Losing Banks and Pratchett in the same year was a painful one.

[@513pollo]

They died almost two years apart.

[@cbjcolourblindjim6160]

Yeah man

[@513pollo]

@bastiat Yes but I hear he’s feeling better lately.

[@lorenzomizushal3980]

@bastiat no such thing as ghosts, kid

[@berthulf]

@@lorenzomizushal3980 Shhh, they'll hear you! They get very upset, as if it isn't upsetting to be stranded between the realms anyway.

[@lando8913]

"The Culture" sounds like the name for an 80's pop band.

[@jmhthe3rd]

If I remember right, Sma from The State of the Art mentions having a joint removed from each if her fingers (temporarily, of course) to blend in with the "Earth humans," along with other cosmetic adjustments. This implies "Culture Humans" (of which I think there are six or seven founding races) are just what we usually think of as humanoids--different from homo sapiens, but not by much. Also, I think I remember reading somewhere that Earth is brought into (or at least is officially contacted by) the Culture around 2100. Banks himself may have said this. Anyway, in Player of Games Gurgeh mentions chess.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

That the Culture know Chess only means that they imported it from Earth, or, alternatively, it is a translation choice. It is not one of the games where the rules matter to the story. I think Go challenges some of the assumptions about strategy games in that book. (Ironically, Go is hypothesised to be the one game that alien cultures would have developed independently with the same rules. Yet in Player Of Games it is apparently completely unknown.) State Of The Art also mentions that not all humans from the Culture could pass for human on Earth even with surgery. Odd, what with diversity in humans having monotonically and rapidly decreased over the hundreds of millennia, and the Culture being a lot less restricted in their generic engineering and appearances. But they did start out as eight different races and merged into one race through their use of technology on themselves, thus defining what human is for themselves.

[@Neokretai]

The existence in the books of an English language version of "A Short History of the Idiran War", published in 2110, is generally taken as Banks' hint that Earth was formally contacted shortly after 2100. Regarding humans in the books, that implies only Look to Windward, The Hydrogen Sonata and Surface Detail have the potential for humans to exist in the Culture. Banks mentions that the physical appearance of Culture citizens is entirely self determined and open to fashion trends. He mentions that over the course of his books they are presently vaguely humanoid, but in the past they've been sentient clouds of smoke or something like that.

[@S_Roach]

@@Neokretai There were a large number of bush-bot uploads in "Matter". Not all of them, but the group that the main character was working with, and her direct supervisor, were all mostly bush bot uploads. Her direct supervisor was different in that he was a bush-bot, but not an upload. He was a cyberman. A brain in a jar attached to a bush-bot body rather than being an upload. It is my impression that this was a localized fad.

[@Neokretai]

@@S_Roach Its been a while since I read the book but if I remember correctly those characters were just avatars of Culture AIs no?

[@S_Roach]

@@Neokretai I don't think so. The one bush bot was specifically singled out because it had an extra part, to contain a human brain, and that was one of the main character's superiors and mentors. I don't think her partner drone was described as a bush-bot. Also, I was apparently wrong about there being a clique of bush-bot uploads. "Matter", Chapter 5 "Jerle Batra had been born male. ... he had his brain and central nervous system transferred... ; his shape was bush-like." "Other ex-humans who looked superficially a lot like Jerle Batra had had their entire consciousness transcribed from the biological substrate that was their brain into a purely non-biological form,..."

[@wyatt8315]

It’s fiction like this that makes me wonder how wild sci-do stories will be 50 years from now

[@snylekkie]

50 years from now we will reminisce how cool it was to have internet and warm clean water, inside our nuclear shelter

[@Nopquar]

That’s if we all don’t get nuked before then

[@harzzachseniorgamer5516]

@@Nopquar As a child i grew up during the high point of the Cold War, where one single mistake or misunderstanding could lead to global destruction with arsenal, capable of killing all (!) humans several times over. We are still here. In 50 years, we will all laugh about the fears we had back in those days. Not because nuclear weapons are harmless, but because enough (!) governments realized that nukes serve only one purpose: To exist, to generate Mutual Assured Destruction! And not to be used at all. Just look at what happened now. China and India openly said to Putin: Stop already with this crap talk about "dirty bombs" or other nuclear threats.

