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Overview
The Culture is characterized by being a post-scarcitysociety (meaning that
its advanced technologies provide practically limitless material wealth and
comforts for everyone for free, having all but abolished the concept of
possessions), by having overcome almost all physical constraints on life
(including disease and death) and by being an almost totally egalitarian,
stable society without the use of any form of force or compulsion, except
where necessary to protect others
!inds, powerful artificial intelligences, have an important role to play in this
society They administer this affluence for the benefit of all "s one
commentator has said,
#n vesting all power in his individualistic, sometime eccentric, but always
benign, "# !inds, $an%s %new what he was doing& this is the only way a
liberal anarchy could be achieved, by ta%ing what is best in humans and
placing it beyond corruption, which means out of human control The
danger involved in this imaginative step, though, is clear& one of the
problems with the Culture novels as novels is that the central characters,
the !inds, are too powerful and, to put it bluntly, too good'
The novels of the Culture cycle, therefore, mostly deal with people at the
fringes of the Culture* diplomats, spies, or mercenaries& those who interact
with other civilizations, and who do the Culture+s dirty wor% in moving those
societies closer to the Culture ideal, sometimes by force
'editictional history
#n this fictional universe, the Culture exists concurrently with human societyon arth The time frame for the published Culture stories is from roughly
". /011 to ". 231, with arth being contactedaround ". /11, though
the Culture had covertly visited the planet in the /231s in The State of the
Art
The Culture itself is described as having been created when several
humanoid species and machine sentiences reached a certain social level,
and too% not only their physical, but also their civilizational evolution into
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presence of these concepts in other civilizations signify the brutality and
hierarchy associated with forms of empire that the Culture strives to avoid
!arain itself is also open to encryption and dialect-specific implementations
for different parts of the Culture !/ is basic
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have the occasional 7crime of passion7 (as described by an"zadian) and
the punishment was to be 7slap-droned7, or to have a drone assigned to
follow the offender and 7ma%e sure 'they don+t do it again7
9hile the enforcement in theory could lead to a $ig $rother-stylesurveillance society, in practice social convention among the !inds
prohibits them from watching, or interfering in, citizens+ lives unless
re5uested, or unless they perceive severe ris% The practice of reading a
sentient+s mind without permission (something the Culture is technologically
easily capable of) is also strictly taboo The whole plot of Look to
Windwardrelies on a ?ub !ind not reading an agent+s mind (with certain
precautions in case this rule gets violated) !inds that do so anyway are
considered deviant and shunned by other !inds (see AC@ Grey Area) "t
one point it is said that if the Culture actually had written laws, the sanctity
of one+s own thoughts against the intrusion of others would be the first on
the boo%s
This gives some measure of privacy and protection& though the very nature
of Culture society would, strictly spea%ing, ma%e %eeping secrets irrelevant*
most of them would be considered neither shameful nor criminal #t does
allow the !inds in particular to scheme amongst themselves in a very
efficient manner, and occasionally withhold information
'editBiological citizens
#t has been argued within the novels by opponents of the Culture that the
role of humans in the Culture is nothing more than that of pets, or parasites
on Culture !inds, and that they can have nothing genuinely useful to
contribute to a society where science is close to omniscient about the
physical universe, where every ailment has been cured, and where every
thought can be read !any of the Culture novels in fact contain characters
(from within or without the Culture) wondering how far-reaching the !inds+
dominance of the Culture is, and how much of the democratic process
within it might in fact be a sham* subtly but very powerfully influenced by
the !inds in much the same ways Contactand 4pecial
Circumstancesinfluence other societies "lso, except for some mentions
about a vote over the #diran-Culture 9ar, and the existence of a very smallnumber of +;eferrers+ (humans of especially acute reasoning), few
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biological entities are ever described as being involved in any high-level
decisions
On the other hand, the Culture can be seen as
fundamentally hedonistic(one of the main ob6ectives for any being,including !inds, is to have fun rather than to be +useful+) "lso, !inds are
constructed, by convention, to care for and value human beings 9hile a
Aeneral Contact @nit (AC@) does not strictly need a crew (and could
construct artificial avatars when it did), a real human crew adds richness to
its existence, and offers distraction during otherwise dull periods
#n Consider Phlebasit is noted that !inds still find humans fascinating,
especially their odd ability to sometimes achieve similarly advanced
reasoning as their much more complex machine brains
To a large degree, the freedoms en6oyed by humans in the Culture are only
