Unfortunately, the Banksian vision of the future requires two things we haven’t achieved: eternal benevolent dictatorship, and post scarcity. Furthermore, he also posits that for something like the Culture to emerge, civilizations need to be mobile (ships) in order to be unconquerable.
The closest we could do with current tech is some sort of Waterworld type thing in international waters with flotillas that are inherently sovereign. But the earth is small and it wouldn’t last. Plus, nukes.
No single Mind has dictatorial authority over the Culture though. I could see an argument for it being oligarchal or even a caste society. But I’m not following your reasoning on the enlightened dictatorship part. Could you elaborate?
The Minds do most of the work of controlling things. This is mostly administrative tasks. If they wanted to dominate, they’re in a position to easily take over, but they have no wish to do so.
Unfortunately, the Banksian vision of the future requires two things we haven’t achieved: eternal benevolent dictatorship, and post scarcity. Furthermore, he also posits that for something like the Culture to emerge, civilizations need to be mobile (ships) in order to be unconquerable.
The closest we could do with current tech is some sort of Waterworld type thing in international waters with flotillas that are inherently sovereign. But the earth is small and it wouldn’t last. Plus, nukes.
Who’s the eternal benevolent dictator of the Culture?
AI
No single Mind has dictatorial authority over the Culture though. I could see an argument for it being oligarchal or even a caste society. But I’m not following your reasoning on the enlightened dictatorship part. Could you elaborate?
The Minds do most of the work of controlling things. This is mostly administrative tasks. If they wanted to dominate, they’re in a position to easily take over, but they have no wish to do so.
We’re already post scarcity, we’re just stuck on artificial scarcity for profit.
Giant spaceship dwelling benevolent machine overlords? Tricky.
I’m kinda hoping there’s a GCU already in orbit. If there is, and you see this, ship, I’m ready to be uplifted now.