[@TheGLaDOSvideoCore]

people panic about nukes but nobody gives a fuck about climate change which is the actual scary thing that'll heavily effect us 50 years from now. nobody is going to suicide bomb an entire planet before that happens

[@Tsum1923]

100, 200, and beyond

[@danbach7748]

The Culture books are all so good. I read "Player of Games" and was hooked. But before I even knew about Banks' books I first heard of them in the preface of "The Also People", a Doctor Who novel by Ben Aaronovitch, where he admits he was inspired by (or 'stole') the idea of the Culture for his book. I'm glad to see you dipping into these.

[@nustde00]

Quinn, you are a next level human being and I can not wait to see what you do next. You are one of the best orators, best storytellers. You have so much Charisma I wish I was a bit more like you and I have buckets! Thanks Quinn!

[@jbear3478]

And he's so silly, I love his Halloween specials with pink alt dimension dude

[@cj-hw3pv]

And he can sing

[@stanislavstoimenov1729]

@@cj-hw3pv Can he cook, though?

[@nustde00]

@@stanislavstoimenov1729 We all know Quinn can Sautee.

[@TheCalico69]

I've been watching for over a year. This chanel is underrated for sure, one of the best on dune, and sci-fi general on you tube.

[@akiriwas]

I've been hoping you'd cover The Culture. Love all your videos. Some I can't watch for spoilers but they tell me what I should be reading next!

[@samuelchapman7009]

YES! Please do more Culture novels! It’s such a deep series

[@812amack]

Yeah at last! Definitely do more the concepts contained withing these books are provocative. As far as your favourite novel in the series Excession the conclusion to the story had me weeping real tears no spoilers but it is such a tragic end. You really become invested in the characters, horrified in the concepts and as you end each novel you don't want it to end.

[@JoeSimmerman]

Yes! One of my favorite series; such an optimistic view of the future that is still gritty enough to feel real.

[@Witty_Jackson]

Love to see Culture getting more attention. It's without a doubt my favourite book series.

[@adrianmcmahon5731]

Bank's SF novels especially his Culture based books are among my favourites I've ever read, Player of Games & Inversions my personal highlights. I always took the short story to mean the Culture existed separately & independently to Earth & the similarities were coincidental and that Earth may at some point in the future become part of the wider Culture society. Bank's books are little slices into Culture society and each one shows a new aspect of the wider whole.

[@willmosse3684]

Ah, didn’t know you were making Culture videos. Good work man! Banks was quite prescient with a lot of this stuff too. Like drones. Drones as a concept are everywhere now, and have been more or less since the invasion of Afghanistan and the start of the “War on Terror” in 2001. But he was writing this stuff back in the 80s. When I first read Banks in the mid-90s, I didn’t understand what he was referring to with the word Drone at first, and only understood it by the in world explanations.

[@AlexA-ko8lu]

Consider Phlebius is a good place to start. My favorite book in the series so far (5 books in) is The Use of Weapons. That book really stuck with me.

[@Yggdrasil42]

*Phlebas

[@Pete...NoNotThatOne]

Lol. “The General Systems Vehicle was ninety five kilometres long, and called ‘Size Isn’t Everything.’” Also, my favourites are Use Of Weapons, Surface Detail, and Matter. Iain Banks’ imagination was next level.

[@murunbuchstanzangur]

The white chair though...

[@davidwuhrer6704]

@@murunbuchstanzangur Still gives me nightmares.