available because !inds choose to provide them
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though the ma6ority of the biological Culture is still pan-human Eittle
uniformity exists in the Culture, and its citizens are such by choice, free to
change physical form and even species (though some stranger biological
conversions are irreversible, and conversion from biological to artificialsentience is considered to be what is %nown as an @nusual Eife Choice)
"ll members are also free to 6oin, leave, and re6oin, or indeed declare
themselves to be, say, =1F Culture
'editPhysiology
Techni5ues in geneticshave advanced in the Culture to the point where
bodies can be freed from built-in limitations Citizens of the Culture refer to
a normal human as 7human-basic7 and the vast ma6ority opt for significantenhancements& severed limbs grow bac%, sexual physiology can be
voluntarily changed from male to female and bac% (though the process
itself ta%es time), sexual stimulation and endurance are strongly heightened
in both sexes (something that is often sub6ect of envious debate among
other species), pain can be switched off, toxins can be bypassed away
from the digestive system, automatic functions such as breathing or heart
rate can be switched to conscious control, and bones and muscles adapt
5uic%ly to changes in gravity without the need to exercise The degree of
enhancement found in Culture individuals varies to taste, with certain of the
more exotic enhancements limited to 4pecial Circumstances personnel (for
example, weapons systems embedded in various parts of the body)
!ost Culture individuals opt to have drug glands that allow for hormonal
levels and other chemical secretions to be consciously monitored, released
and controlled These allow owners to secrete on command any of a wide
selection of synthetic drugs, from the merely relaxing to the mind-altering*+4nap+ is described in Use of Weaonsand The Player of Gamesas 7The
Culture+s favourite brea%fast drug7 74harp $lue7 is described as a utility
drug, as opposed to a sensory enhancer or a sexual stimulant, that helps in
problem solving 7Guic%en7, mentioned in Excession, speeds up the user+s
neural processes so that time seems to slow down, allowing them to thin%
and have mental conversation (for example with artificial intelligences) in
far less time than it appears to ta%e to the outside observer 74per%7, as
described in Matter, is a mood- and energy-enhancing drug, while other
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such self-produced drugs include 7Calm7, 7Aain7, 7Charge7, 7;ecall7,
7.iffuse7, 74omnabsolute7, 74oftnow7, 7ocal7, 7dge7, 7.rill7, 7Aung7, and
7Crystal ugue 4tate7 The glanded substances have no permanent side-
effects and are non-habit-forming'editPhenotypes
See also! List of societies of the C"lt"re settin#
or all their genetic improvements, the Culture is by no
means eugenicallyuniform ?uman members in the Culture setting vary in
size, colour and shape as in reality, and with possibly even further natural
differences* in the novella The State of the Art, it is mentioned that a
character 7loo%s li%e a Heti7, and that there is variance among the Culturein minor details such as the number of toes or of 6oints on each finger #t is
mentioned in Excessionthat*
7the tenor of the time had generally turned against outlandishness and
people had mostly returned to loo%ing more li%e people over the last
millennium7, previously 7as the fashions of the intervening times had
ordained 8 people had resembled birds, fish, dirigible balloons, sna%es,
small clouds of cohesive smo%e and animated bushes74ome Culture citizens opt to leave the constraints of a human or even
humanoid body altogether, opting to ta%e on the appearance of one of the
myriad of other galactic sentients (perhaps in order to live with them) or
even non-sentient ob6ects as commented upon inMatter(though this
process can be irreversible if the desired form is too removed from the
structure of the human brain) Certain eccentrics have chosen to become
drones or even !inds themselves, though this is considered rude and
possibly even insulting by most humans and "#s ali%e
9hile the Culture is generally pan-humanoid (and tends to call itself
7human7), various other species and individuals of other species have
become part of the Culture
"s all Culture citizens are of perfect genetic health, the very rare cases of a
Culture citizen showing any physical deformity are almost certain to be a
sort of fashion statement of somewhat dubious taste
'editPersonality
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"lmost all Culture citizens are very sociable, of great intellectual capability
and learning, and possess very well-balanced psyches Their biological
ma%e-up and their growing up in an enlightened society ma%e neuroses
and lesser emotions li%e greed or (strong) 6ealousy practically un%nown,and produce persons that, in any lesser society, appear very self-
composed and charismatic Character traits li%e strong shyness, while very
rare, are not fully un%nown, as shown in Excession "s described there and
in Player of Games, a Culture citizen who becomes dysfunctional enough
to pose a serious nuisance or threat to others would be offered (voluntary)
psychological ad6ustment therapy and might potentially find himself under
constant (non-voluntary) oversight by representatives of the local !ind #n
extreme cases, as described in Use of Weaonsand S"rface $etail,
dangerous individuals have been %nown to be assigned a 7slap-drone7, a
robotic follower who ensures that the person in 5uestion doesn+t continue to
