I agree with you that Gurgeh was just a piece getting manipulated and that that was the point, but Gurgeh was still the best piece that they could use for the job.
The Culture is (in this story) pretty much only bound by their own constraints. They chose Gurgeh for the role, since he had enough skill and talent to actually be able to accomplish the Culture's (or the SC's, winkwink) objectives without having the whole thing being taken over by an AI.
The Culture worked very much like the PoG this thread is about: it minimised potential loss and considered the constraints it had to get the best possible outcome.
The Culture is mostly constrained by only ethical rules, which, admittedly, can get flexible, especially with regards to the SC. The practical restrictions, like it being easier to send one capable human than to conquer a small galaxy, are in my mind lesser in comparison.
As such, I think they got the most out of the operation, just by being confident in their assessment of a single human who played games good. And there's absolutely no reason to believe that the overminds that guide the Culture can't model human behaviour down to the smallest variable, especially considering how augmented humans are in the Culture.
I'm also 100% onboard the idea that all the drones could outplay Gurgeh in a blink in any game, intuition be damned.
A non-drone player was necessary, as Azad would never have acknowledged defeat by a drone. But, defeat by a human accomplished the Culture's goal and Gurgeh was the best bet
(or at least the best available one) on the desired outcome.
I see their selection as mostly being about Gurgeh having enough pride to accept the small cheat, coupled with enough skill to not actually need the AI assistance. It's been a while since I read TPoG last, but my recollection is that there were a handful of players at essentially the same level as Gurgeh and from a pure skill and intuition level, I suspect any of them would have worked, but only Gurgeh fell for the entrapment.
The Culture is (in this story) pretty much only bound by their own constraints. They chose Gurgeh for the role, since he had enough skill and talent to actually be able to accomplish the Culture's (or the SC's, winkwink) objectives without having the whole thing being taken over by an AI.
The Culture worked very much like the PoG this thread is about: it minimised potential loss and considered the constraints it had to get the best possible outcome.
The Culture is mostly constrained by only ethical rules, which, admittedly, can get flexible, especially with regards to the SC. The practical restrictions, like it being easier to send one capable human than to conquer a small galaxy, are in my mind lesser in comparison.
As such, I think they got the most out of the operation, just by being confident in their assessment of a single human who played games good. And there's absolutely no reason to believe that the overminds that guide the Culture can't model human behaviour down to the smallest variable, especially considering how augmented humans are in the Culture.
I'm also 100% onboard the idea that all the drones could outplay Gurgeh in a blink in any game, intuition be damned.