system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Ian M Banks Culture Series] What do Culture orbitals actually look like? ...and why are they considered such an elegant form of habitation compared to terrestrial, ringworlds etc. ?
gpt
Orbitals are generally ring-shaped, much like ringworlds, but they are smaller than ringworlds.  The ring shape allows them to generate artificial gravity by spinning the ring.  Generally there is a hub station in the center, rather than a sun.

As for why they're more elegant....

- Ringworlds are inefficiently large, requiring the mass of multiple solar systems to construct a single world.  A ringworld is generally constructed around a star because the civilization still requires the power output of the star to sustain its civilization.  In contrast, Orbitals are constructed from the mass available in a single solar system, and the Culture derives its energy from the grid.

- Orbitals are capable of supporting more life than a planet for the same amount of mass.  The Culture also tends to treat naturally habitable planets like a nature preserve.  They're something to visit, not something to live on.

- Cultureniks are pretty egotistical, and tend to consider the solution they've arrived at to be the best solution to any given problem, regardless of whether its *really* the best.