Consider Phlebas
Iain M. Banks · 1987 · Novel
It introduced 'The Culture,' a definitive vision of a post-scarcity, post-human galactic civilization guided by advanced AIs, exploring how humanity might evolve beyond physical limitations, scarcity, and traditional governance to achieve a highly advanced, integrated state.
What it is
The first novel in 'The Culture' series, it introduces a vast, utopian, post-scarcity galactic civilization run by benevolent AIs, where humans and other species live in a post-biological, often hedonistic, existence, and follows an agent caught in a war between the Culture and a more traditional, expansionist empire.
↑Inherited from(2)
Expands on Stapledon's vision of vast, galactic-scale civilizations and the ultimate destiny of intelligent life, with a focus on evolved societies and advanced consciousness.
Builds on the concept of highly advanced, benevolent (or at least non-malevolent) AI guiding or co-existing with evolved humanity on a cosmic scale.
↓Passed on to(2)
Contributes to the depiction of highly evolved, technologically advanced post-human societies and their encounters with alien intelligences.
Its exploration of long-term species evolution, advanced civilizations, and the role of AI in guiding destiny influenced later works on the grand scale of life's development.