@@DamienWalter such a genuine crying shame that he joined The Sublimed so soon. The world building was so immersive with so much mystery. He populated that world with the most diverse memorable characters. Yet none of those characters being human barring The Use of Weapons visit to Earth.
Try Alistair Reynolds, I personally think that he’s one of the best writers out there !!! Not just sci-fi. Especially his early work , “Chasm city “and the two others in the series are great!!! “Diamond dogs” is a novella that really stands out as hard sci-fi . Give them a go you won’t be disappointed!!! Alistair Reynolds is one of my favourite authors of all time top tier, don’t get me wrong I also rank Banks up there alongside A. R. Peace out from the police state of north Wales 🏴
@@timbushell8640 I really like him but I might be biased coz I’m Welsh 🏴!!! I highly recommend Diamond dogs though I’ve read it a few times which is unusual for me !!!
I'd suggest Greg Egan and Jeff Noon. (along with @aishalotter9995's suggestion of Reynolds). Egan is hard sci-fi. He's pretty much off the chart of Moh's scale and grounds his stories in literal maths. - he has a website that details the maths used as the basis for each work.
You had me in tears with this stunning thoughtful hopeful video essay. “The story of the culture exists in the hearts and minds of all those who have read about it. Think of the Culture as a self replicating memeplex, an expertly engineered narrative weapon, deployed into the population of a backwards planet… to teach them the power of their own human intelligence. As long as one reader of Iain M Banks is walking the Earth, then the Culture is here.”
I'm fifty years old and you had me welling up in the first minute! I devoured Banks's books back at uni, but seeing this turned a solitary pleasure into a social one. A glass of scotch is great, but it's a lot better with mates. You reminded me that there are a lot of us about. You've also reminded me of a pleasure to come. My collection has pride of place at the top of my book case. I'd been waiting until I'd forgotten the stories to re-read them. Ready now.
Gene Roddenberry's original conception for TNG was that the Federation had become a post scarcity Utopia and required TNG writers to reflect this vision in their stories. The problem was that the writers realized they didn't have any good stories to write without a shark in the tank. In Banks' novels, the Culture is the shark in the tank.
@andrewjchamberlain the idirans and the affront, to a lesser degree. But the trophy part to me is that the culture is the shark in the tank, but it's also star trek post scarcity utopia, and it's also the borg, hah. All in one.
"You are a pacisift civilisation that has been playing at war for millenia. The Culture, is a militaristic society pretending to be pacifist for millenia. Think about that carefully."
Wow. That is an amazing essay on Ian M Banks Culture. It brought in everything I have loved about Sci fi, science and philosophy (but couldn’t understand). It is a meme-complex in itself. It embodies everything I loved about Bank’s science fiction, and really explains it to me in ways I hadn’t consciously worked out. The links to Niven, Vinge and even Kant are very illuminating. This is why I love Science fiction, and especially Bank’s work; because it is about everything: Science, society, politics, history evolution, and psychology. And at the heart of it: humanism, and imaginative intelligence. I met Banks once at a book signing after reading Consider Phleabas and he said something about wanting to ‘out Star-wars Star Wars’ he certainly did that and added so much more. That is why, as you point out, it would only be cheapened and debased if sold to Disney or Hollywood. They could never do justice to such complex ideas. The visuals are a quantum leap from previous essays, they are a nice mixture of Ai art and real locations. It must have taken some time. All the effort has paid off big time.
I wrote an entire essay during my doctoral coursework on Banks’ Culture as a utopian “future history” of an Anarchist-Communist society. I love The Culture because Banks truly “gets” how anarchy works
"Anarchist-Communist society" WTF anarchy is the opposite of communist, one advocates no authority while the other is predicated on absolute state authority (see China, USSR, DPRK, Cuba) and yes they are all real communist.
@@TheShorterboy no rulers means no rulers. You can have rules without rulers. As for enforcers, you have everyone else that's following the rules. F**k around and find out!
