Its not entirely clear cut. He has had characters from outside the culture describing it as a ‘fashion’ and a sign of the culture’s decadence. And the characters we do see ending their lives are generally doing it for reasons of psychological trauma.
Either way, thinking a thousand years in the culture is enough doesn’t mean he thinks 70 years on earth is enough. Has he ever made a direct comment about cryonics? I can’t find any. So its still possible eh would eb open to it given up to date information.
And the characters we do see ending their lives are generally doing it for reasons of psychological trauma.
Stories would tend to focus on characters who are interested or involved in traumatically interesting events, so not sure how much one could infer from that.
Either way, thinking a thousand years in the culture is enough doesn’t mean he thinks 70 years on earth is enough.
A thousand years instead of 70 is just deathism with a slightly different n.
A thousand years instead of 70 is just deathism with a slightly different n.
Eh, I kinda agree with you in a sense, but I’d say there’s still a qualitative difference if one has successfully moved away from the deathist assumption that the current status quo for life-span durations is also roughly the optimal life-span duration.
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.
Its not entirely clear cut. He has had characters from outside the culture describing it as a ‘fashion’ and a sign of the culture’s decadence. And the characters we do see ending their lives are generally doing it for reasons of psychological trauma.
Either way, thinking a thousand years in the culture is enough doesn’t mean he thinks 70 years on earth is enough. Has he ever made a direct comment about cryonics? I can’t find any. So its still possible eh would eb open to it given up to date information.
Stories would tend to focus on characters who are interested or involved in traumatically interesting events, so not sure how much one could infer from that.
A thousand years instead of 70 is just deathism with a slightly different n.
Eh, I kinda agree with you in a sense, but I’d say there’s still a qualitative difference if one has successfully moved away from the deathist assumption that the current status quo for life-span durations is also roughly the optimal life-span duration.
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.