That was a decision the Culture had been putting off for many millennia; in theory it could have sublimed anything up to eight thousand years ago, but - while individuals and small groups of people and Minds did sublime all the time, and other parts of the society had hived off and split away, to make their own decisions on the matter - the bulk of the Culture had chosen not to, determining instead to surf a line across the ever-breaking wave of galactic life continuation.
