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I didn't read a lot of The Culture, but honestly I have no idea. I mean the society is certainly way post-scarcity, but humans there are basically pets for the Minds, and we don't even know what Minds are about and what do they want, and not supposed to. Is it worse being Hitler's pet than a saint's pet? Is there any moral responsibility on the side of the pet? It doesn't seem like humans even have enough agency there for there being any distinction, really. Materially, it is described as pretty much perfect. Even intellectually, I am sure Minds can find something to occupy any of the pet's needs, whatever they are, including awesome adventures or great battles or whatever. Occasionally, they may even require the services of a human for some task (after all, we have K9 units in the police and the military) and even then, I am sure they would make it as safe and as enjoyable for the human as possible in the circumstances. But is is even a story about humans, that can be analyzed in human terms? I think this setups transcends those terms and makes them meaningless.
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