[ExI] Iain M Banks' Culture Novels [WAS Re: Usages of the term libertarianism]

[Anders Sandberg]

Keith Henson wrote:
>
> I don't know how you can make a case for stagnation from the Culture novels.
>   

The Culture has clearly changed over the span of its history, and there 
are mentions of periods when it has been more posthuman than at present, 
and offshoots that have developed into new directions. It is just that 
the focus of the books is on a scant few thousand years when the Culture 
has been in a particular way.

The galaxy at large seems to be in some kind of steady state (and the 
Culture is just one player among many among the Involved), although 
civilizations change and sometimes sublime over long timescales (or 
encounter Excessions). But in "Surface Detail" it looks like there is 
some actual global moral progress.

(spoiler, to some extent)
Maybe the resolution of the conflict will be just temporary. There is an 
internal micro-essay delineating why emerging technological 
civilizations sometimes implement Hells, so in the long run maybe new 
Hells from new civilizations will replace the lost Hell-network. But it 
is not inconceivable that a galaxy where few or none of the dominant 
civilizations condone Hells will make the formation of new Hell-networks 
unlikely, producing a fairly permanent state.


-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute 
James Martin 21st Century School 
Philosophy Faculty 
Oxford University