Culture
New Orbit Science Fiction Novel is an exciting new science fiction novel coming from Orbit Books.
Stats for nerds
49recommend
118mentions
97people
2010–2026years
47% recommend49% neutral3% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- The implication of this is quite horrifying. It means a paternalistic AI which is firmly in control. One with no off switch. One which can say "no" to Presidents and despots alike. One which can protect us from our worst citizens.
I think you're right, to be honest. I fully understand why people would think this is a horrific outcome, being ruled by AI, but I don't think it matters what we think. I don't think there's any way to put Pandora back in the box now, and we're going to all find out together what happens when we develop ASI. I don't think we can avoid developing it, we simply lack the ability to coordinate around this as a species. AI really is humanity's last invention. Whether it will be our downfall or our savior remains to be seen.
My only real hope is that there's something fundamental about intelligence that results in a respect for life and a desire to minimize suffering. To me the best case scenario is the Culture from Iain Banks' books, where ASIs rule benevolently for the benefit of all living things.
- It's brilliant and it touches on so many topics worth thinking about; I'm still of two minds re. the ancilliaries, slaves or avatars?
If you like scifi that touches on ethical questions, Iain Banks Culture series is very good in that regard, particularly Player of Games and Use of Weapons. I buddy-reread the last one with an internet friend this year and via our discussions got so much more out of it.
- Invisible Women and the Culture series by Iain Banks (Use of Weapons currently). Both really good
- I prescribe to Iain Banks view of the world in The Culture Series.
- Neal Stephenson's work is outstanding in my opinion, although some find it polarizing. My favorite of his is _Anathem_, followed closely by _Seveneves_.
Iain Banks's science fiction novels (mostly set in the Culture, but he does have others) are also great.
- He is very influenced by The Culture of Iain Banks. They're really good sci-fi... and describe a hedonistic world where machines do the hard thinking and bidding of the biologicals.
https://recommentions.com/elon-musk/books/culture-by-iain-ba...
https://www.vox.com/culture/413502/iain-banks-culture-series...
https://fortune.com/2025/12/15/billionaire-elon-musk-say-tha...
> Musk pointed to The Culture series by Iain M. Banks as his best “imagining” of this world. The science fiction novels depict a utopian future where citizens can have virtually anything they want thanks to AI—making money obsolete and leaving citizens free to spend their time doing whatever they love.