I've just watched the entire video in one sitting and this is one the best I've seen. The thought of Hollywood weaving its bland diluting magic on Bank's work is vomit inducing. Although I'd love to see The Player of Games as a HBO mini series.
That was about the most impressive intro I've seen in some time on RU-vid :D Reminds me of how it has been since I read Iain M Banks. Time for a revisit.
Yep… ditto… my house burned down a year ago. Lost everything. I can see a pile of dough going to buy them all again. This reminded me how wonderful the culture was, while helping iron out some of the lingering questions I had! Definitely worth the wait!
All I can say is - Iain would have been proud of your account of his works. Also a visually brilliant production! Thanks for the intro to the Kant essay, which I'd never heard of and seems to have been written to be read by mere mortals. I read 'The Hydrogen Sonata' in the shadow of his then (2012) recent death.
This was an utter delight and one of your best productions so far but I do have to remind everyone that within the universe of the books that Grey Area, for his controlling and invasive behaviour, received one of the worst sentences for his bad behaviour that a Mind can have. He was no longer referred to as Grey Area, he had his original name subsumed by both an insult and description of his bad behaviour, he was universally referred to as 'Meat Fucker.' There are societies and Cultures where the laws are unimportant, but custom is all, I think we can see which was the one created by Mr Iain M. Banks.
That was the one part of the books I never completely understood, at least from the Minds' perspective. They were so intelligent, and the humans they watched over so enlightened, that everyone knew there was nothing you could possibly be embarrassed about if a Mind looked into your... well... mind. I understand that it is more of a symbolic gesture towards the respect the Minds have for the autonomy of the Culture's citizens, but that part of the book felt more like a description of an old, somewhat illogical custom to me.
I might be remembering it wrong but Grey Area did not "serve as a judge and executioner", he just showed the commandant the experiences of those he and his side did to the others side and a nightmare. And this mind reading was done in order to understand how that savage culture did the ethnic and political cleansing so fast and without leaving any trace of a record. He was named Meatfucker because he used reading human minds which the Minds regarded as a tabu.
Good lord what a tremendous thesis so superbly presented. Well done indeed. I came to The Culture rather late in life and, to cut a long rather adventurous tale short having been both a peripatetic hippy all over the globe and, astonishingly, a pupil of Greenock High ( Banks was a few years ahead of me in my brother’s year), was immediately smitten with his remarkable vision. Oddly it was the opening sentences of Phlebas that grabbed me by the literary figuratives and I ploughed into his works with gleeful abandon. Having had, myself, a life of astonishing good fortune and adventure - surviving walking thru insurrections, being shot at, freezing in Afghani mountains and rowing boats through the Grand Canyon to mention but a few - nothing ever satisfies me more than diving into the unattainable adventures of fiction, particularly of the sci fi variety. There simply is not enough in this life to provide me with what I know we are capable of. The sheer stupidity of our intelligence has boggled my mind since Greenock High School also… maybe it was something in the water there? I have ever been an advocate of AI and its astonishing potential. In fact even if, as I am fairly sure now will happen, AI is the next step in evolution then still I bless its heroic journey, even if it means we shall fade into oblivion - after all what parent doesn’t want their children to exceed it in every way possible? You are absolutely correct that Banks has not made as big an impact here in the US, something I have discussed a few times with local sci fi aficionados ( tho he is, of course, far from unknown) and found it interesting that you addressed this. It is not quite so simple as you propose methinks and your rather ( if you’ll forgive me) pompously dismissive analysis of the magnificent and varied body of US science fiction was a tad disappointing. Well, that’s hardly a story for the comments section here is it? But well done again, this is the kind of substance that shows the true worth of this platform and gives one renewed hope. Truly, the world of the inimitable Mr Banks will remain alive in the tumbling neurons of this fading old hippy brain right up to the moment of mine own sublimation…
This is it Damien; what you've done here is a thing of extraordinary beauty, humour and intelligence. A reduced juice essay on the infinite fun space of Iain M Banks. I bow to you; you truly do his insurpassable creativity and legacy the justice that it deserves; both barrels/knife missiles.
