Let's be clear, we'd need some miraculous corrective action to put our world on a path to the Culture. That is not where we are currently headed.
He smiled. “My dear girl, in Culture history alone it has been about nine thousand years since a human, marvellous though they are in so many other ways, could do anything useful in a serious, big-guns space battle other than admire the pretty explosions … or in some cases contribute to them.”
“Contribute?”
“Chemicals; colours. You know.”
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I'm not sure why this quote came to my mind, maybe it's ongoing wars and things like Iron Beam and Rheimetal shaped charge antidrone gun and shaped charge anti-tank flying mines and munitions actively choosing targets.