Iain M. Banks, The Player of Games (1988)

1
Iain M. Banks, The Player of Games (1988)
2
Iain M. Banks

• Scottish writer, born 1954
• Writes both SF and mainstream fiction mainstream
  fiction is published without his middle initial
• Also writes non-fiction on Scotland, whiskey,
  science, and music
• Supporter of Scottish independence,
  environmentalist, evangelical atheist
• Had a cameo appearance in Monty Python and the
  Holy Grail

3
Banks on SF and Mainstream Writing

• I wear two hats I'm a science fiction and a
  mainstream writer. And in terms of keeping my
  writing believable, a lot of it comes down to
  common sense - having a rough idea of how things
  really work. But that's the case in all types of
  writing, not just science fiction. You need to
  pay attention to the psychology of characters,
  the way things work in organizations and
  politics. But certainly, to write science
  fiction, you need to have an idea of the way
  science and technology work too.
• In my science fiction, I merrily break as many
  laws as I can get my hands on. Especially faster
  than light travel - I have my starships going at
  unfeasibly high speeds. Sometimes I pay no
  attention whatsoever to what's possible and
  realistic. It really depends on the novel. This
  approach to science fiction comes from a general
  respect for science. And, for me, that's all
  bound up with being an atheist and a humanist.

4
Banks SF Writing

• Began writing SF before publishing mainstream
  novels, but had three mainstream novels published
  before his SF (thus the presence or absence of
  the middle initial)
• Often characterized as space opera, but Banks
  does not find this designation belittling - its
  SF that is primarily meant to entertain
• Began The Player of Games in 1979, published it
  in 1988
• Has also written four SF books outside of the
  Culture series

5
The Culture Books

• Consider Phlebas (1987)
• The Player of Games (1988)
• State of the Art (short stories, 1989)
• Use of Weapons (1990)
• Excession (1996)
• Inversions (1998)
• Look to Windward (2000)
• Matter (2008)

6
The Culture

• The Culture a functioning, hedonistic utopia
  with no laws, no monetary system, no
  exploitation, and spaceships 30 km long (Culture
  Shock)
• an economy of abundance renders anarchy and
  adhocracy viable
• Parallel development to Earth, although
  everything after Consider Phlebas takes place in
  our future

7
Excerpts from Iain M. Banks 1994 essay, A Few
Notes on the Culture

• The Culture is a group-civilisation formed from
  seven or eight humanoid species, space-living
  elements of which established a loose federation
  approximately nine thousand years ago. The ships
  and habitats which formed the original alliance
  required each others' support to pursue and
  maintain their independence from the political
  power structures - principally those of mature
  nation-states and autonomous commercial concerns
  - they had evolved from.
• The Culture, in its history and its on-going
  form, is an expression of the idea that the
  nature of space itself determines the type of
  civilisations which will thrive there.
• Essentially, the contention is that our
  currently dominant power systems cannot long
  survive in space beyond a certain technological
  level a degree of anarchy is arguably inevitable
  and anyway preferable.

8

• a planned economy can be more productive - and
  more morally desirable - than one left to market
  forces.
• The Culture, of course, has gone beyond even
  that, to an economy so much a part of society it
  is hardly worthy of a separate definition, and
  which is limited only by imagination, philosophy
  (and manners), and the idea of minimally wasteful
  elegance a kind of galactic ecological awareness
  allied to a desire to create beauty and
  goodness.
• Artificial intelligence.is not only likely in
  the future of our species, but probably
  inevitable (always assuming Homo sapiens avoids
  destruction).
• The future of our species would affect, be
  affected by and coexist with the future of the AI
  life-forms we create.

9

• To live in the Culture is to live in a
  fundamentally rational civilization....The
  Culture is quite self-consciously rational,
  sceptical, and materialist.
• Philosophically, the Culture accepts, generally,
  that questions such as 'What is the meaning of
  life?' are themselves meaningless. The question
  implies - indeed an answer to it would demand - a
  moral framework beyond the only moral framework
  we can comprehend without resorting to
  superstition (and thus abandoning the moral
  framework informing - and symbiotic with -
  language itself).
• In summary, we make our own meanings, whether we
  like it or not.

10

• virtually everyone in the Culture carries the
  results of genetic manipulation in every cell of
  their body it is arguably the most reliable
  signifier of Culture status.
• Genetic manipulation such as that present in the
  Culture is partly wish-fulfilment, but then the
  fulfilment of wishes is both one of
  civilisation's most powerful drives and arguably
  one of its highest functions we wish to live
  longer, we wish to live more comfortably, we wish
  to live with less anxiety and more enjoyment,
  less ignorance and more knowledge than our
  ancestors did.

