Surface Detail: Barely Scratching the Surface of Hell

Set in the far distant future, Surface Detail features vast, elaborate hells in the virtual environment (also referred to as a “Virtuality”) controlled by advanced civilizations. Do hells even have the right to exist? Civs were split on the issue: “some faiths insisted on them,” writes Iain M. Banks, the author; others “objected profoundly to the idea of torture.” Civs join the pro-hell side or the anti-hell side to settle the issue with war. If the anti-hell side wins, then they can shut down hells, but if the pro-hell side wins, they can continue to run hells. It was called the “War in Heaven.” Ultimately, this war threatens to create an “outbreak from the confliction into the the Real,” which, as the phrase “the Real” suggests, is the universe outside of Virtuality. In a universe where beings with a neural lace can have their mind state transfered into heaven or hell through some type of “entanglement event,” Banks, an atheist, makes some of the religious concepts of today a reality with nifty technology. With that being said, Banks engages the hell debate. Is this story relevant to the hell debate today? Yes. Does it elaborate on the debate by providing a detailed analysis of whether or not hells have a right to exist? Well . . . no.

Before diving in, it would be beneficial to know roughly what percentage of the population believes in hell, because it shows the novel’s focus on hell’s acceptance or rejection reflects similar divisions in society today. I conclude the belief in hell is alive and well. Out of the 2,303 American adults surveyed in The Harris Poll of 2009, sixty one percent of them believe in hell. The percentage of believers increased by two percent since 2005. The 2004 Gallup Poll, based on 519 telephone interviews with American adults, showed a similar trend with an increase in belief, ranging from fifty six percent in 1997 to seventy percent in 2004. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life surveyed over thirty five thousand people, and from this group, fifty nine percent (or six-in-ten) Americans believe in hell.  This data reveals over half of Americans believe in hell!  What kind of hell exists in the minds of these believers? While they may differ considerably, my experience living in the Bible Belt tells me the medieval hell remains popular.

Banks paints this medieval hell for us. Filled with frequent acid rains and no sunlight to dapple the landscape, these virtual hells are far from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Chay, one of the many main characters in Surface Detail, is raped repeatedly by demons. After she’s killed, she’s resurrected in hell again–just like every other conscious being in hell. These residents in hell tremble over the mere thought of demons eating their flesh. Even if they have experienced it before. Many would long for annihilation, but annihilation was not a gift for them to receive until Chay became the angel of death in the latter part of the novel. Chay contemplates the flow of time as she annihilates hell’s residents. Chay “knew something of the technology and the ratios involved; a year in the Real could be compressed into a minute in a virtual environment.” A person can escape hell in the Culture universe, because in the last chapter, the reader discovers Chay is saved from hell. Here’s a quick overview of hell in Surface Detail:

(1) It’s an eternal hell filled with torment

(2) Annihilation–the cessation of a human soul’s existence–is impossible (unless there is a special circumstance granted to an individual)

(3) It is possible to escape hell

Conservative Christians agree with an eternal hell and no annihilation. As one of the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Albert Mohler will serve as a perfect example. He asserts a shift in culture has distorted the truth of Christianity, and while there are many examples, I will provide one example from his writings that attempt to show a shift in how the new cultural lens changes our view of justice, and it relates to point one above. Read the following words from Dr. Mohler:

“Some theologians question the moral integrity of eternal punishment by arguing that eternal torment is no fitting punishment for temporal sins. The traditional doctrine of hell argues that an infinite penalty is just punishment for sin against the infinite holiness of God. This explains why all sinners are equally deserving of hell apart from salvation through faith in Christ.”

Theologians and philosophers may call this the proportionality problem. How can a human’s finite wrongdoing deserve inifinite punishment? Banks could have engaged his readers with both sides of the issue. Pro-hell advocates, modeled after a conservative Christian thinker like Dr. Albert Mohler, could argue “that an infinite penalty is just punishment for sin against the infinite holiness of God.” This, of course, presupposes the pro-hell advocates believe in God. Some of Banks’ pro-hell advocates in the novel may not even believe in God, by the way. Anti-hell advocates, like myself, could then toy around with their arguments. Take professor Stephen Kershnar as an example. Since humans are unable to produce infinite wrondgoing, humans do not deserve infinite punishment. A pro-hell advocate may respond by saying humans send themselves to an eternal hell, not God. However, God set up the system in which humans can send themselves to hell, so God remains blameworthy. Annihilationists may want to chime in now, and they may solve the problem by stating the soul is snuffed out of existence in hell. Somebody could argue “psychological flaws” diminish responsibility for evil actions; it’s immoral to send a person with psychological flaws to hell. This would also diminish free will in the process. There are so many ways you could go with this to create a lively debate between characters.

For me, Surface Detail lacks a serious discussion over the problems like the one above; instead, one pro-hell character argues hell is needed to “keep us from behaving like mere beasts in existence,” so hells are only there “as a threat, to keep people in line while they’re still alive.” Even though the “Representitive” here in chapter thirteen acknowledges other aliens may disagree with him, I’m left wondering if a smart, sophisticated level eight alien will drop some profoundly mind-blowing critiques of common arguments launched by religious fundamentalists at everybody outside their in-group. Banks agrees that, in his book, he is pitting the Culture against religious fundamentalism, after all. That’s why I’m looking for more creative arguments for or against the existence of hells. Surface Detail contains creative ideas with virtual hells and heavens and solid actions scenes, but I think it lacks philosophical depth to engage conservative religious mindsets, the type of people he says he is pitting the Culture against, or those picking up the book because the religious ideas caught their eyes. I do agree that hell can be used to control people, but it strikes me as cliché. If you’re searching for deep philosophical debates about heaven and hell among advanced civilizations, skip this novel; however, if you’re just looking to read this because you’re intriqued about these virtual realities in the far future, definitely check it out.

 

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