Iain M Banks

[Bora137]

Definitely not a teacher but I read lots of Iain M Banks in my younger days. He created a universe where you could never die unless you wanted to, you could backup your mind state, you could change sex, get a different body, you could have ten houses, a planet, there was no scarcity etc etc. There is not a gram of spirituality in his work. If it appears at all it is in the shape of mad cults. The strange thing is though the reality he tried to create based on scientific progress is very much like the universe really is. His rational science based mind though could only envision it from scientific foundations. Before he died in 2013 stricken with terminal cancer when asked about the possibility of life after death he said something like there might be a .1% chance we are living in a simulation. He couldnt entertain the spiritual possibly even at the last even though he had an astonishing mind. In all his searching the world he didn't find what we have. I think the Player of Games is a wonderful book. 
 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1857231465/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_fabc_19XBN25TSCYKGW2502AN