[@juliannacolombo5584]

I watched this upload when it was first posted. Just today I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up my copy of Consider Phlebas. I had to have them order it for me. Was about to sit down with it and then second guessed myself in regards to this being where to start. Thank you for the confirmation! I am excited to dive in. Happy Reading and Lovely Days ✌️💕

[@DaakinsProductions]

I'm currently resisting the urge to make a youtube short with hip hop imagery as Quinn talks about "The culture" coming the Earth. XD

[@SoonGone]

I loved these books. Ever since i read them whenever i think of the future of humanity I always think of it in terms of how we'll hopefully one day become The Culture 🙂

[@charlietwoteas3676]

Massive fan of the Culture series. I really love that Banks took what many sci-fi series would consider the end point (luxury gay space communism) and made it the beginning. Then he asked who would be an enemy of that society? Who would be an outcast of that society? etc etc. My favourite standalone Banks book isn't in the Culture series though, Feersum Endjine. That is a book with some truly amazing ideas and imagery and I highly recommend if you haven't already read it. Also the criminally underrated Tanith Lee wrote an interesting book called Drinking Sapphire Wine which looks like it was an inspiration for the Culture series. It shares many thematic elements and I could easily see Banks taking those ideas and pushing them further.

[@ed-te1fp]

Excession was great. It's one of the easier books to get into, gives a really good idea of the culture universe, and might be a good first novel to start with. The only possible negative is that Excession gives a pretty good idea of where humans fit into things when compared to Minds and we're just not that important...

[@davidwuhrer6704]

I don't know, in Surface Detail individual humans are treated as important, and nothing in Excession says they aren't. It is Player Of Games in which humans are treated as playthings of the Minds.

[@geroffmilan3328]

Depends what you mean by important here. The Minds are the real powers, yes, but they also do seem to genuinely love & respect a lot of humans. Even the Mind of a certain Abominator class warship in Surface Detail, who does have a twisted sense of humour. So overall there's a synergy between the two, and the organic people in The Culture have a pretty wide range of things they can get up to. I'd move there in a heartbeat - it seems imperfect but life there would still be quite an improvement to life here & now, no matter how good here & now is for you.

[@terrykrugii5652]

Honestly, I didn't actually think that their technology was The Culture's defining feature, given your previous video. I thought more along the lines of "Oh wow, an intergalactic civilization that ISN'T an oppressive dictatorship? And they actually value individual freedoms? Now this is something I gotta see"

[@davidwilson6577]

_Tries not to be_ an oppressive dictatorship. A common theme is that you can't be an active moralistic force in the universe without being at least a little oppressive.

[@terrykrugii5652]

@@davidwilson6577 I have come out the other end of having read some of The Culture series. My take has definitely changed since then. My current take: "Oh WOW, Humans are barely disguised PETS and don't even know it!"

[@drone100k7]

Despite the Culture being such a utopia there's a lot of darkness in Iain's universe. It's such a good contrast IMO. More Culture stuff please, and if you get to it I would love to see Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Love the vids!

[@kalebb1226]

They remind me of the early eldar empire from WH40K.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect is dreck. A computer turning the entire universe into a simulation on its own initiative to please its creator in unexpected ways? Mathematics of all things being blamed for the mythical Rousseau "fall from primordial paradise"? People should write about things they know. The Culture also has its weak points, but it is a hopeful and inspiring vision of what life could be. Not a primitivist recreation of the Garden of Eden, but a high-tech cornucopia of new experiences.

[@cpnCarnage666]

I cannot express how fascinating I find your explorations of the culture series are. Greatly looking forward to more

[@Lily-ge4tm]

I like to imagine the slap drones just literaly slap someone unconsious ✋

[@gwenjohnson7373]

I looove that you are covering The Culture! Excession is my favorite (and I hear it has an absolutely horrific audio version due to all of the Ships' communications, haha) and Player of Games is my #2, esp because it compares The Culture so much to another equally complex and interesting people without bogging down. Thanks for the fun vid!

[@tdsdave]

Excession is my fav also , and like yourself Player Of Games comes in 2nd, its a lovely short book and great introduction to the world. Did you ever read any of his plain fiction , I'd recommend The Wasp Factory as a good read for anyone.

