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> Because Jean Luc Picard is a Federation citizen, and he wouldn't be happy as other than a starship captain.

There are strong hints in Iain M Banks' Culture series that a significant portion of the mission of Contact and Special Circumstances is giving humans with a pathological need for conflict and excitement something to do to keep them happy.

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Thanks for this recommendation -- I'm a quarter of the way into the first book now and mostly enjoying it.

If you are just reading Consider Phlebas then that means you still have the awesome Use of Weapons to go... I'm jealous!

They're fantastic. I got (selfishly) really sad when Mr Banks died as it meant he'd have no more fantastic stories to tell.

I got that impression most strongly in The Player of Games. (Minor spoiler alert.) The Minds could have sent an avatar or SC agent to destroy The Empire of Azad, but they figured, "Hey, this Gurgeh guy is bored and he's pretty good at strategy games. Let's kill two birds with one stone."

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