11

• Contact is the part of the Culture concerned
  with discovering, cataloguing, investigating,
  evaluating and - if thought prudent - interacting
  with other civilisations.
• people travel because they can, not because they
  have to they could stay at home and appear to
  travel to exotic places through what we would now
  call Virtual Reality, or send an
  information-construct of themselves to a ship or
  other entity that would do the experiencing for
  them, and incorporate the memories themselves
  later.

12

• The Culture doesn't actually have laws there
  are, of course, agreed-on forms of behaviour
  manners, as mentioned above, but nothing that we
  would recognise as a legal framework. Not being
  spoken to, not being invited to parties, finding
  sarcastic anonymous articles and stories about
  yourself in the information network these are
  the normal forms of manner-enforcement in the
  Culture.
• In a society where material scarcity is unknown
  and the only real value is sentimental value,
  there is little motive or opportunity for the
  sort of action we would class as a crime against
  property.

13

• Day-to-day life in the Culture varies
  considerably from place to place, but there is a
  general stability about it we might find either
  extremely peaceful or ultimately rather
  disappointing, depending on our individual
  temperament. We, after all, are used to living in
  times of great change we expect major
  technological developments and have learned to
  adapt.In contrast, the Culture builds to last.
• In general the Culture doesn't actively
  encourage immigration it looks too much like a
  disguised form of colonialism. Contact's
  preferred methods are intended to help other
  civilisations develop their own potential as a
  whole, and are designed to neither leech away
  their best and brightest, nor turn such
  civilisations into miniature versions of the
  Culture.

14
Is the Culture as Perfect as It Seems?

• Contact as traders/missionaries/military
  intelligence
• Assimilationist policy, and can be dangerous if
  provoked Letsshow these constipated
  bonebrains what Culture guys are like when they
  really put their minds to it
• For people like Gurgeh, boredom is a constant
  risk
• Contact uses individualistic people such as
  Gurgeh as part of its interventionist projects

15
The Culture vs. the Actual World?

• Some have seen the Culture as what Western
  societies hope to become - or even see themselves
  as
• Banks sees the Culture as an alternative to what
  Western societies actually are
• Is the Cultures policy of assimilation an echo
  of the Wests cultural imperialism? Sort of, yes.
  Except the Culture doesnt have its own economic
  self-interests at heart.
• Banks fictional world is a middle ground between
  the right-wing leanings of much American SF and
  the more stridently left-wing leanings of some
  British SF (especially the New Wave writers)
• Culture as ideal left wing Empire as ideal right
  wing?

16
Banks and Technology

• Images taken from www.fastness.co.uk
• Spaceships have AI, even to choosing their own
  names (usually something quirky or intimidating)
• The Minds that oversee the Culture are ship AIs
• Banks described the Minds as technological gods

17
The Ships Mentioned in the Novel

• Clipper Screw Loose
• GCU Flexible Demeanour
• GCU Just Read The Instructions
• GCU Of Course I Still Love You
• GOU Limiting Factor
• GSV Cargo Cult
• GSV Little Rascal
• GSV So Much For Subtlety
• GSV Unfortunate Conflict Of Evidence
• GSV Youthful Indiscretion
• LOU Gunboat Diplomat
• dROU Zealot
• Superlifter Kiss My Ass
• Superlifter Prime Mover

18
Drones

• Drones have humanlike, complex personalities (and
  are named similarly to humans too) but also have
  nonhuman appearances
• The story is narrated by a drone - and an
  unreliable one at that

19

• The Culture doesnt usually live on planet
  surfaces, but usually on artificial platforms,
  orbiting rings, or starships

20
Banks Views of Technology

• Technology is neither good nor bad its up to
  the user. We cant escape what we are a
  technological species. Theres no way back.
• humanity can find its own salvation. It doesn't
  necessarily have to rely on machines. It'll be a
  bit sad if we did, if it's our only real form of
  progress. Nevertheless, unless there's some form
  of catastrophe, we are going to use machines
  whether we like it or not. This sort of stuff has
  been going on for decades and mainstream society
  is beginning to catch up to the implications of
  artificial intelligence.

21
Genetic Engineering

• Culture people can live for about 300 years - and
  even death is optional
• Limbs can regenerate
• Drug glands produce various substances with no
  harmful side-effects
• Ability to change genders

22
Banks Views on Language

• The Culture language, Marain, is an idealized
  artificial language
• The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis language as influence
  on thought processes, or vice versa?
• Gaming as a language

23
The Empire of Azad

• God, Game, and Empire theocracy and
  meritocracy
• Is it more recognizably close to the actual world
  than the Culture, and if so, in what ways?
• Eä (the Empires homeworld) reference to
  Tolkiens fictional universe?