I think this is the best analysis of the Culture novels that I have heard to date. I would add that these novels helped me let go of many preconceptions about a range of topics, which, I think at least, has helped my understanding of other humans with wildly different views and experiences.
I've been looking forward to this one since you announced it, and you didn't disappoint. Excellent work. Not being a particularly strong reader due to spectrum and attention related difficulties I have often found reading Banks quite hard work, but he is by far my favourite writer. I'd read The State of the Art in my youth but beyond that I consumed most of my sci-fi via tv and cinema. A decade or so later I decided to make an effort to to tackle my difficulties with reading fiction. I started with Matheson's I Am Legend (an easy read) followed by Banks' The Algebraist (not an easy read). I realised that reading is much easier when one is engaged with the subject matter, and Banks' worlds and characters are incredibly engaging although not always easy to penetrate. Once I'd entered the realm of the Culture it became difficult to leave because so much of it aligns with my world view and sensibilities. Although I have difficulty remembering the details of what I have read, the characters, and even which books I've read and in which order, I have no difficulty remembering the Culture. Banks' work has left an indelible mark and I often lightheartedly blame it for my difficulty in tolerating much of how we currently 'choose' to exist. The joy and excitement in your presentation has inspired me to attempt the final trilogy which has been gathering dust on my bookshelf for many years... but those books look pretty thick, gulp. Again, excellent presentation.
@@DamienWalter Haha, yes, especially when my only prior attempt at getting back into reading was much easier both stylistically and in length. I certainly jumped in at the deep end.
Oh boy here we go! Your introduction was incredible! Honestly, I respect that you understand this video may be people's first introduction to The Culture, And you did it an excellent service! That scene had me rolling. You've done the best video I've seen summarizing, but a little spoilery!
Sympathy and empathy can be as toxic as, or supportive of, myopic hedonism, pathological altruism, and/or megalomania, hence compassion being the better term for what is needed. Self awareness, sympathy, and empathy paired with the wisdom of continual change and transcendence.
Damien - thank you so much for this. A fascinating thesis on the philosophy of Ian M Bank's wonderful novels. You describe a lot of what I've concluded by myself, and then fifty times as much again that I had not put together. Thank you thank you thank you.
I've been waiting.... and it is here! I just brewed the morning coffee, settling in for story time. Holding my like until finished, but confident it is forthcoming.
yeah, Culture humans are so, "well-adjusted" they arn't really good at providing "drama" in a modern story sense, so taking the Wall-E approach could work very well. one of the modern novels has a human female agent and her Drone from a prestigious family of contact as a POV, if you 100% focused in on the drone as the main character and made that the central core of the story, about navigating the emotional and social nature of humans and only rarely interacting with the Culture minds. I think such a story could work well.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed similarities between Ecxession and A Fire Upon The Deep. Read both of them in past year or so, that's why I noticed some parallels. Both are great books. What fills me with joy is that I still have some Culture books to read ahead of me. Great work Damien!
Bravo, Damien. I grew up reading Banks and his Culture novels remain my favourites. I was raised as a socialist and so Iain appealed to me as both a writer and a person. His books have opened doors (perceptual and otherwise) in my life and I’m eternally grateful to him for the oeuvre he has left behind for us. You expressed better than I ever have my belief that he was trying to incept the Culture through writing it. This was really worth the wait. Thanks!
Outstanding video. Player of Games has been sitting in my pile of “books recommended to me I’ll get to at some point” for years. Looks like it’s time to move the culture series to the front of my list. Thank you!
4:40 - That reminds me of 2000AD : no backstories, very very rarely any flashbacks, but enough context you could pick up any issue and read almost any story without being lost.
much enjoyed Damien enormous thanks! that Banks was able to have The Culture give us the Wow! Signal (State of the Art) always seemed such a beautifully comic way to sign off on his ever-wrestled with theme of the ethics (or otherwise) of interventionism. have often thought too he must’ve been something of a Hermann Hesse fan, furthering through The Culture explorations that loom large in The Glass Bead Game for instance - whether symbolic abstraction can be nobler than the material flesh (or meat!) n all that sorta thing! really enjoyed this piece Damien n all the work that’s gone into it - much thanks indeed!
