Eph (they, them) quoted Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #1)
Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain …
Content warning Social world building and psychology of the Culture
The Culture was every single individual human and machine in it, not one thing. Just as it could not imprison itself with laws, impoverish itself with money or misguide itself with leaders, so it would not misrepresent itself with signs.
Banks, Iain M.. Consider Phlebas (A Culture Novel Book 1) (p. 161). Orbit. Kindle Edition.
— Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks (Culture, #1) (Page 161)
It would be amazing if we could let go of so much of our inherent drive to signal. We signal for status, we signal for mating, we signal for tribal affiliations and loyalty. Of course even when we signal benignly it triggers a lens that reduces the field of all that we are. It would be amazing to see a person or group of people for all that they are and not limit our perception of them.