As of 2008, three stories force the Culture to consider its approach to more powerful civilisations. In one incident during the Culture–Idiran War, they strive to avoid offending a civilisation so advanced that it has disengaged from Galactic politics, and note that this hyper-advanced society is not a threat to either the welfare or the values of the Culture. In Excession, an overwhelmingly more powerful individual from an extremely advanced civilisation is simply passing through on its way from one plane of the physical Reality to another, and there is no real interaction. In the third case it sets up teams to study a civilisation that is not threatening but is thought to have eliminated aggressors in the past.
As of 2008, three stories force the Culture to consider its approach to more powerful civilisations. In one incident during the Culture–Idiran War, they strive to avoid offending a civilisation so advanced that it has disengaged from Galactic politics, and note that this hyper-advanced society is not a threat to either the welfare or the values of the Culture. In Excession, an overwhelmingly more powerful individual from an extremely advanced civilisation is simply passing through on its way from one plane of the physical Reality to another and there is no real interaction. In the third case it sets up teams to study a civilisation that is not threatening but is thought to have eliminated aggressors in the past.