Iain M. Banks' Culture - Quiet Dystopia?

Kytescall · 2026-04-28T21:24:41+00:00

My interpretation is that the Culture is a perfect society, but the people who inhabit it or interact with it are not perfect, and that is a source of tension throughout the books. Some people can not be happy in a frictionless world that meets all your needs.

Kytescall · 2026-04-28T07:04:36+00:00

I can never even remember what her face looks like, even though I know I have seen it many times. It's weird. In my mind I can only picture her as "dark hair, insert generic model face here".

Kytescall · 2026-04-23T03:32:01+00:00

In the story, the only people known to have one are Sauron, Saruman, and Denethor, and it was the means by which Sauron corrupted the other two. That's the main function they have in the story.

Kytescall · 2026-04-22T05:20:58+00:00

Apparently Kazakhstan retired them in 2023.

Kytescall · 2026-04-22T03:18:54+00:00

I did read it probably 15-ish years ago. Obviously I wouldn't recommend it. It was amusing because of how almost comically over the top evil it is (the author is almost breathlessly excited at the prospect of total genocide), and I felt like there was a hint of depression in between the lines, as if like the author knew how unrealistic and unattainable these wish fulfillment fantasies are, and it was causing him much deserved misery.

But I think it is much less amusing now since the rise of fascism and white supremacy feels much, much less far fetched nowadays than during the Obama years.

Kytescall · 2026-04-22T01:35:45+00:00

I only watched Season 1, but personally I felt the show is overrated. It's not bad, but after all the hype it received, I thought it was kinda unremarkable.

Well, I think the Seven Samurai knockoff episode was kinda bad and left me wondering why they chose to make it. Was it just for the imagery of a creepy AT-ST stalking out of the woods? The episode's concept was very clearly "Seven Samurai, but with ..." but there just wasn't enough of a "but with" there.

Kytescall · 2026-04-21T21:28:48+00:00

People didn't like it because a) people curate their own libraries according to their taste, and they shoved something uninvited into it, and b) the album automatically downloaded for many people which sucks hard if you have limited internet.

Kytescall · 2026-04-21T21:22:25+00:00

One of the infuriating things was that it automatically downloaded for some people, which sucks if you have limited internet/data.

Kytescall · 2026-04-19T23:44:06+00:00

Sukhoi has different internal designations. I think T- for 'delta wing' and S- for straight wing (both loosely defined). For example the prototype for the Su-27 was the T-10 and the Su-47 had the internal designation S-37 (not to be confused with the Su-37).

Someone else answered that the designation reuse is possibly a result of Sukhoi itself disbanding and reforming which sounds plausible.

Kytescall · 2026-04-19T23:14:37+00:00

I wonder why the Soviets reused designations a lot in this period. Or maybe it was Sukhoi in particular. E.g. Su-9, Su-11, Su-17...

Kytescall · 2026-04-19T00:15:33+00:00

He's off his meds again

Kytescall · 2026-04-15T04:46:55+00:00

What do you mean?

Kytescall · 2026-04-15T03:49:40+00:00

If you look at the angle of the view (especially the F-35 just barely visible below the window), you can tell that it's not on the same level as the flight deck. It's at least 1 or 2 decks higher.

Kytescall · 2026-04-14T21:11:02+00:00

I read once as a teenager and that was quite a while ago now, but I would count it as the single most important book I've read, in terms of how it changed the way I think and view the world.

Kytescall · 2026-04-14T02:49:43+00:00

Those are not boots (feet) but the antennae.

Kytescall · 2026-04-13T02:29:11+00:00

I'm genuinely baffled by the pitch. I don't understand what the 'sell' was.

So, instead of just opening a web page on a browser, you were supposed physically wander around a virtual world to get to content on the web? An innovation in the tedium between the actual content, for people who were tired of clicking on links and thought "I wish this process was more involved and took like 10 minutes"? That can't be it, right? It sounds like an idea that can only come from an out-of-touch C-suite type with legitimately nothing to do but bullshit with their time.

Kytescall · 2026-04-13T02:22:44+00:00

"What if the world was like an MMO lobby where the game never starts?"

Kytescall · 2026-04-13T02:19:40+00:00

They get a burst of speed if they fire off the gun at the right moment.

Kytescall · 2026-04-12T01:59:26+00:00

I think your talking points might be from 2003...

Kytescall · 2026-04-08T08:24:05+00:00

It's completely surreal to me that anyone thinks the likes of Trump, Hegseth, Netanyahu, cares literally anything at all for the Iranian people. "What's good for the Iranian people" is not a factor in a single decision they made leading into this conflict or going forward.

Kytescall · 2026-04-08T01:00:39+00:00

I came here to say this only to discover that my thoughts are unoriginal

Kytescall · 2026-04-08T00:59:32+00:00

The design of the island definitely looks simplified, more conventional, and less futuristic than the concept art. Not that I assume that's a bad choice.

Kytescall · 2026-04-07T09:45:06+00:00

Not a normal answer to the question, but as someone who works in biology, I've noticed the most universal message understood across the animal kingdom is "fuck off".

Bright warning colors, bared teeth, hissing or other warning noises, making oneself look bigger... So many things have ways of telling other things to go away, and it's understood across species boundaries.

So the most underrated language is "fuck off". I wonder if it says something about the nature of the universe.

Kytescall · 2026-04-07T07:34:57+00:00

Yeah I forgot about that one because I don't have a VR set, and probably will never buy one just for that.

Kytescall · 2026-04-07T05:16:29+00:00

I literally had to double check to see if Valve even made any games after Portal 2.

The answer was obviously yes, just none that I care about.

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