"Civilization" is a fictional social system by Scottish writer Ian M. Banks, an interstellar utopia that pursues anarchism.Banksy created a series of short and long stories set in the "civilized" world, collectively known as the "civilization" series, including many critically acclaimed classics of science fiction literature. Banksy is a thoughtful and prodigiously creative writer.His point of view is complex and not straightforward. The setting of the fictional world of "civilization" implies many conclusions after careful weighing.Here is a rough introduction to the "civilized" world that may be helpful for reading.

The Milky Way is the backdrop to the world of "civilization" and the stage on which all stories are played.In the era corresponding to the novel, there are dozens of important interstellar social systems in the entire galaxy, and "civilization" is one of the most powerful social systems among them, and it is also a force that actively participates in the affairs of the galaxy. The "civilized" world is extremely rich materially and has mastered superb science and technology. All people can easily meet all needs without owning property.Almost all material difficulties have been overcome, including sickness and death.All members of this society are almost completely equal, the social structure is very stable, and there is no need to use any violence and coercive means to maintain order.

In addition to "civilization", there are tens of thousands of small forces in the galaxy that have mastered space technology.Then there are the countless isolated social systems that have either not yet entered the space age, or have turned their backs on interstellar travel in favor of introspection and solitude. The "civilization" series of novels usually feature characters living on the fringes, such as diplomats, spies, and mercenaries.Through the eyes of these characters, the author depicts to readers the natural and social landscapes in different poses and with different expressions, showing amazing imagination.

In the novel system, "civilization" coexists with human society on Earth.The plots of the existing novels roughly took place between 1300 AD and 2970 AD; the first time the earth came into contact with "civilization" was 2100 AD; as early as the 1970s, envoys of "civilization" had secretly visited the earth. The establishment of the "civilized" world is the result of the development of several societies composed of humans and intelligent machines to a certain extent.According to the book "The Gamer", the "civilized" world has been involved in space for more than 11,000 years.

The "civilized" world has two classes of inhabitants: humans and other living organisms, and intelligent machines. Some feel that the human inhabitants of the "civilized" world are almost like mechanical pets.In a technologically omnipotent world, they have little useful contribution to make.The characters of the novel sometimes question the degree of democracy in the "civilized" world and suspect that machines are secretly manipulating the entire society.In fact, it is rare in fiction to have human members of a "civilization" make major decisions. In the "civilized" world, many inhabitants have biological characteristics close to human beings.For this situation, the author did not make a clear explanation, but only gave some answers that were almost ridiculed.However, there are also many non-human organisms in the galaxy in the novel.

The "civilized" world has the technology to improve the anatomy of the human body.Most members of the human race will choose to modify their bodies, such as changing sex, increasing libido, eliminating pain, changing age, controlling heartbeat and consciousness, and strengthening bones and muscles without exercise.What kind of remodeling is done is a matter of personal preference.Weapon systems can also be added to the body if desired.Residents of most "civilized" societies implant themselves with drug glands, and control these glands through the nervous system to produce sensations such as taking drugs, drinking alcohol, and dreaming.The drugs secreted by the glands have no side effects and are not addictive.Because most "civilized" inhabitants can maintain good health for a long time, some even choose to be sick occasionally, to satisfy the masochistic eccentricities, which are even popular on some occasions.

In addition to humans and other living things, intelligent machines are equal residents of the civilized world.Machines above a certain level of intelligence are regarded as individuals with completely equal status.These machines can be roughly divided into two types: hum machines and masterminds. Different models of humming machines have different levels of intelligence and social status: some are powerful, and their status is comparable to that of human residents; some only undertake simple tasks, and their intelligence is relatively limited; the original humming machines that undertake basic service work are regarded as intelligent machines archetypes, without self-awareness or citizenship.

Buzzers tend to have distinct personalities.The civilians in the buzzer are as intelligent as humans.The hum machine customized by the secret service agency is several times smarter than normal, has excellent sensing capabilities, and the power of combat equipment is also amazing.Their weapons are mainly force fields and effectors, sometimes equipped with lasers and blade missiles. In terms of appearance, the buzzer is a suspended object of various shapes, and there are visible halos around the body to express emotions.The halos of different colors and patterns can express different signals, which are rich in content, and human residents can also understand these color signals.

Masterminds are the most powerful intelligent machines, vastly superior in intelligence to other creatures and inhabitants of the "civilized" world, capable of astonishing processing power and capable of conducting millions of simultaneous conversations.The mastermind is the control system of large-scale equipment (spaceships and space habitats), occupies an important position in the social system, and undertakes the responsibility for the welfare of all.The author believes that corruption can be absolutely avoided only if the public power is completely outside the control of human beings. Therefore, the mastermind is the prerequisite for the existence of an anarchic society with absolute freedom.

