Thoughts on Dune II
“After testing Paul Atreides with the box of pain and a gom jabbar, the Reverend Mother begins to read a passage from the Orange Catholic Bible: "Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them." Paul responds with a quote from the Orange Catholic Bible: "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man’s mind." To which the Reverend Mother replies: But what the O.C. Bible should have said was: "Thou shalt not make a machine to counterfeit a human mind.” — Frank Herbert, Dune
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Science fiction author Frank Herbert gave us a warning 60 years ago about how humanity is slowly losing its ability to think. I want to share a short story that might help explain this.
Recently, I went to see Dune: Part II in the cinema. It was the first movie that made me want to return to theaters after the pandemic, and it was worth it. Directed by Denis Villeneuve 1, the film brought Frank Herbert’s masterpiece to life in a powerful way. While watching it, I was reminded of a story in Neil Postman’s book Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. That story is about King Thamus, who warns that we must weigh both the benefits and dangers of new technologies.
“Thamus inquired into the use of each of them, and as Theuth went through them expressed approval or disapproval, according as he judged Theuth’s claims to be well or ill founded. It would take too long to go through all that Thamus is reported to have said for and against each of Theuth’s inventions. But when it came to writing, Theuth declared, “Here is an accomplishment, my lord the King, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians. I have discovered a sure receipt for memory and wisdom.” To this, Thamus replied, “Theuth, my paragon of inventors, the discoverer of an art is not the best judge of the good or harm which will accrue to those who practice it. So it is in this; you, who are the father of writing, have out of fondness for your off-spring attributed to it quite the opposite of its real function. Those who acquire it will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources. What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom they will be a burden to society.” — Neil Postman, Technopoly
Thamus’s response teaches us a valuable lesson: evaluating something without considering both sides can be harmful. People often place new technologies as the center of their lives without thinking about the pros and cons. Once the negative effects become apparent, it’s hard to change your mind. Today, artificial intelligence is presented as a revolutionary technology that makes it easier to integrate into society. This is exactly what “Technopoly” warns us about.
Frank Herbert actually talks about this exact issue in the science fiction series "Dune." In the Dune universe, there are no computers or thinking machines. Only humans control the advanced technology and spaceships.
The reason comes from a past event called the Butlerian Jihad 2, led by Serena Butler. People had once created a system of slavery using artificial intelligence, which made humans weaker and dependent. When they realized the danger, Serena and others started a jihad, not against the machines, but against the people who built and used them. The machines were destroyed, and their use was banned across the universe.
But the shocking result was that billions of people died. Humanity had become so dependent on machines that it had lost its ability to survive without them. From the survivors, new kinds of human abilities were developed. For example, Guild Navigators, changed by spice, guided ships through space. Mentats were trained to think like computers, because humans had to replace the machines they had destroyed.
This shows a lesson that thinkers like Herbert and Neil Postman often remind us of: technology is not always progress. If we stop questioning it, we risk losing what makes us truly human.
As technology races forward today, we must ask: Are we using it to grow as people or are we letting it take away our ability to think and be human?
1. Before Dune Series, the film by Denis Villeneuve that I watched and was amazed by was Arrival.
2. Good explanation of the Butlerian Jihad the war in the Dune universe.