I've read that many think that Consider Phealbas is the weakest culture novel, but I loved it, it is my favourite. Thanks for the essay it was excellent.
Sir, I enjoyed that immensely, even though you brought me to tears. You said what needed to be said and, if I thought any of my detractor friends or relatives could summon the patience to watch your critique, I would state that this is the best advertisement to read Bank's Culture novels that I have come across. Thank you for an inspiring watch. We lost a genius too soon.
we all should be doing everything in our power and minds to bring about the culture, I have constantly recommended the series to all I meet who wish to understand "us", (I worked in IT during the eighties to 2000, then moved to working in mental health for the past 24 yrs), the stupidity of our systems and processes, the production of mindless indoctrinated zombies by religions from the fodder of adherents. Well said by you in this episode, the 'Veppers' comparison included, a masterful rendition/summation of Mr Banks work, stay woke as fuck sir, bravo...
Absolutely brilliant! thanks. Hats off to the sound recording. I've just realised the three SF novels I've written since Covid are all homages to Banks and the Culture! R (Australia)
From all the high tech SciFi, this is the place I want to live in. My fav is "Use of Weapons", the way he tells the story is awesome and he consider it the first book, since you get a lot of explanations how the "world" works. But his publisher thought it is too confusing. And the end is such a downer, but brilliant.
Great stuff, excellent video essay! It is a massive shame that we didn't get Iain for longer - his sci-fi is the best I have ever read and I can only hope to find his equal, as surely he will never be beaten.
Thank you for this deeply moving tribute to Iain M Banks and his achievement. Beautifully presented and clearly thought through. Let’s hope Hollywood never gets a chance to dilute his genius.
A truly brilliant exploration of The Culture of Iain M. Banks. A masterclass! I devoured his books back in the day, immersing myself in the fantastical world of The Culture. He is one of the greats of SciFi, if not the greatest exponent of the genre of all time. Sadly, I fear there will be no one like him ever again. Time for a revisit... 'dusts off tattered copy of Consider Phelbas'
You're one of the few creators whose work I like to view on a widescreen. I think its partly because of the visual treat you give us, but also because I associate TV with prestige documentaries. Anyway, this was fandabbdozy, and i just ordered Use of Weapons!
I personally started my reading of the Culture series with the book 'Matter', which is much more accessible to me than 'Consider Phelus'. Most other Culture books where more accessible to me than than the first official Culture novel. Surface Detail is probably my favourite Culture book inspite of the horrific virtual hells sections.
As much as I'd like to see an adaptation, and surely it is tecnically and artiscally possible, I have serious doubts an adatation could convey its gravitas.
Part of me would love to see a Culture novel brought to the big screen, but a bigger part of me knows it would be a disaster - especially if made in Hollywood.
It could function in a prestige TV format but would need to be limited to adaptations of individual novels rather than an ongoing series. Each "season" would need to stand alone.
Thanks for another fantastic video essay. The Culture novels represent, for me, the best SF series ever written. Now I feel like I have to read them all over again ;-)
Brilliant. Now I have to go back & read the books I have again, & pick up the ones I haven't yet read (😱). Iain M Banks remains the only "celebrity" death I have (& evidently still do) shed tears over. The man was a genius.
Brilliant essay. Made me feel warm inside when reminded of the stories in the culture novels and the sophorific immersion I got when I read those books the first time. A feeling needed now more than ever when we look at our leaders around the world and implore the stupidity to end!
This is the best sci-fi series I’ve ever read. I’m pouring through them for the first time right now and I am in awe. Your reading and presentation of the world was absolutely incredible!!! Thank you for creating something this amazing.