[@thepsion5]

Excession is my favorite too! I knew I was going to love it when the first chapter had that amazing scene with the drone escaping from its compromised ZE parent ship.

[@tdsdave]

@@thepsion5 Because I Quinns recent uploads started reading it again , and have just got past the drone escape again, very cool .

[@TheBenji800]

Excession was my first Banks book and still my favourite. My second is Feersum Endjin which is not technically a Culture book but I like to think the humans that built the structures on earth went on to become the human founders of the Culture.

[@tdsdave]

@@TheBenji800 Feersum is a really interesting book , took me a little while to get into the phonetic language usage, but soon adapted.

[@tylerindersmith5480]

The culture is an eco system. You can show up and just announce you live here now and be apart of it as long as you don't purposely kill anyone, except for some special circumstances. People from the culture can have kids with many other humanoid species (Consider Phlebas), and that those species might not even share the same evolutionary ancestors as the culture (Use of weapons)

[@ScoriacTears]

We fans of Iain M. Banks are loving the attention the Culture novels are getting from you Quinn, I am sure you are aware of the other non Culture science fiction the late great Banks wrote, we look forward to your exploration of those gems.

[@cosmoscenti5173]

I can't wait for you to cover the ships and Minds! Their scale is insane!

[@fenwickrysen]

Whenever I see one of those Size Comparison Charts of sci-fi ships, I am almost *always* disappointed that Culture ships are not included. You've got a Death Star? That's so cute. We have General Systems Vehicles. Let me tell you about the Ship named Sleeper Agent... So wonderful to see this series covered -- The Culture novels need more love!

[@davidwuhrer6704]

@@fenwickrysen Size Isn't Everything. Perry Rhodan has some pretty big ships by most standards, but compared to how big space actually is, even those seem inadequate. A 500m dinghi? May seem big until you consider that the Saturn V could only help push a small capsule the moon, and that dighi is supposed to be able to reach Pluto and come back. A 12km intergalactic FTL generation ship? That would hardly be viable for just a habitat capable of sustaining a sustainable population. (What's the minimum size of that again?) The ships in Star Trek and Star Wars are just ridiculously small. They seem more like they belong on a road or an ocean than in interstellar space. The GSVs of the Culture seem to have reasonable sizes, and they are considered urban environments, which also makes sense. (Unlike their architecture as described in Consider Phlebas and Player Of Games.) But it is their orbitals that really approach the kind of megastructures that one would colonise space with.

[@akiyrjana6558]

I read these as they were published. My faves are The Player of Games and The Excession. Not only are they good scifi, they are good books about poetry, epistemolgy, ontology and war. Among other things. Banks was for me one of the greats.

[@Daoland-Everywhere]

I read the books while living in China. I was always surprised why bank's books were for sale in China, considering how anarchic and political they can be. I still think the culture novels are some of the best reads ever, and very interesting in its view on intelligence in people and machines

[@OverGlitch000]

Cause CCP are too dumb or just dont care at all~

[@jsunn6791]

One of my favorites series of scifi books! I need to reread them. Thanks for the video!

[@kcm069]

awesome! A follow-up describing space-ship classes and mentalities would be equally awesome

[@albizu75]

Excellent video. Regarding Earth, the 1977 seems to have been a survey expedition but there seems to have been formal contact between Earth and the Culture in the 22nd century. The quote below is from the first Culture book: "The following three passages have been extracted from A Short History of the Idiran War (English language/Christian calendar version, original text AD 2110, unaltered), edited by Parharengyisa Listach Ja’andeesih Petrain dam Kotosklo. The work forms part of an independent, non-commissioned but Contact-approved Earth Extro-Information Pack." 22nd century Earth humans know of the Culture. Whether they join The Culture or not is an open ended question.