endanger the safety of others
'editArtificial
"s well as humans and other biological species, sentient artificial
intelligencesare also members of the Culture These can be broadly
categorised into drones and !inds "lso, by custom, as described
in Excession, any artifact (be it a tool or vessel) above a certain capability
level has to be given sentience
'editDrones
.rones are roughly comparable in intelligence and social status to that of
the Culture+s biological members Their intelligence is measured against
that of an average biological member of the Culture& a so-called 7/1 value7
drone would be considered the mental e5ual of a biological citizen,
whereas lesser drones such as the menial service units of Orbitals are
merely proto-sentient (capable of limited reaction to unprogrammed events,
but possessing no consciousness, and thus not considered citizens& these
ta%e care of much of the menial wor% in the Culture) The sentience of
advanced drones has various levels of redundancy, from systems similar to
that of !inds (though much reduced in capability) down to electronic, to
mechanical and finally biochemical bac%-up brains
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"lthough drones are artificial, the parameters that prescribe their minds are
not rigidly constrained, and sentient drones are full individuals, with their
own personalities, opinions and 5uir%s Ei%e biological citizens, Culture
drones generally have lengthy names They also have a form of sexualintercourse for pleasure, called being 7in thrall7, though this is an intellect-
only interfacing with another sympathetic drone
9hile civilian drones do generally match humans in intelligence, drones
built especially as Contact or 4pecial Circumstances agents are often
several times more intelligent, and imbued with extremely powerful senses,
powers and armaments (usually forcefield and effector-based, though
occasionally more destructive weaponry such as lasers or, exceptionally,
7%nife-missiles7 are referred to) all powered by antimatter reactors .espite
being purpose built, these drones are still allowed individual personalities
and given a choice in lifestyle #ndeed, some are eventually deemed
psychologically unsuitable as agents (for example as !awhrin-4%el notes
about itself inThe Player of Games) and must choose (or choose to
choose) either mental reprofiling or demilitarisation and discharge from
4pecial Circumstances
Dhysically, drones are floating units of various sizes and shapes, usually
with no visible moving parts .rones get around the limitations of this
inanimation with the ability to pro6ect 7fields7* both those capable of physical
force, which allow them to manipulate ob6ects, as well as visible, coloured
fields called 7auras7, which are used to enable the drone to express
emotion There is a complex code of drone body language based on aura
colours and patterns (which is fully understood by biological Culture
citizens as well) The drone, Iase, inConsider Phlebas, is described asbeing constructed before the use of 7auras7, and refuses to be retrofitted
with them, preferring to remain inscrutable
#n size drones vary substantially* the oldest still alive (eight or nine
thousand years old) tend to be around the size of humans, whereas later
technology allows drones to be small enough to lie in a human+s cupped
palm& modern drones may be any size between these extremes according
to fashion and personal preference 4ome drones are also designed as
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utility e5uipment with its own sentience, such as the gelfield protective suit
described in Excession
'editMinds
Main article! Mind %The C"lt"re&
$y contrast to drones, !inds are orders of magnitude more powerful and
intelligent than the Culture+s other biological and artificial citizens Typically
they inhabit and act as the controllers of large-scale Culture hardware such
as ships or space-based habitats @nsurprisingly, given their duties, !inds
are tremendously powerful* capable of running all of the functions of a ship
or habitat, while holding potentially millions of simultaneous conversations
with the citizens that live aboard them To allow them to perform at such ahigh degree, they exist partially in hyperspace to get around hindrances to
computing power such as the speed of light
.uring the time of Consider Phlebas, !inds were estimated to number in
the several hundreds of thousands
4hip-based Culture !inds choose the names of the craft they inhabit, and
their choices are often whimsical and humorous 4hips are identified by a
three-letter prefix denoting class (such as A4B or AC@), followed by their
personal name, such as*
Anticiation 'f A (ew Lo)er*s Arri)al+ The
,"st Testin#
Sense Amid Madness+ Wit Amidst -olly
Dresumably to avoid the cumbersome repetition of such long names, the
inhabitants of ships and habitats tend to refer to the overseeing local !ind
simply as the 74hip7 or the 7?ub7, for example
Culture military craft are often designed to be ugly and graceless, lac%ing
the Culture+s usual aesthetic style, and it has been theorised that this is
because Culture citizens wish to distance themselves from the military
aspects of their society Their ship classes, reflecting the Culture+s profound
distaste of war and resultant refusal to disguise their weapons with
euphemisms, are always unpleasant (such as the Aangster, Torturer,
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Dsychopath, Thug and "bominator classes) Their self-given names are
