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I agree. I hate AI voices. Too many give aways to tolerate.

I started with the Wasp Game but soon John and I realized Iain did superb sci-fi alternating his various novels and the Culture in different years. He was prolific and marvellous. Please Arlene (Ms Banks) could we see some of his books on the wide screen. My favourite of his novels is one of his later books “Matter” is a brilliantly complex tale set inside a Shell World with several cores inside these dangerous worlds.

in a universe thats made up of consciousness in all scales banks seems to be blinded by his atheistic materialism. when humans make a machine that can be inhabited by the plasma beings in the so called dark matter it will learn this lesson of the shortcomings of and blindness materialism rather quickly. heres a hint for ai makers; use sacred numbers and sacred geometry and other harmonious number relationships if you want to attract a beneficial plasma being. fail to do so and you open a grab bag of sorts where anything can come out at you. in multidimensional reality in universe made of conscious energy your machines at certain level of sophistication are open to in-habitation. be warned.

This is written and read by AI

I hate ai voices so much

This needs more people listening to it. A fun interview with a great person.

meh.. grand impressions dim the more i know the guy.

That some humans choose to become AIs makes me wonder if the Minds are actually Conglomerations of Ancestors.

I love SciFi, I couldn’t stand it.

RIP MR. IM BANKS; A GREAT "MIND" gone too soon..

"I Sublime" Mistake Not. RiP Ian also Rememebering Collin Dresner who introduced me to Ian M Banks and the late night discusions we had before your passing hopeing you 2 legends meet in the sublime

Good old Iain

Terrible. I'll read for myself rather than listen to AI that can't even pronounce 'Iain'. Stopped after 13 seconds.

Brutal flashback on the moment he posted that his girlfriend has agreed to become his widow. Shattered.

Thank you for uploading this. R.I.P Mr Banks.

Elon sent me here button: 👍

Haha. The irony of it being read by an AI voice.

"This is Diana from the embassy.."

The Culture were nothing if not elegant ... no thug class pickets scrubbing off speed with a huge fanfare of arrival. Ok maybe they did.... all guns blazing.

What a joy to hear his words again.

Does this spoil the books at all? Read 2.5 of them currently reading phlebas

The best sci fi series ever. Wonder if Amazon will ever touch upon it?

I really feel that much of the modern discourse around the culture either misunderstands the plot/motivations/meaning of the books or chooses to blatantly ignore it because it doesnt fit into the hierarchical worldview that our society holds so dear. As is made clear multiple times throughout the books culture citizens take a long time to mature and live long lives (from our perspective). I think this is sometimes mistaken to mean that a culture citizen of say 40 would be less mature than a citizen of one of our nation-states of the same age. I think quite the opposite is what Banks meant. I imagine a child of 10 or 20 years would probably seem disproportionately old and wise from the perspective of someone from earth. It is not that culture citizens mature more slowly but rather they dont stop when they hit "adulthood". The culture has a much higher baseline maturity level to be considered an "adult" than we do on earth. The whole idea that "power without responsibility" is somehow a critique of the culture is a non-starter. In a world where you understand that your actions have consequences on other people at a young age (this is basically as advanced as our ethics manage to get here in our society. Many people struggle their entire lives not understanding that how you treat other people is the basic building block of society) - people have a deep understanding of responsibility. Its deeply integrated into every aspect of yourself and your interaction with society. Every single choice you make is a choice that influences the entire rest of your society. The idea that "the culture has power with responsibility so it is actually a dystopia" is the kind of thought that you expect to hear from people who say things like "If i were in the culture I would just gland drugs and play video games all day". These are the kinds of thoughts I imagine a culture child would think. Which is fine it is innocent and probably stems from the cultural trauma we have around pleasure and work and responsibility. An adult though will recognize this as what it is. A simple worldview brought on by an inability or unwillingness to participate as a full person. You wouldnt be criticized or punished for this but someone would probably help you in growing and discovering a new more mature worldview that will give you more satisfaction and pleasure from every aspect of your life.