[@Shriike2001]

Really enjoying your culture series. To be honest i have enjoyed all your series. Would love to see more Hyperion Cantos as well. Thank you for your vids. :)

[@briankuczynski6884]

Excession was probably the hardest Culture novel for me to get through [though my tour of the series is incomplete]: I still deeply appreciate it for having the sort of internet epistolary quality that was still pretty new in 1996.

[@LibertarianLeninistRants]

I heard about that series before and it sounds amazing, but so far I didn't have the time to get into it. I hopefully will be ready one day.

[@planetdisco4821]

About time you talked about The Culture series Quinn! From the moment I randomly picked up “Consider Phlebas” I was hooked. Amazon was going to do a series based on it but instead we got (ugh) ROP. I also think a couple of his non-culture sci-fi novels such as “Against a Dark Background” & in particular the amazing “Feersum Enjin” are great reads. Honestly I always check out your collection in the background when you’re talking to camera and it’s almost identical to mine lol. RIP Mr Banks. You left us too soon….

[@KetilDuna]

Culture is still my favorite series. Consider Hamiltons commonwealth. Pandora's star/Judas unchained is magnificent. The void trilogy is also wonderful reading.

[@nicolezhang8116]

I would love it if you did a bookshelf tour video at some point in the future! It looks like you have a great number of great sci-fi and horror series on the shelves and I just want to see them all.

[@xensan76]

Love the Culture series. They're wonderful examples on how to write interesting stories about utopia.

[@fanfaretloudest]

Ahhh, that bookshelf. Awesome! Bookshelves make me so happy for some reason lol!

[@grislyghost]

Can't tell you how much I love these kinds of explorations. I haven't read the series, but when I probably do, I think this kind of information enriches the experience.

[@juliannacolombo5584]

Same for me! I am currently getting into Hyperion because of Quinn. My sister The Three Body Problem. We're roomies so we will switch when done. Idk bout her but I am super interested in the Culture books. Kinda cool I'm not the only one making a Quinns Ideas Reading List! Happy Reading Friend!

[@grislyghost]

@@juliannacolombo5584 And that's a total favorite of mine! I am a Brawne Lamia simp for sure.

[@thedango6890]

Reminds me of the biting the sun omnibus. In the book the future himans are much like the culture. You can not die, if you do, some dronebot comes and scoops your soul/consciousness up and puts it in some kind of spirit tank and you get to design a new body. There is a lot more as well of course, great read. Author is tanith lee

[@theAoE]

RIP mr Banks can’t wait till someone does a Netflix style series on the culture universe, use of weapons is my fav novel, knife missiles, say no more

[@aaronarnett2096]

Wow yes. Truly wonderful stuff. Banks really hands to us. Glad you are covering their work .

[@danieldufaur]

One of my all time fav series of books but because of State of the Art I always considered the Culture to already by out there in the universe with us just not aware of them right now. I never thought of us being a part of them in the future. I like to think of them out there right now.

[@hallmichael132]

I had spotted Iain M Banks books on your shelves and wondered if you would do a piece!

[@soffa93]

8:28 this is an illustration of the story where they visit earth. Usually, this would be the kind of low-budget star trek illustration, where the aliens just happen to look exacly like humans, but in the context of the Culture, they probably just all changed into humans like when you buy a rice hat for your thailand vacation, lol. Hell, if I remember correctly, they even cloned human flesh and ate it, because one of the crewmembers was doing a bit of hellraising.

[@tektrixter]

I'd love to see you cover Brin's Uplift series!

[@Joshmosis2.0]

This was super helpful! I've been pecking away at this series for a while and I read it so sporadically that I forget these little details. I only got to State of the Art last year and was super confused by the timeline of all this.

[@alexandergonsalves202]

love that youre giving the culture some love quinn. one of my fav sci fi universes, i feel your vids definitely do them justice. love your vids man keep it up

[@kaibalogun7974]

This world sounds amazing.

