Technology determines the possibilities of society. It doesn't matter whether you start out from a fascist state or a communist state or a free-market state.
Science fiction has its own history, its own legacy of what's been done, what's been superseded, what's so much part of the furniture it's practically part of the fabric now, what's become no more than a joke... and so on. It's just plain foolish, as well as comically arrogant, to ignore all this, to fail to do the most basic research.
I think a lot of people are frightened of technology and frightened of change, and the way to deal with something you're frightened of is to make fun of it. That's why science fiction fans are dismissed as geeks and nerds.
A lot of what the 'Culture' is about is a reaction to all the science fiction I was reading in my very early teens.
My point has always been that, ever since the Industrial Revolution, science fiction has been the most important genre there is.
Science fiction is trying to find alternative ways of looking at realities.
In so much of politics you're not allowed to disagree with what's been agreed.
Torture is such a slippery slope as soon as you allow a society or any legal system to do that, almost instantly you get a situation where people are being tortured for very trivial reasons.