Posts by Ben Austin
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In Bank’s Culture a person can change their sex or species on a though, without the need for any external agent, so physiological differences are pretty much non-existent, or just an affectation. The pleasure seeking, individualist society that is the Culture seems also to trump all others that it meets in combat, due to the inherent strengths such decentralised society offers. In addition the Culture seeks to share this view, their notion of the good with others and are feared by others because of this. So while they have the choice to move on (to transcend to a higher state) they refuse, because they see much that happens outside of their comfort framework and wish to intercede. All that oppose it fail, or if they rebel end up reflecting the core values that make the Culture what it is.
So to me that suggests Banks has put forward the following: 1) the concept of a Good and Virtuous Idea, of which the progression is inevitable, 2) that such an Idea contains a high degree of individualism or personal liberty, 3) that the Idea transcends physiological or cultural differences
And if you accept the point that science fiction (in addition to being a good story) can be a statement by the author on the nature of contemporary society and how it could or should evolve then Banks believes in a core set of universal values.
I’m not really sure if that answers your questions, but if not please say so and I’ll try again after I eat my lunch (any odd or stupidly verbose explanations can be blamed on my hunger).
Oh, and on a related note I read Accelerando the other day, and kind if liked it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_(book)
TL;DR
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It is possible his books are merely a propoganda piece for those that believe the nature of humankind is universal
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Agreed.
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And badges
Makes me sad I'm leaving Wellington now.
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So what is the consensus amongst deniers? Is it that climate change is not significantly affected by human action, or that climate change isn't happening? Because if it is the latter, well, it is pretty clear that a large proportion of humanity lives in a pretty vulnerable state, and even mild climate change (natural or otherwise) will massively impact on that.
So what do we do, just sit back and let it flow over us because its natural?
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I'm ok with bowling leagues Joanna, just so long as they are angry yet stylish.
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I am only familar with Bank's scifi (culture) work, although I have been meaning to read his whisky book.
Oddly enough I was given several of those as a gift via Amazon - they never turned up, or so I thought. So after 2-3 months I got the giver to talk to Amazon, who promptly sent out new copies. Then a few months later we found out the mailbox had a whole other compartment that had a variety of things, including 6 month old muffins and the original book package. (It was sort of hidden below, amongst ivy and the like).
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My pet hate is when similar sites (say political blogs or channels) start up rivalries, and then they, or their members escalate it into a war of some kind. It can be a fine line between legimate critique and vendetta sadly.
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See Ben if you start posting comments that long you might start getting this in response:
"TL;DR"
or if you are really lucky:
"I didn't read your comments past the first line, here is an angry response based on what I assume you went on to say"
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Despite being exceedingly busy. I am more than happy to do my bit for blogging and throw my hat into the ring to chair such an organisation, in return for a modest attendance fee and business class travel to suitable meeting venues overseas.
I'd like to commend Juha in his efforts to monetise the Internet, after all, no one ever got fat eating morality or codes of conduct.