The Mastermind has a distinct personality, sometimes a little eccentric, but always friendly.They regard residents or crew members as interesting companions, and communicate with humans through various remote control devices.The avatar of the Mastermind can be a buzz machine, a doll, or even a stuffed animal. Whether to recognize the citizenship rights of intelligent machines is the origin of some wars in the novel. The "civilized" world respects machine intelligence very much. Many simple and repetitive tasks are handed over to specially-made non-intelligent machines to prevent them from feeling exploited and enslaved.

In the "civilized" world, intelligent machines, humans and other alien organisms coexist in full equality.This is a hedonistic society.Humans and intelligent machines also have jobs, but mostly for "fun" rather than "useful".They only need to do what they are interested in, and each individual can choose a job according to his intelligence level and preferences. The "civilized" world has no monetary system, and they believe that "the existence of money is a symbol of poverty." The "civilized" world has no laws, and social norms are established by convention.Members value their reputations, pay attention to politeness, and those who behave inappropriately will be ridiculed.The only strict prohibition seems to be against killing or coercing other sentient beings, whether intelligent machines or living organisms.There are indeed "crimes of passion" in the "civilized" world, and the buzzing opportunity keeps watch over these criminals, lest they cause more harm. Peering into the minds of others without their permission is a taboo in the "civilized" world, despite their complete mastery of such techniques.It is mentioned in the novel that if the "civilized" world ever needs to make laws, perhaps the first one is to prohibit spying on other people's minds.This affords some protection to the privacy of the inhabitants, although the "civilized" world as a whole is a society that does not have to keep secrets. Mari is the lingua franca of the "civilized" world, a language system created by the early Masterminds.It is believed that language has the power to shape the real world, and the Mari language can be written in conventional ways or expressed in binary data, and the form is also rich in aesthetic value.Symbols in Mari language can be represented by a 3 by 3 grid binary signal, which is equivalent to 9-bit binary data.The language has no words for concepts such as property, ownership, hierarchy, and power because the "civilized" world strives not to be negatively affected by these concepts. Some humans and buzz machines have lengthy names that can contain 7 or more words.Some of these words represent places of birth or factories, some represent occupations, and some may represent philosophical concepts and political positions.Take Daygit?Take Sama for example, her full name is Rasd Konduresa?Daygit?Embrech?Sama?Da?Marlene Helder. "Rasde-Kanduresa" is the planetary system she was born in. According to this set of naming rules, the name of the earth person should start with "Sol-Terraza" (that is, "sun-earth person"). "Dayget" is a first name, usually decided by the parents, especially the mother. "Embrech" is the name she chose. Most "civilized" residents give themselves a name when they grow up, which is called "signature", which means that the name is finally complete, and some people do not give themselves a name. "Sama" is a surname, usually followed by the mother's surname. "Da Marin Helder" is where she grew up. The "Da" here is roughly equivalent to the "Von" in the German name, indicating where she came from. In this format, Ian? M.Banksy has a name for himself: Saul Terraza?ian?El Bancao?Banksy?Da?Queensfrey. The mastermind of the spaceship names himself, often whimsical and absurd names (for example: born optimistic, old friends never meet again). Warships in the "civilized" world are often ugly in design and have bad names (e.g. Thug, Executioner, Neuro-Abuser), supposedly because people love peace and don't want anything to do with violence. Most of the human inhabitants of the "civilized" world face death indifferently. Gene technology and the mastermind's manipulation of daily life have reduced the possibility of unnatural death of human residents to close to zero.Residents live on average between 350 and 400 years, but can be extended further.Human residents can also easily make a backup of their own body, even if they die, they can be resurrected.Residents can freely choose the form of resurrection, they can be resurrected as living organisms, intelligent machines, or even exist in the virtual space.In the "civilized" world, death is considered a part of life, and avoiding it is an unmannered act.Life is complete without death. With the technical support of "civilization", there is no upper limit to the lifespan of the buzzer and the main brain.All Masterminds have their own backups because of the complexity and importance of their duties. The "civilization" world and some other advanced cultural systems have mastered anti-gravity technology and force field technology. They can remotely control force fields for precise operations such as pushing, pulling, and cutting, and can also create defensive force fields.But this ability has certain limitations in terms of range and strength.Although they can create force fields that extend for kilometers, humans need to be close to the scene of developments to make a difference. Under the control of the main brain, the force field can exert specific functions at a long distance, and a spaceship several light years away can also invade the computer system of a certain planet to retrieve and modify data. The "civilized" world also has the ability to use time-space tunnels to instantly transfer living and non-living objects. The smaller the volume, the larger the transfer space.Teleportation is also a military technology. For example, a bomb can teleport to an enemy area and detonate. "Civilized" worlds have almost no inhabitants on planets because "civilized" worlds are unwilling to conquer or colonize existing planets.Because of the advanced technology they have mastered, they do not have the pressure of living space. Most of the inhabitants of "civilized" worlds live on planetary-orbiting platforms, giant artificial worlds that can house billions of people.The planetary orbit platform is a circular pie-shaped platform made of asteroids, meteorites, space junk and other scattered materials that are not conducive to space flight.Orbital platforms also have their own brains, similar to spaceships, only more powerful. In addition to the habitation in planetary