Episode 4.02: Excession by Iain M. Banks

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Episode 4.02: Excession by Iain M. Banks
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Rhi and Paul join Ralph to talk about Iain M. Banks’ Excession and The Culture. Post-scarcity, intelligent starships, body modification and first contact.

Show Notes

Excession (and other Culture novels) by Iain M. Banks

Rhiannon Lassiter, Paul Mitchener and Ralph Lovegrove

  • Overview of The Culture 00:50
  • Synopsis of Excession 05:40
  • Themes 12:05
    • Diverging human cultures
    • What do utopians do with their free time?
    • Benevolent interference in other civilisations
    • The edge of ascension
    • Contact and Special Circumstances
    • Sex positive
    • Transhumanism before it was famous
    • Death
  • Aside:The Player of Games 32:50
  • RPGs 38:30
    • Mindjammer by Sarah Newton
    • Flotsam (Josh Fox, based on Dream Askew by Avery Alder)
    • Microscope and Kingdom by Ben Robbins
    • Dramasystem by Robin D. Laws
  • First Contact scenarios 48:05
    • Event Horizon
    • Unto Leviathan by Richard Paul Russo
    • Eon by Greg Bear
    • 2001 and 2010
    • The Fifth Element

Music Credits

“Is That You Or Are You You?” from Reappear by Chris Zabriskie

“But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton” from Direct To Video by Chris Zabriskie

chriszabriskie.com // bandcamp // free music archive

2 thoughts on “Episode 4.02: Excession by Iain M. Banks

  1. I regret that Paul Mitchener was not always the easiest to understand, but, as usual, you’ve given us a very interesting and thought-provoking episode. Thank you.

    May I recommend a narrative RPG called “Sufficiently Advanced” (2ed) by Colin Fredericks? It deals with “post-Singularity” universes cleverly and effectively.

    • Thanks for the recommendation! Yes, you’re right that Paul’s audio was not up to the usual quality we’d hope for — unfortunately we had a technical problem with the recording his end so I had to process his audio I recorded on our stream. Hopefully we can avoid it next time.

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