What are “thinking machines” and why were they banned

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What are “thinking machines” and why were they banned

WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Dune: Prophecy.

The first episode of Dune: Prophecy displays glimpses of machine warfare that took place before the events of the series. Dune: Prophecy is a six-part series based on the 2012 novel Dune Brotherhoodwhich was written by the original Dune son of author Frank Herbert, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson. The story takes place more than 10,000 years before the rise of Paul Atreidies, narrated in the book by Denis Villenueve. Dune (2020) and Dune: Part Two (2024). Dune: Prophecy reveals the origins of the powerful shadow brotherhood known as the Bene Gesserit and how they manipulated the destiny of humanity.

The war against thinking machines has united the Great Houses against a common enemy. Valya Harkonnen reveals in the first scenes of Dune: Prophecy that while an Atredies soldier was credited with showing valor against machines, her grandfather Harkonnen abandoned the war and was considered a coward. The Great Houses punished House Harkonnen by sending them to the undesirable planet of Giedi Prime. The first Mother Reverend Superior Raquella was a hero during the wars against machines and later trained the Sisters of the Bene Gesserit to become Tellers of Truth. This caused the Bene Gesserit to become powerful tools for all of the Great Houses and allowed Raquella to rule the future.

What caused the machine war in Dune

Men with powerful machines destined to enslave humanity


The Bene Gesserit form a line in a rocky area in Dune: Prophecy

The war against thinking machines in Dune universe is also known as Butlerian Jihad. The Butlerian Jihad,”Also known as the Great Revolt and commonly abbreviated to Jihad, was the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and sentient robots that began in 201 BG and ended in 108 BG” (through Dune Wiki). Machines were powered by artificial intelligence and ended up becoming an obstacle to the development of humanity. Humanity’s dependence on these advanced technologies, which were far more sophisticated than modern AI, led to the desire to exterminate all machines once and for all.

The aim of the war against thinking machines is summarized in Frank Herbert’s book Dune romance. “In the past, men gave their thoughts to machines, hoping that it would free them. But that only allowed other men with machines to enslave them.” Because Dune is set in the distant future, Herbert managed to avoid having his universe revolve around issues of technology and instead allowed the narrative to delve into more philosophical realms with the feudal structure. None of the Dune books discuss Butlerian Jihad in detail. but it is mentioned in both Dune and Dune: Messiah.

When Dune’s Machine War Happened

Approximately a century before Dune: Prophecy


Dune: Prophecy The Bene Gesserit Queen getting married

The Butlerian Jihad began in 201 BG (Before the Guild) and concluded in 108 BG and lasted a total of 93 years. This means that this happened approximately 100 years before the events of Dune: Prophecy and more than 10,100 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. Dune: Prophecy showrunner Alison Schapker said Weekly entertainmentThe characters in our series exist in the shadow of a war against thinking machines and artificial intelligence, which have essentially enslaved or subjugated humanity for an enormous period of time..” After the machines were defeated and destroyed, several new organizations and groups sought to fill the great gap by instilling their own degrees of power and rule, one of them being the Bene Gesserit.

The impact of the wars against Thinking Machines changed the inner workings of society. Schapker continued: “And by rising up, going to war, and ultimately defeating the machines, humans also came to the brink of their own extinction. There have been casualties on planetary levels, and this affects individual psyches. Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, in their books, really make it clear that when it took so much loss of life for humans to basically free themselves, people’s notions of what their role is and what sacrifice means were really thrown into disarray. risk in a species. level path.”

“Thinking Machines” in Dune explained

They were highly advanced computers in the book


A Bene Gesserit with her face covered in a shroud in Dune: Prophecy

Thinking Machines were highly sophisticated computers, but they did not have consciousness and were therefore not sentient beings. They were incredibly intelligent and powerful computers that humanity had become dependent on, which made them extremely dangerous. Herbert wasn’t exactly clear on what the Thinking Machines looked like in his original canonical novels. However, his son Brian and his writing partner Kevin J. Anderson were the ones who popularized the notion that Thinking Machines were actually giant robots with weapons. Herbert’s original concept made thinking machines more like highly advanced computers and telephones. rather than actual militant monsters.

The destruction of the Thinking Machines triggered the creation of people known as Mentats, or human computers. Although the Mentats do not play a major role in Villenueve’s story, Dune films, they have a much larger role in the book, particularly the Mentat of House Atreides, Thufir Hawat, whose lineage has been Mentats of House Atreides for three generations. The Mentats were the only acceptable record keepers after the machines were destroyed. The young Prince’s robot lizard is an example of a Thinking Machine in Dune: Prophecy or at least a machine that was built with similar forbidden technology.

Why “thinking machines” are banned during the events of Dune: Prophecy

The technology that once enslaved humanity


Emily Watson as Valya Harkonnen in Dune: Prophecy

Thinking machines in Dune: Prophecy became banned because of how they were used to enslave humanity by powerful men. This is probably why Mother Reverend and many other Sisters of the Bene Gesserit were so against Raquella’s vision of genetically modifying royal leaders, since it would be in the same vein as the men who possessed the Thinking Machines playing god. Although humanity was left without highly advanced technologies after the Butlerian Jihad, they were better off on a human level and societies began to rebuild and improve.

Although the young Prince’s toy does not appear to be harmful in any way, its technology reminds everyone at the wedding ceremony of the horrors of the 93-year war. It is seen as a huge offense considering how many people were killed during the war and a terrible gesture. The Prince clearly doesn’t care or is uneducated about how devastating the wars were to the people who lived through them, even though humanity won in the end. The war against Thinking Machines provides a crucial context for the world of Dune: Prophecy.

Sources: Dune Wiki, Entertainment Weekly

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