[@lucasadam65]

Now the gate has been unlatched headstones pushed aside headstones shift and offer room a fate you must abine

[@anthonyj3821]

Best series ever, the Culture series does something other Sci Fi doesn't - it gives us hope, showing us a utopia that we *could* have if we tried hard enough and worked hard enough. I would almost skip Consider Phlebas - he was still working out his world at that point and it's not as good as the others. I'd read that one third :D Totally agree, Excession is a favorite because the ship characters are so fantastic. But each book has it's own tone from achingly beautiful to savage justice. Lastly, check out the audiobooks, they are amazingly well done, the voice actors captured the characters so very beautifully. Also, the short story featuring Earth doesn't feel super cannon to me, I always just took it as a bit of fun by Ian M Banks :D

[@JarodCain]

The Culture, I think, will forever be the civilization I would love to live in if given the choice.

[@carltonurwin3923]

I completely agree, well said. I spend a little bit of time in The Culture every day.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

The oddest thing about The State Of The Art is how the narrator portrays herself, in light of how she is portrayed in The Use Of Weapons. I think the story fits well with the other Culture books, and gives some special insight. I especially liked the bit with the lightsaber, it is so silly. I can't say the same about the other short stories though. A Gift From The Culture seems oddly out of place. I like that Consider Phlebas gives an outsider's critique of the Culture, and the Worlds of the Dead and other elder civilisation artefacts are sorely missing from the other books (although there are hints of those in Matter), but yes, it doesn't quite fit with the others and can be safely skipped. I don't quite like the change in tone in Surface Detail and Hydrogen Sonata, it all seems so final and morbid compared to the earlier ones. (The quietudinal service doesn't even make sense to me; that it exists, sure, why not, but not how it comports itself.) I also wouldn't have recognised the protagonist from Use Of Weapons. A lot of things don't make sense: Something like the Culture would destroy the official business of the antagonist from Surface Detail by accident simply by existing, a little detail about the political aspects of technology that Banks seemed unaware of. But the way he described FTL in Excession shows that he was not big on physics; and the cryptography in Player of Games shows his ignorance of mathematics, he got things completely backwards. Also the "game theory" in that book. (The way he describes black holes in State Of The Art is also more of a common misconception than what they actually are and do, which is a lot more interesting.) Oddly, he got obscure aspects of technology correct in Use of Weapons, although I'm confused by his obsession with internal combustion cars on planets that had no carboniferous age. Technology is not the point of those books anyway, it's the politics. I like to think that Against A Dark Background takes place in the same universe. It fits the tone and style, and the setting us different, but compatible. I think Inversions is the weakest book of the series and _should_ be skipped. It offers no new insights or developments, and the politics are poorly developed and boring, don't even make sense by themselves, and the astronomical aspects are rather unbelievable, too.

[@anthonyj3821]

@@davidwuhrer6704 Agree about inversions, it felt a little like that one was an unpublished manuscript written way earlier, before he had gotten his head around what he wanted the Culture to be, or perhaps it was inspiration for the Culture. But it's not a re-reader for me. Omg I cry every time I read Hydrogen Sonata... so beautiful and as a final book it's a tour de force. Surface detail is super dark, I mean... virtual hells :P But the tattoo at the end is so great! Master of the "##$%-yeah" moment.

[@zico739]

Star Trek has literally done that for decades.

[@ronin47-ThorstenFrank]

I can´t even express my joy that you´re doing videos on Iain´s work! I came for ASOFAI, stayed and loved your sci-fi content and can only adore you for doing Reynolds and Banks! Thank you Thank you Thank you

[@jp12x]

I really like coverage of The Culture. I feel like it's not often directly described, but instead, we must infer things about it.

[@chaseboothe4519]

About a month and a half ago I started listening to your videos and man thank you for opening my mind up to sifi as a genre I’m absolutely in love with it because of you thank you!!!( P.s you should do a video on your fav manga books!)

[@bigsarge2085]

One of my all-time favorite scifi book series!

[@scottabc72]

Im loving these Culture videos and hoping you do a deep dive on any or all of the novels.

