Chapter 18 (p. 388)
“
Promises take many shapes, and the more…momentous they are, the more they might look like threats. All great promises are threats, I suppose, to the way things have been until that point, to some aspect of our lives, and we all suddenly become conservative, even though we want and need what the promise holds, and look forward to the promised change at the same time.
— Iain Banks
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Promises take many shapes, and the more…momentous they are, the more they might look like threats. All great promises are threats, I suppose, to the way things have been until that point, to some aspect of our lives, and we all suddenly become conservative, even though we want and need what the promise holds, and look forward to the promised change at the same time." in the context of "Chapter 18 (p. 388)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Iain Banks" (Quotes, Culture series, The Hydrogen Sonata (2013): All page numbers are from the September 2013 first trade paperback edition published by Orbit , first printing
All spelling, italics, ellipses, and punctuation as in the book. All bold face as in the book, and represents comments by or conversations among AIs. )
The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
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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.
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.
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