A thousand years instead of 70 is just deathism with a slightly different n.
Then some form of deathism may be the truth anyway.
On the other hand, I can’t remember Banks ever suggesting that organics in the Culture would want to die after a thousand years, only that if they wanted to die they would be able to. I don’t think the later is incompatible with anti-deathism—is Lazarus Long a deathist, after all?
EDIT: On the gripping hand, there’s also a substantial bit of business in the Culture about subliming.
Instead of arguing on in this vein, I know that he’s made comments in the past about how he believes death is a natural part of life. I just can’t find the right interview now that “Iain Banks death” and variants are nearly-meaningless search terms.
now that “Iain Banks death” and variants are nearly-meaningless search terms
If you want to search the past, go to google, search, click “Search tools,” “Any time,” “Custom range...” and fill in the “To” field with a date, such as “2008.”
On the other hand, I can’t remember Banks ever suggesting that organics in the Culture would want to die after a thousand years, only that if they wanted to die they would be able to. I don’t think the later is incompatible with anti-deathism—is Lazarus Long a deathist, after all?
I don’t recall seeing any people who are supposed to be older than a thousand years without mechanics like cryostorage/scanning; if you present a world in which pretty much everyone does want to die after a trivial time period, you’re presenting a deathist world and you may well hold deathist views.
EDIT: On the gripping hand, there’s also a substantial bit of business in the Culture about subliming.
Then some form of deathism may be the truth anyway.
On the other hand, I can’t remember Banks ever suggesting that organics in the Culture would want to die after a thousand years, only that if they wanted to die they would be able to. I don’t think the later is incompatible with anti-deathism—is Lazarus Long a deathist, after all?
EDIT: On the gripping hand, there’s also a substantial bit of business in the Culture about subliming.
Instead of arguing on in this vein, I know that he’s made comments in the past about how he believes death is a natural part of life. I just can’t find the right interview now that “Iain Banks death” and variants are nearly-meaningless search terms.
If you want to search the past, go to google, search, click “Search tools,” “Any time,” “Custom range...” and fill in the “To” field with a date, such as “2008.”
I don’t recall seeing any people who are supposed to be older than a thousand years without mechanics like cryostorage/scanning; if you present a world in which pretty much everyone does want to die after a trivial time period, you’re presenting a deathist world and you may well hold deathist views.
About not subliming, specifically.
Such a character appears in the latest Culture novel, “The Hydrogen Sonata”. But he is stated to be extremely unusual.
IIRC, most inchoate Minds sublime during construction, but I could be wrong about that.