Chapter 5 “A Very Attractive System” (p. 114; ellipsis represents a one-sentence elision of description)
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“The point is,” Ziller said, “that having carefully constructed their paradise from first principles to remove all credible motives for conflict amongst themselves and all natural threats...Well, almost all natural threats, these people then find their lives are so hollow they have to recreate false versions of just the sort of terrors untold generations of their ancestors spend their existences attempting to conquer.”
— Iain Banks
What It Means
This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "“The point is,” Ziller said, “that having carefully constructed their paradise from first principles to remove all credible motives for conflict amongst themselves and all natural threats...Well, almost all natural threats, these people then find their lives are so hollow they have to recreate false versions of just the sort of terrors untold generations of their ancestors spend their existences attempting to conquer.”" in the context of "Chapter 5 “A Very Attractive System” (p. 114; ellipsis represents a one-sentence elision of description)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.
Source: Wikiquote: "Iain Banks" (Quotes, Culture series, Look to Windward (2000): All page numbers are from the 2012 trade paperback edition published by Orbit , 10th printing
All spelling, italics, and punctuation as in the book )
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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