Look to Windward is my favorite all time novel but maybe it's time to go over Use of Weapons again. Brilliant analysis of the Culture, most enjoyable to watch
It should be noted the Culture are not the most advanced civilisation, when they were in a war with the Idiran, the Idiran received some minimal support from a far more advanced civilisation. I must admit when this civilisation loses a ship they withdrew their support, but if they really wanted to they would have been able to crash the Culture like an insect. They only had minimal interest in the war and only assisted the Idiran because they resembled the Idiran at one point in their long existence. As long as there were not poked by the culture they would stay out of it. Also, the alien force maintaining Schar’s world seems to be outside the ability of the culture to understand.
As I recall from reading, the Homomda were more advanced than the Culture but I don't remember them being that much more powerful. They were just an older, well regarded civilization that no one really messed with because no one had reason to.
For me, personally, if Iain M. Banks only released Inversions and Excession, he still would have cemented The Culture as one of the peak intellectual properties of science fiction. I cannot think of two books that are so utterly grand in its scope and scale, all to tell stories that are more intimate than a single-backdrop, one-act play. Always, ALWAYS happy to see more content about The Culture. Also, Robin Williams guest-starring as a suicidal Culture picket-ship isn't something I ever would see in my life and boy am I glad it happened.
I just finished the first trilogy-I read “Consider Phlebas,” “The Player of Games,” and “Use of Weapons” back-to-back over two weeks. They were a rollicking, fun read, although I felt they only scratched the surface of the themes they explored. They struck me more as adventurous, grand-scale space opera with commentary on scarcity, religion, and barbarism lightly sprinkled on top. I’m anticipating the next books in the series, because if they’re deeper and more thoughtful explorations of life and philosophy set in the same universe, I imagine I’ll love them even more.
I'm going to have to re-read them. Maybe I was too young but I obviously missed a lot. Except Look To Windward which I did read three times... (5 min later) WHERE'S MY LOOK TO WINDWARD?
Oh my! That's a masterpiece! And what an inspiring speculation in the end! Damien, you are truly a humanist and thank you so so much for your takes on our favourite pieces of scifi! I want to believe that we can grow in something like Culture, despite all the things I'm seeing here in Ukraine every day, there is hope for greater intelligence and greater empathy! Thank you! P.S.: where is this beautiful backdrops you are walking in front of?
Thank you Damien, that was an excellent video essay on the Culture. I'm sure your final statement will find its way through the higher dimensions to a certain Mind, one sublimed far too soon from this planet, and it will smile a cheery Scottish smile.
my mind is glitching right now, im 63 years on the planet, began reading space opera and pulp multi-novel sagas since I'm like, 8,, and I can't grok that I've never tumbled to this scene. But, then I've never been as cool as I would have written myself in story....pre-teen read all of the Doc Savage books....Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card, Piers Anthony, Zelazny, etc, well, better late than...........! great presentation, thanks from California
You might love Amaranthine: How to Create a Regenerative Civilization Using Artificial Intelligence. It’s nonfiction but it explains why Banksian Minds are essential for humanity’s survival and proposes an ontology, epistemology, and structure for them that facilitates the emergence of a society very much like the Culture.
An excellent video, Damien. You’ve put to words many of my thoughts but most importantly given me new insights into Banks’ masterworks. As a transgender person the Culture novels are among the few that I truly feel understood by. Banks writes with such intellect and compassion. His works have truly changed me. A tragedy that he died so young, his rational and compassionate voice would’ve been a tremendous boon in these divided times. Thanks for making these videos, they enrich life and spark the imagination. 🙏
I still do online searches for writers "like Iain M. Banks," and am still routinely disappointed. I devoured every one of his books, which have honored place in my book shelves, tattered and reread numerous times, whether Culture or non. I also want to quickly note that although I am an American, Consider Phlebas was, for me, an awesome and thoroughly enjoyable read. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this video.
Here's my two penn'orth. I asked the question on an Ian M Banks site years ago. "what is a Chuy-hirtsi warp animal?" He actually replied. Something along the lines of, "I left it vague and never developed these to preserve the mystery". Genius. Any sci fi mystery that's ever explained never really scratches the itch. Apart from the monster from the Id.
