Last episode, Thomas complained that I never take him to any nice utopias, so here we are! The Culture, the closest any sci-fi I've ever read got to anything that sounded like a good outcome, besides maybe Um-Helat. I'm told all of Ian Banks's books are fabulous, but we start with a really easy and satisfying intro to the Culture world, The Player of Games. In part one we cover the Culture society and whether it counts as an AI Utopia and what the potential costs are for living in such a society. Part two will cover the contrasting Empire of Azad and the various kinds of essentialism at its core. AI Utopia book: https://www.amazon.com/Automation-Utopia-Human-Flourishing-without/dp/0674984242/ Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/0gPhilosophy Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/  Email us at: philosophersinspace@gmail.com If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you! Sibling shows: Serious Inquiries Only: https://seriouspod.com/ Opening Arguments: https://openargs.com/  Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/ Editing by Brian Ziegenhagen, check out his pod: http://youarehere.libsyn.com/s02e02-rex-manning-day?fbclid=IwAR2L2_YIJvQpcw0nx6nTSfz0GmyJ1DtWsF--vvdI9W1ug3XW7IAtU6dQ36s Recent appearances: Aaron did a two part chat with Emerson over at the Counterapologetics and Walden Pod. Pt1 is on Moral Luck and Pt2 is on Neutral Monism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n2Tz97eGos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n2Tz97eGos CONTENT PREVIEW: Player of Games and Biological Essentialism pt2