Post #1724843
2026-04-27 13:06 UTC
Replies (2)
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@mawhrin@awful.systems 2026-04-27 13:08
and of course there’s absolutely nothing in the books that suggests it’s a problem. (hell, there’s a good chance there actually is a lively japanese folk dance fan community there despite the fact that earth was never a part of the culture.)
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@gerikson@awful.systems 2026-04-27 13:37
There’s local democracy - in one book some activist reserved a big part of an orbital just to run cable cars back and forth. And I believe the decision to go war with the Idirans was subjected to a vote - part of the Culture split off when it didn’t go their way. But yeah, the Minds decide everything and Contact/SC is all about doing the “needful stuff” that every right-thinking Culture citizen would deplore. The Culture is imperialist in the previous US sense of “everyone wants to live our lifestyle” but not in the “invade planets and strip them” sense. I’m less interested in discussing the minutiae of the fictional Culture than exploring nerd’s reactions to it, honestly .