24
The Game of Azad

• Social Darwinism The strong survive. Thats
  what life teaches uswhat the game shows us.
• a battle that is not a battle, and...a game that
  is not a game.
• Final round as literal baptism of fire
• Euchronedal good time / no time analogue
  to utopia?
• Origin, Form, Becoming suggests the game as a
  master narrative / sacred text

25
The Game and the Empire

• Hierarchical society, based on gender, race, and
  merit (in the games)
• Games are designed such that only certain genders
  (apex) and races (light-skinned) can succeed, but
  everyone is allowed to participate
• Gurgeh is triply marginalized a dark-skinned
  male outsider, but he possesses the necessary
  skills

26
Game Theories

• Ludwig Wittgenstein family resemblance there
  is no one definition of game, but rather a
  series of definitions with common elements
• Roger Caillois (Games and Man, 1957) an activity
  that is fun, separate from the everyday world,
  has an uncertain outcome, is non-productive, has
  rules that dont apply outside of the game, and
  is fictitious (takes place in its own reality).
• Chris Crawford an interactive, goal-oriented
  activity, active agents to play against, which
  any player (including active agents) could
  interfere with one another, and which is designed
  to make money for the creator.

27
More on Game Theory

• A branch of applied mathematics, also used in
  logic and semantics, relating to the strategies
  of interactions between entities
• John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern Theory of
  Games and Economic Behaviour (1944) (Banks refers
  to Von Neumann in A Few Notes on the Culture)
• Defines game as a situation with a set of
  players/participants, a set of strategies, and a
  set of payoffs or goals
• Also applied to evolutionary theory and
  development of AI - both of which are significant
  to Banks fictional worlds

28
Gamer Culture

• Relation of Banks depiction of gamers to the
  actual world?
• What types of games and gamers are present?
• Influence of Banks on actual-world games and
  gamers
• Game mastery as marker of prestige and/or subject
  of academic study
• Life as a game
• Politics as a game
• All reality is a game....the very fabric of our
  universe results directly from the interaction of
  certain fairly simple rules, and chance....The
  future is a game time is one of the rules.

29

• Significance of Gurgehs middle name - you
  should have called yourself gambler
• Position of a gamer in a culture with no inherent
  challenges
• The better I do the worse things get because the
  more I have to lose.
• The games the thing....The fun is what matters,
  not the victory.

30
The Dark Side of the Empire

• More than just a few venerable game-players,
  some impressive architecture, and a few glorified
  night-clubs
• Walter Benjamin, 1940 There is no document of
  civilization that is not at the same time a
  document of barbarism

31
Art in the Culture (and the Empire)

• Yays interest in planetary formations (floating
  islands, volcanoes, etc.)
• Games as an art form
• The body artist in the Empire
• Visceral nature of Azadian entertainment

32
Propaganda in the Empire (and the Culture)

• Role of the media in creating its own reality
  (cf. Baudrillards simulacrum theory)
• such is the pervasive nature of the idea of the
  game within the society that just by believing
  that, they make it so
• They want to have something on you, just in
  caseyou keep surprising them and winning games
• But Where nothing could be authenticated,
  blackmail became both pointless and impossible
• The common people must be remarkably stupid if
  they believed all this nonsense
• Whos been keeping what from whom?

33

• our real realitythe official versionthat will
  have documentary evidence to support it
• One can be the player, or one can be played
  upon - literally
• Violent subjugation of undesirables, invariably
  depicted as incapable of producing high art and
  genuine civilization

34

• The Emperor had set out to beat not just Gurgeh,
  but the whole Culturehe had set up his whole
  side of the game as an Empire, the very image of
  Azad
• Gurgeh remodelled his whole game-plan to reflect
  the ethos of the Culture militant
• The true purpose of the game you were playing
  for the Culture, and Nicosar was playing for the
  Empire.wed smash the Empire and impose our own
  order
• How necessary was Gurgehs intervention?

35
The Narrative Structure and the Narrator

• Double-layered narrative
• Differences in narrative tone between
  introductory paragraphs (and conclusion) and the
  main narrative
• Clues in the story to the true identity of the
  narrator?
• What effect does the revelation have on the
  story?
• How does the narrator characterize his different
  personas?
• I admit I have not hesitated to make it all up

36
Banks and Other Writers

• Characterized as space opera or at least
  neo-traditionalist but is there influence from
  the New Wave?
• Common elements with cyberpunk, at least in the
  treatment of gamers?
• Banks vs. Lem treatment of academic discourse
  use of the contact theme (though in different
  ways)
• Banks vs. Dick roles of AI, mixture of serious
  and light-hearted tones, blurring of the us-them
  division, undertones of paranoia and questioning
  of reality, utopia/dystopia scale
• Banks vs. Adams use of humour (esp. with the
  names of ships) playful approaches to serious
  questions use of traditional SF conventions in
  innovative and often playful ways