However, this arrangement can only work when both sides are certain to accept the result. Should the anti-Hell side win, the Hells would be abolished. This is a way of preventing war in the ‘Real’ by fighting a war in virtual reality, with both sides swearing to abide by the result.

In order to prevent the brewing conflict a ‘Confliction’ is agreed upon. The galactic community has separated into two camps, those who make use of Hells and those who abhor the practice. The Culture isn’t the only civilisation to take issue with the use of virtual Hells. It’s also interesting to imagine the ways religious fundamentalists may justify artificially creating the afterlives of their religions, something that Surface Detail unfortunately doesn’t touch upon.

They sound very similar to justifications for the death penalty: deterrent, revenge, ‘justice’. It’s depressingly easy to imagine the justifications people would present for creating a Hell to punish others. I found this an incredibly imaginative way of dealing with the idea of death and the afterlife in sci-fi without making the story supernatural. And, of course, the Culture takes issue with such unthinkable barbarity. Virtual Hells are used to fulfil the promise of eternal torment for criminals and ‘sinners’. However, certain civilisations have used VR to create ‘the other place’. The mind-states of citizens are uploaded to the VR upon their deaths and they’re able to enjoy their ‘afterlife’ forevermore. With the ability to create any kind of world imaginable in perfect virtual reality, some civilisations have created their own Heavens.

Zakalwe surface detail