@DecaturNature I’m a big Star Trek fan. I’ve read “Consider Phlebas” but haven’t yet continued the Culture series, even though I liked some of the concepts. I am trying to determine how TESCREAL intersects and how/where things went wrong. The Humanism in Star Trek should be hitting the TESCREAL people over the head, especially with the cautionary eugenics discussions, but I fear that is getting lost in favor of the shiny and magic tech.