[@juliannacolombo5584]

Just throwing this out there . Quinn you definitely conveyed, at least to me, the culture of The Culture as the key importance vs their tech 👍🏼

[@StephenPhantom]

The Culture is the ultimate anarchist 'utopia' ( although it probably needs a better word here ) one word doesnt work to describe such a complex artifact of human/alien technology. I see the writers work continues on ( even after death ) so it shows the power of memes or ideas that transcend the original mind they were created in and move to inhabit other worlds, places and times.

[@kimwjustice]

Jemison and Butler on your bookshelf along with Banks. You have great taste, my man.

[@OLDCHEMIST1]

Thank you very much for this! I must admit to having only read Consider Phlebas, and the final touch to it was impressive. I won't reveal what I mean so that I don't spoil it for anyone wanting to read it.

[@kylben]

I started with Excession, and was totally hooked. It eventually became my all time favorite 'series'.

[@ragnarosthefirelord8662]

Heya Quinn, I really appreciate your bite sized overviews of novels and series! Your taste is excellent and you've inspired me to discover new authors and give others a second chance, to great enjoyment. Cheers!

[@mundanestuff]

Your first video on the Culture brought me to the first two books, but I got distracted, thanks for the reminder! Need to finish the series.

[@pabazafa3855]

Great video! Two things First: I believe that the existence of humans on different planets in the culture universe is probably the product of "convergent evolution". Second: I understand as "Humanoid" any being that has the main features of a human being, for example in "The Player of games" the protagonist is described as a normal human being but later in the novel they introduce other species (which according to my interpretation), they are like dwarfs and goblins and are also considered humanoids. **This also happens in "Ringworld"**

[@fitzy7079]

I think you are correct - I seem to recall an interview or something where he explained his idea was that the chemical make-up of the galaxy resulted in the similar appearance of sentient species

[@davidwuhrer6704]

@@fitzy7079 That's funny. A fungus has the same chemical make-up as a human. Even using the same base pairs for its genetic code.

[@Lifesplitters]

Would love to hear about the Starflyer and the Pandora's Star Commonwealth series!

[@rossdenton5692]

Absolute banger series

[@justmarque]

So glad you're reviewing BANK'S CULTURE! On of my ALL TIME FAVORITES! You Rock, Quinn!

[@chemistryset1]

He really does - great KZbinr, insightful reader of classic genre literature

[@alexandergonsalves202]

I'd love to see you do a vid on the Algebraist quinn!!

[@WildSeven19]

What I like most in fiction is encountering ideas that I would never have even conceived of, and each Culture book is packed with them. They're so vivid and imaginative.

[@davidmoore5925]

My favourite series of books, I'm re-reading them atm. As an aside, the Culture secretly visits Earth in 1977 and fully contacts Earth some time around 2100 AD. Earth joins the Culture but never really amounts to much as a member.

[@rafale1981]

You have no idea how happy you make me by covering the culture novels, quinn!

[@stephenmorton8017]

great intro to the Culture. love all those ship names and classes. military drones.. deep sarcasm and sudden unexpected horror..

[@benjaminkeyrose4294]

Reading Children of Time because of a review/recommendation you did and I'm loving the book. I'll definitely be checking out this one next. Thank you, Quinn! 🤜🤛

[@MrJudeWanamaker]

Just read Consider Phlebas after watching your channel! Thank you for spotlighting so many fantastic series

[@happyman6102]

Great video! Love the Culture coverage and loved the books (you've got to mention the ship names at some point!) Also, towards the end, when you mentioned people changing their form for whim rather than purpose, I immediately thought of Pickle Rick.

[@RunicVersion244]

I've seen a lot of people don't like Excession, but it was the book that hooked me on the series. It's one of my favorites.

[@CarbonBasedRainForm]

So hyped to see you covering the culture. Hope you've enjoyed reading them mate!

[@0Metatron]

I’ve just discovered the culture series and just started reading them. Player of games is incredible. I’m half way through The use of weapons and I’m not into this one as much as the 1’st two but in love with the series and can’t believe I’ve not read them earlier.