often tinged with menace (but still tend to be whimsical), such as*
All Thro"#h With This (iceness And (e#otiation St"ff
Attit"de Ad."ster
/illin# Time
-rank Exchan#e 'f 0iews
-allin# '"tside The (ormal Moral Constraints
See also! List of sacecraft in the C"lt"re series
4ince the !ind concerned chooses its own name this may sometimes even
indicate a degree of self-hatred over its purpose for existence 9arship
!inds are somewhat out of the normal Culture+s behaviour range, designed
to be more aggressive and less ambivalent about violence than the usual
Culture citizen 4ome such !inds choose to 7sleep7 in between periods of
conflict, due to their boredom and uneasiness with typical existence in the
Culture
!inds generally view their crew:inhabitants as 7interesting companions7
and interact with them through remotely controlled devices, often drones or
humanoid 7avatars7 xamples of more diverse interactive systems are
animals such as small fish suspended in their own anti-gravity sphere of
water
"s a sidenote, the fact that artificial intelligences are accepted as citizens of
the Culture was a ma6or factor in the #diran-Culture 9ar, which is explored
in Consider Phlebas This citizenship of "#s (which the Culture promotes in
other societies it encounters) has other more general conse5uences or
instance, despite a high degree of automation within Culture technology,
menial tas%s are often underta%en by non-sentient technology, to avoid the
exploitation of sentient lifeforms (though !inds often wor% at administrative
tas%s using bare fractions of their enormous mental capabilities)
'editNames
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4ome humanoid or drone Culture citizens have long names, often with
seven or more words 4ome of these words specify the citizen+s origin
(place of birth or manufacture), some an occupation, and some may denote
specific philosophical or political alignments (chosen later in life by thecitizen themselves), or ma%e other similarly personal statements "n
example would be .iziet 4ma, whose full name is ;asd-Coduresa .iziet
mbless 4ma da+ !arenhide*
1asd2Cod"resais the planetary systemof her birth, and the specific
ob6ect (planet, orbital, .yson sphere, etc) The 2sasuffix is roughly
e5uivalent to 2erin nglish $y this convention, arth humans would all
be named Sol2Terrasa(or S"n2Earther) $i3ietis her given name This is chosen by a parent, usually the
mother
Emblessis her chosen name !ost Culture citizens choose this when
they reach adulthood (according to The Player of Gamesthis is %nown
as 7completing one+s name7) "s with all conventions in the Culture, it
may be bro%en or ignored* some change their chosen name during their
lives, some never ta%e one
Smais her surname, usually ta%en from one+s mother
da* Marenhideis the +house+:estate she was raised within,
the da*or dambeing similar to )onin Aerman (The usual formation
isdam& da*is used in 4ma+s name because the house name begins with
an !, eliding an aw%ward phoneme repetition)
#ain $an%s has given his own Culture name as 74un-arther #ain l-$on%o
$an%s of
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consciousness is not continued, and the original individual is not truly
reborn, 6ust replaced The form of that resurrection can be specified by the
citizen, with personalities returning either in the same biological form, in an
artificial form (see below), or even 6ust within virtual reality 4ome citizenschoose to go into 7storage7 (a form of suspended animation) for long
periods of time, out of boredom or curiosity about the future
"ttitudes individual citizens have towards death are very varied (and have
varied throughout the Culture+s history) 9hile many, if not most, citizens
ma%e some use of bac%up technology, many others do not, preferring
instead to ris% death without the possibility of recovery (for example when
engaging in extreme sports) These citizens are sometimes called
7disposables7, and are described inLook to Windward Ta%ing into account
such accidents, voluntary euthanasiafor emotional reasons, or choices
li%e sublimation, the average lifespan of humans is described
in Excessionas being around 0J1 to K11 years, but can be longer 4ome
citizens choose to forgo death altogether, although this is rarely done and
is viewed as an eccentricity Other options instead of death include
conversion of an individual+s consciousness into an "#, 6oining of a group
mind (which can include biological and non biological consciousnesses), orsubliming (usually in association with a group mind)
Concerning the lifespan of drones and !inds, given the durability of Culture
technology and the aforementioned options of mindstate bac%ups, it is
reasonable to assume that they live as long as they choose ven !inds,
with their utmost complexity, are %nown to be bac%ed up (and reactivated if
they for example die in a ris%y mission, see GS0 Lastin# $ama#e) #t is
noted that even !inds themselves do not necessarily live forever either,often choosing to eventually sublime or even committing suicide(as does
the triple-mind GS0 Lastin# $ama#edue to its choices in the Culture-#diran
war)
'edit4cience and technology
'editAnti-graity and forcefields
The Culture (and other societies) have developed powerful anti-gravity
abilities, closely related to their ability to manipulate forces themselves
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#n this ability they can create action-at-a-distance 8 including forces
capable of pushing, pulling, cutting, and even fine manipulation, and
forcefields for protection, visual display or plain destructive ability 4uch