orbits, the spaceship is the main living space of "civilized" residents, and it is also the messenger for contact with alien planets.A complete "civilized" spaceship is between hundreds of meters to tens of thousands of meters in length, and billions of lives may live inside it. It is a complete artificial ecosystem. The "civilized" world that exists in huge spaceships and artificial settlements does not have the need to conquer other regions, so there is no real territory. Although life in the "civilized" world is carefree, many members are not willing to do nothing. They take up some "charitable work" on their own initiative, or participate openly or secretly in the development of other social systems, helping them not to go to the Catastrophic wrong path of development.In the eyes of the "civilized" world, this is their moral obligation. The Ministry of Interstellar Affairs of the "civilized" world is responsible for such matters, using diplomatic or other means to achieve their goals.Under the Department of Interstellar Affairs, there is also a special intelligence bureau, which is a secret service organization with more secretive operations.Because interference by "civilized" worlds on other planets is often repulsive, proceed with caution. The "civilized" world is often regarded as an allusion to Western civilization in the 20th and 21st centuries, especially in terms of attitudes towards relatively backward regions. The foreign policy stance of the "civilized" world approaches neoconservatism in the modern international political arena. The "civilized" secret service will drive mercenaries to undertake dirty tasks, but they will stay out of it and pretend to be noble, and even threaten to launch a war to achieve political goals. This approach is measured by the behavioral standards of Western society in the real world. They all seemed too mean. Most of the stories in the "civilized" world deal with the dilemmas faced by civilized societies.This fictional social system is an ideal laissez-faire society, freed from the constraints of real material conditions and surpassing many prejudices and fallacies of the modern era, but still faces some problems and controversies that cannot be satisfactorily resolved.These questions are also topics worthy of consideration by all mankind. When the "civilized" world itself is facing the test of safety and survival, sometimes it has to go to its own opposite and tolerate behaviors that are completely contrary to its own value system.The Secret Service sometimes has no choice but to reuse people who are capable of getting the job done, and those people or machines don't necessarily represent what the "civilized" world advocates.The Department of Interstellar Affairs and the Secret Service sometimes withhold important information, go against the overt practices of the "civilized" world, and even sway politics by manipulating public opinion.This approach has a certain tendency to be self-contradictory and divorced from reality, like a group of "idealistic adolescents". Why is "civilization" anarchist? In the author's view, the existing power system of mankind cannot adapt to the space age. After the technological level reaches a certain level, anarchism is inevitable and necessary. To survive in the space age, a spaceship or habitat must be self-sufficient.If they come into conflict with those in power, they can easily get out of control, while the powerful repression by the powerful is often costly and outweighs the gain.The civilization system in the space age will inevitably bring about the decentralization of power and the dissolution of the centralized system. The social structure and property relations of space residents are bound to be different from the environment of a single planet.The harsh external living environment will strengthen the sense of identity within the same culture.On the surface, anarchism prevails, but on the inside it appears to be a mutually beneficial socialist environment, and all social and economic structures conform to this trend. Why is the secular power held by the mastermind and not by humans? In the author's view, human impulses to selfishness and mutual hatred have not been adequately controlled in all social structures hitherto.Perhaps the solution to the problem lies in the transfer of secular rights, which should place complex machine systems above moral, philosophical, and political ideas.A machine in control stands firm, yet can remain innocent, above self-interest. Why are you so optimistic about artificial intelligence? In the author's opinion, people have various worries and accusations about artificial intelligence, but the problems often boil down to a few simple aspects: they believe that creatures have certain characteristics that cannot be simulated, that machines cannot have "souls", It is considered impossible for non-biological organisms to have self-awareness.But all of these are actually based on the premise that there is some kind of supernatural "god".The author is an atheist, and he regards intelligent machines as being completely equal to human beings. The author believes that intelligent machines may indeed become the enemy of mankind, but the opposite is more likely.If the so-called "von Neumann computer nightmare" occurs, it can only be said to be an anomaly in the design process, a directional deviation that can be corrected.The future of mankind can be one of coexistence and co-prosperity between man and machine. The author once said that there is no very clear boundary between what belongs to the "civilized" world and what does not belong to the "civilized" world.The universe he described is in constant evolution, some features fade away, and others will gradually become clear. In every corner of the "Civilization" series, the author explores various possibilities of constructing the universe: the seven-dimensional space, the universe in a nutshell, the universe in a grain of dust, etc.He uses both real and illusory styles to describe all the possibilities of human beings in the space of reality and fantasy.Perhaps, behind his deep eyes, there are still countless unknown whimsical ideas hidden, as boundless as the Milky Way he described, waiting for every human being or humming machine to explore the mysteries of unknown time and space with him . In chronological order of publication, the novels included in the Civilization series are: Consider Phlebas (1987) The Player of Games (1988) (Use of Weapons) (1990) The State of the Art (1991), a collection of short stories. Excession (1996) Inversions (1998) Look to Windward（2000） Matter (2008) Surface Details (2010) The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)