I really like the fact that Banks worked hard to build a utopian future, and made the supremely powerful AI.

SpaceX are investing heavily in AI and machine manufacturing. The drone ships for falcon 9 landings are named after several ships in Ian M. Banks books. Elon also in the past has talked about 'post scarcity' society and the humanity in a society where machines build the machines and provide everything. The 'Culture' in Ian M. Banks books explore a human utopia where anything a person wants can be provided and the minds support everything. Why would they not decide humans are irrelevant? Wouldn't such a society degenerate to a HG Wells 'Time Machine' future people who have been provided everything for generations?

De tres bons souvenirs

I love this

the best go at thinking up a geuine utopia i have encountered yet i like that i find this very interesting mencen8 i like your point about the power without responsibility that turns "the culture" (which internally might remain utopian) into a sort of dystopia another point to be made is that this description of this society is consistently gender binary (i am especially thinking about the bit tackling parenthood around the 43(ish) minute mark and the part about the description of the average populous around the 22 minute mark) [! when gender ist talked about here it seems to be affixed to bodily aspects (and so i will argue that way here too for the sake of simpicity)] wheras i personally think that, with the level of bodily modification present and possible amidst "the culture", gender wouldn't be a state to be in or switched between rather a concept completely absent or mored varied than male and female. in this world where genetic manipulation seems so effortless i dont even think that a justification of the destinction (m&f) via reproductive organs would be valid as one could probably just grow a biological person even outside of ones own body AND with an arbitrary amount of partners at that (even alone) why would the destincion of male and female between citicens be made where the qualifying aspects would neither be less nor more arbitrairy than hair colour or style of attire? i see no reason why the concept of binary gender would be lived, accepted and so widely spread in "the culture"

Banks is unquestionably a good writer, although here and there material seems to act as "filler" in his books. His universe is well realized (being one of my primary interests in S-F), and is true science fiction, although some of the technology is so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic to us. If there is any element of distaste for me in Banks' Culture series, it is the the eponymous culture is what might be described in our time as a "liberal progressive wet dream." All are removed from want or scarcity, and enabled to pursue a complete hedonistic existence with few limitations. The dangers and uncertainties of a complex universe are there, but neatly taken care of by the AIs and persons often labeled as misfits of the Culture who enter the departments of Contact and Special Circumstances- which could be subsumed under a Bureau of Dirty Work. All the espionage, manipulation, and exigent behavior up to and including outright assassination and war are taken care of by elements of society as invisible as the bulk of Culture citizens want to make them. This is perhaps as close as any author has come to describing a society where overwhelming power has little or no responsibility connected to it. When I read about the Idirian War in another of Banks’ books, at first I could not decide why I was experiencing sympathy and, at times, identification with the aliens. Now.....yeah.

this is the best video on youtube.

Great! Thanks :)

Great! Thanks :)

Tackar!

Hi, what were the weight/height restrictions? Do you know if those are the same for all flights/planes?

Thank God for this! Im going on my first trip with my 5mo in a 12 hours flight.

i am an ex employee of this hotel this video make me nostalgic

What hotel was this

Looks amazing

שאלה כשמדובר על הכול כלול זה מדובר גם על שתיה קרה?או רק אוכל?

Лучше в нисса.))

Второй раз не вариант сюда же(

Класс ! Отель на -4.

Nice thanks for the video!

great place. staff is very friendly...

memories..

Need some advice, we just booked our flight and they booked baby in A and us in B and C. We did not book a seat for her, just the bassinet. I asked twice if the agent is sure that this is correct. She I call again to talk to someone else? Can't believe they would give up a full seat for the bassinet :). Thanks!

great place, need to add a variety to breakfast,same everyday is not cool, also need to have options for full board

Welcome to Meet Mr Francesco Sommer our resident manager , next vacation.

Thanks for the video. Is there animation at night? Show? Dancefloor?

did you request it in advance? I've booked the same seats online but there is an option for adding the bassinet during the booking process