applications still retain restrictions on range and power* while forcefields ofmany cubic %ilometres are possible (and in fact, orbitalsare held together
by forcefields), even in the chronologically later novels, such as Look to
Windward, spaceships are still used for long-distance travel and drones for
many remote activities
9ith the control of a !ind, fields can be manipulated over vast distances
#n Use of Weaons, a Culture warship uses its electromagnetic effectors to
hac% into a computer light years away
'editArtificial intelligence
Main article! Mind %The C"lt"re&
"rtificial intelligences (and to a lesser degree, the non-sentient computers
omnipresent in all material goods), form the bac%bone of the technological
advances of the Culture
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spend most of the time when their +body+ is not in use in a form of remote-
lin%ed existence outside of it, or in a form of "#-level virtual reality
'edit!nergy manipulation
" ma6or feature of its post-scarcitysociety, the Culture is obviously able to
gather, manipulate, transfer and store vast amounts of energy 9hile not
explained in detail in the novels, this involves antimatterand +grid energy+, a
postulated energy field dividing the universe from a mirroring anti-matter
universe, and providing practically limitless energy Transmission or
storage of such energy is not explained, though these capabilities must be
powerful as well, with tiny drones capable of very powerful manipulatory
fields and forces
The Culture also uses various forms of energy manipulation as weapons,
with 7Aridfire7 (a method of creating a dimensional rift to the energy grid,
releasing astronomical amounts of energy into a region of non-hyperspace)
being described as a sort of ultimate weapon more destructive than
condensed antimatterbombardment One character in Consider
Phlebasrefers to gridfire as 7the weaponry of the end of the universe7
'editMatter displacementThe Culture (at least by the time of The Player of Games) has developed a
form of teleportationcapable of transporting both living and unliving matter
instantaneously via wormholes This technology has not rendered
spacecraft obsolete 8 in Excessiona barely apple-sized drone was
displaced for no further than a light-second at maximum range (mass being
a limiting factor determining range), a tiny distance in galactic terms The
process also still has a very small chance of failing and %illing living beings,
but the chance is described as being so small (/ in >/ million)'K*0>0that it
normally only becomes an issue when transporting a large number of
people and is only regularly brought up due to the Culture+s safety
conscious nature
.isplacement is an integral part of Culture technology, being widely used
for a range of applications from peaceful to militaristic .isplacing warheads
into or around targets is one of the main forms of attac% in space warfare in
the Culture universe The Player of Gamesmentions that drones can be
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redesigns itself to be mostly engine and reaches a speed of 00,111
times lightspeed 9ithin the range of the Culture+s influence in the galaxy,
most ships would still ta%e years of travelling to reach the more remote
spotsOther than the engines used by larger Culture ships, there are a number of
other propulsion methods such as gravitic drive at sublight speeds, with
antimatter, fusion and other reaction engines occasionally seen with less
advanced civilizations, or on Culture hobby craft
9arp engines can be very small, with Culture drones barely larger than fist-
size described as being thus e5uipped There is also at least one
(apparently non-sentient) species (the 7Chuy-?irtsi7 animal), thatpossesses the innate capability of warp travel #n Consider Phlebas, it is
being used as a military transport by the #dirans, but no further details are
given
'editNanotechnology
The Culture has highly advanced nanotechnology, though descriptions of
such technology in the boo%s is limited !any of the described uses are by
or for 4pecial Circumstances, but there are no indications that the use ofnanotechnology is limited in any way (#n a passage in one of the boo%s,
there is a brief reference to the 5uestion of sentience when comparing the
human brain or a 7pico-level substrate7)
One of the primary clandestine uses of nanotechnology is information
gathering The Culture li%es to be in the %now, and as described
in Matter7they tend to %now everything7 "side from its vast networ% of
sympathetic allies and wandering Culture citizens one of the primary waysthat the Culture %eeps trac% of important events is by the use of practically
invisible nanobots capable of recording and transmitting their observations
This techni5ue is described as being especially useful to trac% potentially
dangerous people (such as ex-4pecial Circumstance agents) Bia such
nanotechnology, it is potentially possible for the Culture (or similarly
advanced societies) to see everything happening on a given planet, orbital
or any other habitat The usage of such devices is limited by various
treaties and agreements among the #nvolved
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'editEiving space
!uch of the Culture+s population lives on orbitals, vast artificial worlds that
can accommodate billions of people Others travel the galaxy in huge
space ships such as Aeneral 4ystems Behicles (A4Bs) that can
accommodate hundreds of millions of people "lmost no Culture citizens
are described as living on planets, except when visiting other civilizations
