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Oh, really nice takeaway! That does make a lot of sense, I'll have to re-read it.

I just remember getting very close to the end and thinking I had some copy with tons of missing pages or something because there was no way to have some conclusion with the remaining pages haha.

With this in mind, it will probably make much more sense.



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I think the best explanation is that you missed rest of the chapters! :)

Oh I think you're right. My memory of that book is a bit spotty and I forgot some of the nuances of the situation.

I don't understand the purpose or significance of the three different endings of the stories and how the varied endings ultimately support the author's hypothesis? I feel like the explanation in the article missed a step because the dots just aren't connecting for me at all.

Thanks for the correction. Wonder what I was thinking. Must've had Pages or something on my mind.

Aha, that may explain my confusion. It's been years since I've read it, I'll have to dig it out and see which version I have.

Quite the contrary, it does make far more sense with that ending. The whole book is centered around that.

It is, by far, my preferred Culture book and the one that apply the best today.


I haven't read it so I'm curious, what makes you say that? Is the book concluding things that are wrong because of this?

Oh wow, I missed this entirely, thank you for pointing it out and I will give it a read tonight.

I read it a while ago, and going on what I remember, I still can't see the connection. Would you mind explaining?

Thanks for the explanation. I haven't re-watched parts 2 and 3 in a very long time, now you made me curious to watch (or somehow read) those two missing parts and then try again :)

FWIW, i read and old copy, it lacked the afterword. I found out years later when talking to someone about the book. I get your point, but it wasn't part of the original work.

May reflect on how different people read things differently. I agree that a lot of pages are spent on what you've just described, but to me it was a weird and minor plot point, and I never mention it because I don't see how it's worth mentioning.

The game-theoretic aspects of the book, on the other hand, and the final comeback of aforementioned nerd, are something I like to point out when summarizing this book.


Interesting, yeah I think that aspect of the novel definitely went over my head.

Oh thanks. I must have forgotten about that; if you have read the book, do you know if this was explained? Will need to read more and try to update the text!

From what I can tell the book has no real beginning or end, but three threads each of which start and end in different places, none of which start or end at the beginning or ending of the book. That chapter seems to be the end of one of those threads as the rest of the chapter after that statement doesn't really make sense.

Either I hadn't gotten to the point where that was explicitly stated, missed it, or I didn't connect it myself (highly likely, ha). Still working my way through #5. I did get that the golden path was basically a kind of progession stasis but not that the point of the thing was the scattering and whatever happens after. That's very interesting, thanks for pointing it out. I love these books anyway!

Thanks for the note.

I had to read the book three times before I figured out what was going on.


Thank you. The author really missed the big reveal at the end, I was also wondering this same thing.

I read that book like 10 times and I never got that. Thanks for the hint!
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