In the science fiction saga ‘Dune’ by Denis Villeneuve we are introduced to a universe that is located about 20,000 years in the future. In this world, an empire has emerged with several noble houses on different planets in desperate need of the Spice Melange, which Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) tries to gain control of in “Dune: Part Two.”
But why are spices so important to the Milky Way? And why are no computers, robots and artificial intelligences used in ‘Dune’ in everyday life or in war situations, and only very few machines? In 20,000 years, you would almost expect that we would be in a “Star Wars”-like world almost dominated by technical advances. We would like to explain to you the background of the novel series by Frank Herbert and his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
Machines and AIs are forbidden in “Dune”.
In fact, the lack of thinking machines and artificial intelligence in “Dune” has a complex history. About 10,000 years before the events surrounding Paul Atreides, there was the so-called Butler Jihad, a war between man and machine. After people from Earth explored space and looked for extraterrestrial intelligent life, they hardly found anything there. So instead they invested more and more in technical advances and created thinking machines to do the work for them.
A group of twenty people calling themselves the Titans exploited the thinking machines primarily to overthrow the old, tyrannical empire. However, they also created machines that developed their own consciousness – and in turn rebelled against humans. The rebellion of the people around Serena Butler finally destroyed the machines after many years of war and a new empire was proclaimed – in which machines and artificial intelligence were now banned once and for all.
The herb expands consciousness – without mechanical assistance
Instead of using computers, certain people received specific training to perform computer calculations. This is how the Mentate developed, which we get to know with Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and Piter de Vries (David Dastmalchian) in Villeneuve’s first “Dune” part. But the herb found on the planet Arrakis also became increasingly important. This allows astronaut guild navigators to safely navigate between planets with expanded consciousness without the aid of computers and machines – a task that people would otherwise not be able to master.
If you want to know more, watch the following video from our science fiction expert Sebastian Gerdshikov, which in just a few minutes further explains the background of the butler Jihad and delves deeper into the political system that formed around the houses of Corrino, Atreides and Harkonnen after the war. He also tells you what the Orange Catholic Bible is about and how the Fremen ended up in Arrakis: