largesse are often harmed unto death by its arrival, though the effects may take years and generations to manifest themselves." - Meaning and context.">
“State of the Art” (p. 136)

On Earth one of the things that a large proportion of the locals is most proud of is this wonderful economic system, which, with a sureness and certainty so comprehensive one could almost imagine the process bears some relation to their limited and limiting notions of either thermodynamics or God, all food, comfort, energy, shelter, space, fuel, and sustenance gravitates naturally and easily away from those who need it most and towards those who need it least. Indeed, those on the receiving end of such largesse are often harmed unto death by its arrival, though the effects may take years and generations to manifest themselves.

— Iain Banks

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "On Earth one of the things that a large proportion of the locals is most proud of is this wonderful economic system, which, with a sureness and certainty so comprehensive one could almost imagine the process bears some relation to their limited and limiting notions of either thermodynamics or God, all food, comfort, energy, shelter, space, fuel, and sustenance gravitates naturally and easily away from those who need it most and towards those who need it least. Indeed, those on the receiving end of such largesse are often harmed unto death by its arrival, though the effects may take years and generations to manifest themselves." in the context of "“State of the Art” (p. 136)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Iain Banks" (Quotes, Short fiction, The State of the Art (1991): All page numbers from the trade paperback edition published by Night Shade Books (ISBN 978-1-59780-074-7) Only A Gift from the Culture, Descendant and State of the Art are set in the world of his Culture series For details on the original publication of each story, see the Wikipedia page All ellipses in the original stories ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Iain Banks

About Iain Banks

Iain Menzies Banks (February 16, 1954 – June 9, 2013), officially Iain Banks, was a Scottish writer. As Iain M. Banks he wrote science fiction; as Iain Banks he wrote literary fiction.