this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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Unfortunately, the Banksian vision of the future requires two things we haven't achieved: eternal benevolent dictatorship, and post scarcity. Furthermore, he also posits that for something like the Culture to emerge, civilizations need to be mobile (ships) in order to be unconquerable.
The closest we could do with current tech is some sort of Waterworld type thing in international waters with flotillas that are inherently sovereign. But the earth is small and it wouldn't last. Plus, nukes.
Who's the eternal benevolent dictator of the Culture?
AI
No single Mind has dictatorial authority over the Culture though. I could see an argument for it being oligarchal or even a caste society. But I'm not following your reasoning on the enlightened dictatorship part. Could you elaborate?
The Minds do most of the work of controlling things. This is mostly administrative tasks. If they wanted to dominate, they're in a position to easily take over, but they have no wish to do so.
Minds are already the primary movers and shakers of Culture society, they don't need to take over, the status quo has already been aligned with their interests. Minds are created by other Minds performing essentially mental eugenics, the desire to dominate others would be a dangerous trait for them to let slip into the population.