[@lupercal2402]

Quinn I love you so much for finally doing the Culture series! Was thinking of asking you for a while and you finally did it! Now you're my favorite Sci Fi channel!

[@babytime1]

thanks for trying to help Quinn, you sir are truly one of my most favorite youtubers. You care about your following instead of scamming them. God bless, and hopefully we find oldfolks homes sooner rather than later (A lot of these old people are still being scammed...This is so sad) ~ The Helpful Aliens

[@randommm-light]

Discussing the larger Minds in the Cluture would be interesting. Use of Weapons is a fave of mine, how they dance with each other!

[@spectre312]

Really enjoying the the new series! If you want a suggestion for another book, I just finished "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It's a book about a first contact scenario, but with humanity already being a space fairing civilization. I enjoyed it very much and I'm currently reading the sequel "The Gripping Hand".

[@rogerkakanpo]

QUIN, you are my favorite sci-fi KZbin channel! Thank you for the excellent content!

[@SirHeinzbond]

I introduced myself as child to the Edmund Hamilton Books of Captain Future, was fixed for SF, went over to Dune read the whole circle and was a Fan. But then a Elder random Guy at bookstore seeing me in the SF corner standing, not to know what to read me handed me Consider Phlebas. and it was clear, the Culture Cyclus was, is, and will be ever the most favorite Storyline ever.... Don't know if you did ever Vernor Vinge, to lazy to look right now, but the two books i have read in my mother tongue where very close but different to me to like them very much and reread them sometimes (A fire upon deep and a deepness in the sky) i think there is a third one in this but never found it in german...

[@CSLucasEpic]

Quinn if you can, see if you can purchase a copy of the graphic novel The Eternaut, by Héctor Germán Oesterheld. It is the most important work of Sci Fi to ever come out of Argentina, and it has been recently been translated to English after decades of being available only in its original Spanish and the Italian translation. It is easy to find on any online store that sells books, like Amazon, and it explores some very interesting aspects of Alien Invasion stories, like what if the aliens use hard to counter weapons, like the weather itself, or the very emotion of fear. It is a timeless classic and if you love Sci Fi, you really should not miss it from your collection.

[@TheMimiSard]

I originally found a copy of Excession in a library in my latter teens, and State of the Art in another. A few years ago (I think in 2018, because I think I packed it when I went to Germany) I was able to get a copy of Excession for my own library, and am glad of it because it's a good story.

[@iancummings6563]

I just found your channel and I have been rewatching video after video for the last 2 days I absolutely love your work on the breakdown and analysis of science fiction

[@danbridges4755]

I appreciate these videos since I don't always have the time (or admittedly the attention span) to read all these novels but still enjoy my imagination being piqued

[@ralphacosta4726]

I've read science fiction since i was in grade school in the 1950's, and the Culture series is my favorite series, representing what i've long hoped would be the future of humankind. Thanks for this refresher.

[@JohnPatrickCarroll]

I love The Culture series. It's great to watch videos about them.

[@MidwitObservations]

Thank you bro your the best. Iv wanted you to cover banks forever. You are truly a blessing of the Devine

[@piscesfreak1]

I started my journey with Iain Banks in 'The Wasp Factory.' Not sci-fi but his writing is amazing none-the-less. The first sci-fi was 'The Algebraist.' That book completely blew my mind! But I think The Culture is Banks' magnum opus. I love how we can't quite figure out if they are just helping through altruistic means or maybe not.

[@martinlagrange8821]

There's a mention of contact with Earth at the end of 'Consider Phlebas' , in the year 2105 - the appendices of the novel are part of the 'Post-Contact Information Pack'. In addition, the 'Sleeper Service' has its avatar named 'Amorphia' from 'a language of an uncontacted species' - Latin, insofar as that novel takes place in our 19th century, and thus predates the visit of the Arbitrary to Earth between 1976 - 1982.

[@toi_techno]

Amazing stories. I would love to live in The Culture