Every time I read or hear about the dystopian futures laid out by Huxley, Orwell and in fact, many others, I can't help but think of the future imagined by Banks. In the Culture, people are free to do pretty much whatever they want, which eventually brings crime within the Culture to a near-zero. Even the most atrocious crimes, albeit rare, are punished (if ever) by a slap on the wrist. What I find particularly interesting about this is that Culture people being free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, they in fact end up in a state of lassitude and ultimately, a form of self-servitude and meaninglessness (hence the expansion of the Culture and so on).<p>This shares Huxley's view of servitude through content, but it brings the interesting point of whether the Culture could be qualified as a Dystopia or a Utopia. It's funny to see that the majority of Culture people (as written by Banks) think of the Culture as the closest thing to a Utopia, yet Banks himself has pointed out on a number of occasions that he would not like living in such a society. It also brings up the question of whether a Utopia is really defined by (at least near-) complete freedom, or by individual comfort.<p>I very much enjoy my freedom (or whatever it is I think I have) and I do have a tendency to reject (or rather circumvent) authority, but the more I think about it the more I realize this view isn't shared by everybody. A lot of people don't want to have to make decisions, question things and whatnot, their comfort lies in the absence of having to do so, a view I can understand (though do not share). I don't know if it's right, or wrong, and I'm certainly not in a place to decide for others, but it does show the subjectivity and flimsiness of the concepts of u/dys-topian societies.