Interesting; I’ve read the whole series and am a Star Trek fan but to me they’re nothing alike.

The Culture series does show a utopian future, but one where the post-scarcity era feels more realistic to me. In an era where everyone has the wealth of gods at their fingertips, the whole shape of civilization is completely changed. There is no government, there is not structure, instead there are attempts at consensus between the AIs and the Humans. And the AIs are all powerful, meaning the Humans are redundant and have to find meaning in life.

Star Trek on the other hand shows a familiar morality and structrue we’re used to sans capitalism (supposedly). It has a very american view point in that these are the good guys, spreading the benefits of their society, knowledge and wisdom to the rest of the galaxy. As much as I like it, it’s pretty imperialistic in it’s way, with all the other species being shown as flawed compared to the enlightened federation. Individual episodes and stories can be extremely interesting, but the overall Star Trek universe is basically good guys vs bad guys and pretty simplistic.

I find the Culture series refreshing in comparison to something like Star Trek; it’s more willing to be morally ambiguous and present the Culture as both a Utopia but also hints of a Dystopia. The humans also have an illusion of freedom and self determination; ultimately they’re entirely dependent on the AIs who at times act like benevolent owners with pets. The stories explore those dynamics as well as the dynamics woith civilizations outside the culture.