“As soon as males turned their pondering over to machines within the hope that this is able to set them free. However that solely permitted different males with machines to enslave them.”
One of many apparent questions in the case of portrayals of the “Dune” universe, whether or not in movie, comics, books, or HBO’s new prequel present Dune: Prophecy, is “The place are all of the robots and computer systems?”
You’d suppose that in such a futuristic galactic society know-how would have every kind of untamed AI-infused androids, sensible machines, and quantum computer systems that spit out brain-busting computations and interstellar navigation numbers in a nanosecond. However they’re nowhere to be seen! The place did all of them go and the way did this world survive with out them? Nicely, we’re right here to inform you on this deeper dive into the subject!
Why are there no robots or AI in Dune?
The reply is definitely fairly easy… they have been all banned and outlawed as treasonous throughout a vicious interstellar battle — some 10,000 years earlier than the beginning of Paul Atreides — referred to as the Butlerian Jihad.
The struggle was named for Manion Butler, a Viceroy within the League of Nobles whose descendants, together with Faykan Butler, have been important personalities within the struggle in opposition to the Pondering Machines that later helped discovered the Imperium. Home Atreides, Home Harkonnen, and Home Corrino can hyperlink their heritages straight again to this essential clan of the “Dune” world.
In “Dune: Prophecy’s” first episode, we leap again roughly 116 years earlier to witness a “Terminator”-like section of that century-long Machine Struggle for the very first time.
It is an superior spectacle that was by no means such a sci-fi sensation in Frank Herbert’s authentic books, which described one thing extra akin to over-reliance on Pondering Machines tempting Humankind to crush and dominate these with out the superior know-how. The struggle culminated in a scientific obliteration of all iterations of machine-based know-how, AI computer systems, Pondering Machines, or sentient androids, and a whole reboot in the direction of a extra human-centric philosophical evolutionary monitor.
In an explanatory voice-over, Valya Harkonnen recounts the historical past of this epic rebellion and revolt 100 years previous; one which ended with humanity’s triumph and her household identify disgraced when a Harkonnen relative fled the battlefield as colossal engines of struggle marched alongside spitting good blue beams of coherent gentle. This interpretation is much extra dramatic and comes from components of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson’s 2002 prequel ebook, “Dune: The Butlerian Jihad.”
Why did Pruwet’s pet robotic lizard trigger such a commotion?
That is exactly why in “Dune: Prophecy’s” premiere, “The Hidden Hand,” the engagement ceremony friends are so alarmed and freak out over the sudden look of Prince Pruwet Richese’s little toy lizard. To them, the innocent mechanized creature is one thing extremely forbidden and regarded a capital crime to even personal. The scrambling toy runs amok amid the ceremonial room as friends gasp and scream on the sight of it, darting out of its path and operating for security.
Fortunately for Pruwet, Desmond Hart whips out his dagger and bravely skewers it with the tip of his blade to finish its wriggling run. Emperor Corrino is aghast however lets the innocent pet incident slide after Duke Richese asks him to not take the mechanized amusement so critically. To his controversial manner of contemporary pondering, the destruction of Pondering Machines was given far an excessive amount of concern, and he believes society may at some point have use for them once more. What may probably go fallacious?
The gang’s horrified response to any clever robotic machine, even a tiny kid’s plaything, straight displays the heightened degree of worry and paranoia nonetheless simmering over something resembling contraband tech. That’s to not say there are not any industrial machines and spaceships current within the Duniverse, it is simply that they don’t seem to be managed by some degree of self-aware AI system or free-thinking robotics.
What are the Mentats?
Within the absence of superior synthetic intelligence and Pondering Machines, the “Dune” realm introduces the Mentats as an answer. These extremely genius-level human computer systems are skilled in accomplishments of maximum logic. They changed the Pondering Machines and possess unimaginable cognitive skills, all enhanced by an power drink that amplifies their psychological prowess referred to as The Juice of Sapho. If solely Pink Bull was so potent.
Hopefully “Dune” followers could be lucky sufficient to sometime get a “Dune: Prophecy” prequel the place we flip the clocks again as soon as extra to completely flesh out the horrors and the heroics of that previous struggle and get a correct exploration of the battle generally known as The Butlerian Jihad. It by no means hurts to dream a bit killer robotic dream!
