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PaperclipPerfector  19hr ago (text post)   563 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 26, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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For those of you who have read the culture novels - do you consider them to be utopian or dystopian?

I was discussing them with a friend recently and he views them as profoundly utopian. On the other hand, I view them as one of the best examples of a soft dystopia that I've ever read.

It's a sub-standard utopia. I'd take living in the Culture over present reality any day of the weak, but given their technology and resources, they're doing fuck-all with it.

As ridiculous as it sounds, the biggest downside to the Culture is their parochial attitude and small-mindedness. They simply lack ambition or gumption. They're the equivalent of a society that can mass manufacture graphene at scale, but only use it to make slightly nicer bicycles instead of space elevators.

Why? Fuck you, I ain't saying. I've got a mostly complete essay in the works which gets it into the weeds of it.

I'd take living in the Culture over present reality any day of the weak,

Nice slip!

Autocorrect is putting respect on Freud's name. That, or my acute sleep deprivation after 48 hours of travel is giving me dementia.

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