The State of the Art: A Culture Novella
Source: http://swiftpublishers.com
Iain M Banks is my favourite Science Fiction author. The majority of his many novels focus on the “Culture” an Inter-stellar society which has achieved post-scarcity utopia. The Cultures’ citizens live alongside, and are admittedly shepherded by, vastly intelligent A.I. The action in Banks’s works tends to take place on the fringes of this society, where the Culture is in contact with other (usually less developed) societies. At the core of any good story is conflict and there is, after all, very little conflict in a perfect society.
In the short novella, “The State of the Art”, Banks casts his sights on Earth circa 1976, and delves into how we appear through the eyes of this vastly superior scoeity as it decides whether or not to “contact” us and make us aware of it’s presence. It is a thought-provoking piece, that is reminiscent in someways of Swiftian satire. So when, by chance, I came across this very enjoyable 45 minute radio drama adaptation of the novella that the BBC currently have available, I thought I’d share it.
