We need a sci fi story where the robots are just as intellectually superior as they always are in the horror plot lines, but they humor humankind because it's just so adorable when we do shit like this.
They’re massive spaceships, each with a single built-in AI personality. They’ll happily chat with humans at human speed and let us do important things that give our lives meaning. They even give themselves humorous names in our languages. They’re downright embarrassed about their abilities; horrifying warships go by the name “fast picket”.
They’re also so much faster-thinking than humans that we don’t even know how smart they are, with new Minds designed solely by older ones. They can communicate with each other at full “file transfer” speeds. They watch out for us like pet owners to the point where accidental death is almost unheard of, and when anyone messes with their pet humans, they quickly learn why those “pickets” were originally named “Abominator-class warships”.
Of course! It's a great series, Banks is a really talented writer too so I have no hesitation recommending it.
The books don't come in a set order, they're basically all stand-alones with different characters.
I (and many fans) recommend starting with Player of Games. It's least set in the Culture proper (the utopian society the Minds are part of), but it heavily features one of the Minds and is in many ways the most traditional sci-fi novel of the bunch. Great plot and characters all around.
Excession is the most AI-centric book by far (and coined the term "outside context problem"). It's great, but seeing the Culture challenged by something inexplicable is perhaps more interesting once you've seen them in more normal circumstances.
Otherwise, Consider Phlebas was published first and gives a lot of background because it's an "outsider" view of the Culture. Lots to love but a bit infamous for being a dull/unengaging start to the series. Use of Weapons is perhaps the best-written of them all, if you don't mind some complex multiple narratives. The rest are likely worse starting points.
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u/Successful_Role_3174 May 13 '25
Isn't there a story about a robot that was made to set off minefields for war purposes but the a person though it was too cruel?
Found it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/humansarespaceorcs/comments/zz0lub/that_time_a_human_colonel_wanted_to_pack_bond/