The reason for this is partly because the Culture believes in containing its
own expansion to self-constructed habitats, instead of colonising or
con5uering new planets 9ith the resources of the universe allowing
permanent expansion (at least assuming non-exponential growth), this
frees them from having to compete for living space
The Culture, and other civilizations in $an%s+ universe, are described as
living in these various, often constructed habitats*
'editAirspheres
These are vast, brown dwarf-sized bubbles of atmosphere enclosed by
force fields, and (presumably) set up by an ancient advanced race at least
one and a half billion years ago There is only minimal gravity within an
airsphere They are illuminated by moon-sized orbiting planetoids that emit
enormous light beams
Citizens of the Culture live there only very occasionally as guests, usually
to study the complex ecosystem of the airspheres and the dominant life-
forms* the 7dirigible behemothaurs7 and 7gigalithine lenticular entities7,
which may be described as inscrutable, ancient intelligences loo%ing similar
to a cross between gigantic blimps and whales The airspheres slowly
migrate around the galaxy, ta%ing anywhere from J1 to /11 million years tocomplete one circuit #n the novels no one %nows who created the
airspheres or why, but it is presumed that whoever did has long since
sublimed but may maintain some obscure lin% with the behemothaurs and
lenticular entities Auests in the airspheres are not allowed to use any
force-field technology, though no reason has been offered for this
prohibition
The airspheres resemble in some respects the orbit-sized ring ofbreathable atmosphere created by Earry
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spherical not toroidal, re5uire a force field to retain their integrity, and arose
by artificial rather than natural processes
'edit$rbitals
Main article! 'rbital %The C"lt"re&
One of the main types of habitats of the Culture, an orbital is a ring
structure orbiting a star as would a planet @nli%e a ;ingworldor a.yson
4phere, an orbital does not enclose the star (being much too small) Ei%e a
ringworld, the orbital rotates to provide an analog of gravity on the inner
surface " Culture orbital rotates about once every K hours and has
gravity-li%e effect about the same as the gravity of arth, ma%ing the
diameter of the ring about 0,111,111 %m, and ensuring that the inhabitantsexperience night and day Orbitals feature prominently in many Culture
stories
'editPlanets
Though many other civilizations in the Culture boo%s live on planets, the
Culture as it currently exists has little direct connection to planet life "
small number of homeworlds of the founding member species of the
Culture are mentioned in passing, and a few hundred human-habitable
worlds were colonised (some being terraformed) before the Culture chose
to turn towards artificial habitats, preferring to %eep the planets it
encounters wild 4ince then, terraforming has become loo%ed down on by
the Culture as inelegant, ecologically problematic and possibly even
immoral Eess than one percent of the population of the Culture lives on
planets, and many find the very concept a bit bizarre
This respect is not absolute though& in Consider Phlebas, some !indssuggest testing a new technology on a 7spare planet7 (%nowing that it could
be destroyed in an antimatterexplosion if unsuccessful) #t should be
assumed from their normal ethics, that this planet would have been lifeless
to start with #t is also 5uite possible, even probable, that the suggestion
was not made in complete seriousness
'edit%ings
;ingworld-li%e megastructures exist in the Culture universe but are referredto simply as 7;ings7 with a capital 1 These habitats are not described in
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detail but one is recorded as having been destroyed (along with 0 4pheres)
in the #diran-Culture war #n Matter, the !orthanveld people possesses
ringworldli%e structures made of innumerable various-sized tubes Those
structures encircle a star 6ust li%e
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4hips in the Culture are intelligent individuals, often of very large size,
controlled by one or more !inds The ship is considered the !ind+s body
4ome ships (eg, A4Bs) are tens or even hundreds of %ilometers in length
and may have millions or even billions of residents who live on them fulltime, and together with Orbitals represent the main form of habitat for the
Culture 4uch large ships may temporarily contain smaller ships with their
own populations, and:or manufacture such ships themselves
#n Use of Weaons, the protagonist a%alwe is allowed to acclimatise
himself to the Culture by wandering for days through the habitable levels of
a ship (the A4B Si3e 4sn*t E)erythin#, which is described as over =1
%ilometers long), eating and sleeping at the many locations which provide
food and accommodation throughout the structure and en6oying the various
forms of contact possible with the friendly and accommodating inhabitants
'edit#pheres
.yson spheresalso exist in the Culture universe but are only mentioned in
passing and are simply called 74pheres7 Three spheres are recorded as
having been destroyed in the #diran-Culture war
#n Matter, the !orthanveld
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constantly in flux (though they tend to be continually expanding during the
novels), peacefully +absorbing+ societies and individuals
9hile the Culture is one of the most advanced and most powerful of all
