The Sublimed

The Sublimed are alien civilizations in the Culture series of science fiction works by Iain M. Banks who have left the known dimensions of space time behind ("subliming") to take up residence in several higher dimensions. These higher dimensions seem to lack many of the constraints on the development of complexity found in our four dimensions.

Individuals and Minds are capable of subliming, and this is described as an ever-present temptation for beings that are bored with or tired of the limited space and time as we know it.

Subliming is a process that allows a civilization to transfer the consciousness of its individual members (biological and/or artificial) from the material universe that we experience to another plane of existence. From the novels, it is not entirely clear where this alternative plane is, but it would appear to be "outside" the universe in which The Culture novels are set. In an article entitled "A Few Notes on the Culture", Banks refers to the physical cosmology of The Culture universe (what Culture people call "the Reality") as involving a very large set of closed, 4-dimensional hyperspherical universes, each with different physical properties, laws, and histories, nested within a 7-torus, all of which is embedded in an undisclosed form of "meta-space", which may be the destination of Sublimed sentiences. When civilizations sublime, they usually do so quickly (in a matter of days) and completely (or almost completely). It is not clear why this pattern should happen, but it probably involves factors such as the of a civilization before sublimation, the (unknown) benefits of sublimation, or possibly just being broadly seen as the thing to do.

Subliming is one of the possible end points of a civilization, others being extinction or a collapse into barbarism. It is however only an end point insofar as it tends to remove that civilization, its influence and its interests from the material universe - it is implied that they might still get up to interesting things, but in an altogether different way. Furthermore, it is clear that the Sublimed do still occasionally interact with the corporeal races, most notably in the case of the Chelgrians (see below). In these interactions, the sublimed species seem to utilise immense power over the material universe, to the point where sublimed species can be thought of as close to godlike. These powers include matter manipulation, omniscience and notably, the ability to tap into gridfire.

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