Fantastic! Thank you! I have only just started reading Consider Phlebas. This video provided some very interesting context and gave me confidence that I'll enjoy other books in the series too.
I love Iain M Bank's Culture series. It's one of my favourite sci-fi series, and he's among my favourite sci-fi/fantasy authors, after J RR Tolkien and George RR martin. His stories are utopian, and yet so dark. I even did my university dissertation on him, and his utopia. You've really done Banks justice with this documentary. Well done👍
She took a deep breath, calmed herself. She walked up to the drone and said quietly, 'All right; this time... you get away with it. Enjoy it when you play it back.' She put one hand flat on the drone's side. 'Yeah; enjoy. But if you ever do anything like that again...' she slapped its flank softly and whispered, 'you're ore, understand?' 'Absolutely,' said the drone. 'Slag; components; motherjunk.'
This is a fantastic essay, well done! I can't wait to hear you talk about LeGuin. Great you had McLeod on and your call out to Harrison - appreciated. This is the first of you I have seen, so forgive a dumb question, but what is this amazing abandoned space you are filming in? (Sub)tropical, but Where? I've never seen anything like it here in Australia. Hard agree that this kind of Pastiche is the best (and only acceptable?) use case for AI (sic[k]) art apps. (has everyone heard the AI C&W song about Drunk Driving?)
My all-time favourite series of books, and my favourite author. I was devastated when I learned that he was sick, and desperately sad when I later found out he'd passed.
I was a fan of Frank Herbert's ConSentiency (or perhaps it should have been more precisely called ConSapiency) and the Culture felt like a great riff on the same concepts. Special circumstances and the Bureau of Sabotage seemed very similar as did the idea of vast minds (stellar entities in Herbert and Ships in Banks) that made every other species look like either wild animals or domesticated pets.
@@DamienWalter Certainly, that must be true and it is obviously true of all the great writers in science fiction. You can see elements of the Noon Universe (Hard To Be A God, for example) in The Culture and it is not hard to draw a line from Van Vogt's the Game Players of Null A to Bank's The Player of Games in the Culture series. But the same is true of PKD's The Game Players of Titan. All these writers depend upon the pioneering work of the writers that came before. Herbert's work was right at the transition from the Pulp fiction age of SF to the New Wave. His Consentiency hero Lewis Orne was part EE Doc Smith's Lensman Kinnison and part Moorcock's anarchic SF hero Jerry Cornelius. Banks was in the later wave of SF involved in "perfectng" the same ideas for a new audience and a new market. I think the prevalence of mass market bookstores at the time, like Borders and Barnes & Noble in the USA, is also an important part of not only Banks success with The Culture - a very "Gen X" sort of story - but the development of science fiction in the period where he was most active. And Fantasy, too - though Banks was no Douglas Adams, I think he had a lot in common with his contemporaries like Terry Pratchett. I can imagine the same readers that picked up Consider Phlebas were also avid readers of the Discworld series. I certainly was. The main critique I'd have for the Culture is probably unfair in the sense that while Banks does greatly address the ultimate dominance of meaningless brutality in his stories, the real historic example of "hippies with guns" is the Manson Family. The Hippie movement itself in America had far more negative consequences than an admirable legacy. I personally know many hippies that protested the war in the 60's and today embrace Q-Anon and far right ideals for many of the same reasons they protested the Vietnam War. Banks is not interested in that. Such a dark outcome seems impossible in The Culture. The wheel of progress never seems like it will really roll backwards.
I was an Azimov and Heinlein fan as a teenager and somehow came across Consider Phlebas in 1988, and it blew my mind. The scenes on the eaters' island did traumatize me a little, but Banks opened my mind with that book. Recently, I re-read it on audiobook, along with most of his other work. Absolutely love his writing
Your opening quote is my favorite bit of any book I've ever read. Just before this the drone was chaining flowers together deftly using its fields! The line went something like "it had not always been so civilized". And then your opening. I couldn't believe it.