galactic civilizations, it is but one of the 7high-level #nvolved7 (called7Optimae7 by some less advanced civilizations), the most powerful non-
sublimed civilizations which mentor or control the others
"n #nvolved society is a highly advanced group that has achieved galaxy-
wide involvement with other cultures or societies There are a few dozen
#nvolved societies and hundreds or thousands of well-developed
(interstellar) but insufficiently influential societies or cultures& there are also
well-developed societies %nown as 7galactically mature7 which do not ta%ea dynamic role in the galaxy as a whole #n the novels, the Culture might be
considered the premier #nvolved society, or at least the most dynamic and
energetic, especially given that the Culture itself is a growing multicultural
fusion of #nvolved societies The #nvolved are contrasted with the 4ublimed
(sometimes collo5uially referred to as the lder civilizations due to the fact
that they are no longer around), groups that have reached a high level of
technical development and galactic influence but subse5uently abandoned
physical reality, ceasing to ta%e serious interventionist interest in galactic
civilization They are also contrasted with what some Culture people
loosely refer to as 7barbarians7, societies of intelligent beings which lac%
the technical capacity to %now about or ta%e a serious role in their
interstellar neighbourhood
The #nvolved are also contrasted with hegemonising swarms(a term used
in several of $an%s+ Culture novels) These are entities that exist to convert
as much of the universe as possible into more of themselves& most typically
these are technological in nature, resembling more sophisticated forms
of grey goo, but the term can be applied to cultures that are sufficiently
single-minded in their devotion to mass con5uest, control, and colonisation
$oth the Culture and the author (in his (otes 'n the C"lt"re) find this
behavior5uixoticand ridiculous !ost often, societies categorized as
hegemonising swarms consist of species or groups newly-arrived in the
galactic community with highly expansionary and exploitative goals The
usage of the term 7hegemonising swarm7 in this context is considered
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Contact which focuses on containing and negating the threat of swarms of
self-replicating creatures (+hegswarms+)
'editBehaiour in war
9hile the Culture is normally pacifist, Contact historically acts as its military
arm in times of war, while 4pecial Circumstances can be considered
its secret serviceand its military intelligence .uring war, most of the
strategic and tactical decisions are ta%en by the !inds, with apparently only
a small number of especially gifted humans, the 7;eferrers7, being involved
in the top-level decisions #t is shown in Consider Phlebasthat actual
decisions to go to war (as opposed to purely defensive actions) are based
on a vote of all Culture citizens, presumably after vigorous discussionwithin the whole society
#t is described in various novels that the Culture is extremely reluctant to go
to war, though it may start to prepare for it long before its actual
commencement #n the #diran-Culture 9ar(possibly one of the most hard-
fought wars for the normally extremely superior Culture forces), various star
systems, stellar regions and many orbital habitats were overrun by the
#dirans before the Culture had converted enough of its forces to military
footing The Culture !inds had had enough foresight to evacuate almost all
its affected citizens (apparently numbering in the many billions) in time
before actual hostilities reached them "s shown in Player of Games, this is
a standard Culture tactic, with its strong emphasis on protecting its citizens
rather than sacrificing some of them for short-term goals
9ar within the Culture is mostly fought by the Culture+s sentient warships,
the most powerful of these being war-converted A4Bs, which are described
as powerful enough to oppose whole enemy fleets The Culture has little
use for conventional ground forces (as it rarely occupies enemy territory,
and has little territory of its own)& combat drones e5uipped with %nife
missiles do appear in $escendantand 7terror weapons7 (basically
intelligent, nano-form assassins) are mentioned in Look to Windward, while
infantry combat suits of great power (also usable as capable combat
drones when without living occupants) are used in Matter
'edit;elevance to real-world politics
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'edit'topia
Comparisons are often made between the Culture and twentieth and
twenty first century 9estern civilization(s), particularly their interventions in
less-developed societies These are often confused with regard to theauthor+s assumed politics'
#n its foreign policy, the Culture is reminiscent of neoconservativeidealism,
with a policy of intervening in foreign societies to promote its own cultural
values
!any'who5believe that the Culture is a utopia carrying significantly greater
moral legitimacy than the 9est+s, by comparison, proto-democracies 9hile
Culture interventions can seem similar at first to 9estern interventions,
especially when considered with their democratising rhetoric, the argument
is that the Culture operates completely without material need, and therefore
without the possibility of baser motives This is not to say that the Culture+s
motives are purely altruistic& a peaceful, enlightened universe full of good
neighbours lac%ing ethnic, religious, and sexual chauvinisms is in the
Culture+s interest as well urthermore, the Culture+s ideals (in many ways
