Hacker News Reader

Comment by dhfbshfbu4u3 | Hacker News Reader

Great post, but every time I read something like this I feel like I am living in a prequel to the Culture.

Is that bad? The Culture is pretty cool I think. I doubt the real thing would be so similar to us but who knows.

Oh no, I’d live on an Orbital in a heartbeat. No, it’s just that all of these kinds of posts make me feel like we’re about to live through “The Bad Old Days”.

It's cool to read about, but there's a reason most of the stories are not about living as a person in the Culture. It sounds extremely dull.

It doesn't sound dull to me. The stories are about the periphery of the Culture because that gets the most storytelling value out of the effort that went into worldbuilding, not because it would be impossible to write interesting stories about ordinary Culture members. I don't think you need external threats to give life meaning. Look at the popularity of sports in real life. The challenge there is self-imposed, but people still care greatly about who wins.

> I don't think you need external threats to give life meaning.

I didn't say people did. But overcoming real challenges seems to be a big part of feeling alive, and I wonder if we really all would settle back into going for walks all day or whatever we could do that entertain us without needing others to work to provide the entertainment. Perhaps the WALL-E future, where we sit in chairs? But with AI-generated content?

When your hobbies can include things like jumping off mountains without parachutes? That's boring only for the people who secretly dream of being a spy.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com