SF(it)-posting
Riffing on @LexYeen 's trek/also-trek posting last night:
star trek: let's name our ships noble and good things. Enterprise. Voyager. Discovery. Stargazer.
the Culture: All our ships name themselves. So we get: Funny, It Worked Last Time. The Precise Nature Of The Catastophe. Stood Far Back When The Gravitas Was Handed Out. A Momentary Lapse Of Sanity.
SF(it)-posting
star trek: sentient AI is weird and rare and hey look, this one wants to be human, isn't that adorable? Let's adopt him!
the Culture: AI actually pretty much run most things, and it's cool. Some of them are a bit insane, and most of them are completely out of our understanding, but it's cool. We have a good thing going.
SF(it)-posting
star trek: We're not a military, but a peaceful exploration force.
the Culture: We really really really don't like war, and not just because we'll wipe you out if we fight you, because our technology is actually just that good.
But no seriously, we don't like war. Stop doing war. Just stop it.
SF(it)-posting
star trek: hey, the Prime Directive is don't meddle with uncontacted civilizations, except when we break that for convenience.
the Culture: yeah, we have a division for that, but we also have a division who just infiltrates less-advanced civilization groups and keeps them from destroying themselves if need be. we meddle in pretty much everything.