similar to those of the liberal perspective today') are to a much larger
extent realised internally in comparison to the 9est
'editCriticism
!any of the practices employed by 4pecial Circumstances would be
considered distasteful even in the context of a 9estern democracy
xamples are the use of mercenaries to perform the wor% that the Culture
doesn+t want to get their hands dirty with, and even outright threats of
invasion (the Culture has issued ultimatums to other civilizations before)
4ome commentators have also argued that those 4C agents tas%ed with
civilising foreign cultures (and thus potentially also changing them into a
blander, more Culture-li%e state) are also those most li%ely to regret these
changes, with parallels drawn to real-world special forces trained to operate
within the cultural mindsets of foreign nations'
The events of Use of Weaonsare an example of 6ust how dirty 4pecial
Circumstances will play in order to get their way and the conspiracy at the
heart of the plot of Excessiondemonstrates how at least some !inds are
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prepared to ris% %illing sentient beings when they conclude that these
actions are beneficial for the long term good 4pecial Circumstances
represents a very small fraction of Contact, which itself is only a small
fraction of the entire Culture, ma%ing it comparable again to size andinfluence of modernintelligenceagencies
'edit#ssues raised
The Culture stories are largely about problems and paradoxes that
confront liberal societies The Culture itself is an 7ideal-typical7 liberal
society& that is, as pure an example as one can reasonably imagine #t is
highly egalitarian& the liberty of the individual is its most important value&
and all actions and decisions are expected to be determined according a
standard of reasonability and sociability inculcated into all people through a
progressive system of education #t is a society so beyond material
scarcitythat for almost all practical purposes its people can have and do
what they want #f they do not li%e the behavior or opinions of others, they
can easily move to a more congenial Culture population centre (or Culture
subgroup), and hence there is little need to enforce codes of behavior'J
ven the Culture has to compromise its ideals where diplomacy and itsown security are concerned Contact, the group that handles these issues,
and 4pecial Circumstances, its secret service division, can employ only
those on whose talents and emotional stability it can rely, and may even
re6ect self-aware robots built for its purposes that fail to meet its
re5uirements ?ence these divisions are regarded as the Culture+s eliteand
membership is widely regarded as a prize& yet also, as described in many
of the novels, something that can be shameful as it contradicts many of the
Culture+s moral codes
9ithin Contact and 4pecial Circumstances, there are also inner circles that
can ta%e control in crises, somewhat contradictory to the ideal notions of
democratic and open process the Culture espouses Contact and 4pecial
Circumstances may suppress or delay the release of information, for
example to avoid creating public pressure for actions they consider
imprudent or to prevent other civilizations from exploiting certain situations
'J
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#n dealing with less powerful regressive civilizations, the Culture usually
intervenes discreetly, for example by protecting and discreetly supporting
the more liberal elements, or subverting illiberal institutions or instance,
in Use of Weaons, the Culture operates within a less advanced illiberalsociety through control of a business cartel which is %nown for its
humanitarian and social development investments, as well as generic good
4amaritanism #n Excession, a sub-group of !inds conspires to provo%e a
war with the extremely sadistic "ffront, although the conspiracy is foiled by
a A4Bthat is a deep cover4pecial Circumstances agent "s of 11= only
one story, Consider Dhlebas(/2=3), pits the Culture against a highly
illiberal society of approximately e5ual power* the
aggressive,theocratic#dirans Though they posed no immediate, direct
threat to the Culture, the Culture declared war because it would have felt
useless if it allowed the #dirans+ ruthless expansion to continue The
Culture+s decision was a value-6udgement rather than
a utilitariancalculation, and the 7Deace action7 within the Culture seceded'JEater in the timeline of the Culture+s universe, the Culture has reached a
technological level at which most past civilizations have 4ublimed, in other
words disengaged from Aalactic politics and from most physical interactionwith other civilizations The Culture continues to behave 7li%e an idealistic
adolescent7'J
"s of 11=, three stories force the Culture to consider its approach to more
powerful civilizations #n one incident during the Culture-#diran 9ar, they
strive to avoid offending a civilization so advanced that it has disengaged
from Aalactic politics, and note that this hyper-advanced society is not a
threat to either the welfare or the values of the Culture'citation needed
#n Excession, an overwhelmingly more powerful individual from an
extremely advanced civilization is simply passing through on its way from
one plane of the physical ;eality to another, and there is no real
interaction #n the third case'citation neededit sets up teams to study a civilization
that is not threatening but is thought to have eliminated aggressors in the
past'J
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