The Butlerian Jihad - Entry #7

Human beings rely upon their brethren, and are frequently disappointed by them.  These are advantages to machines: reliability and a complete lack of guile.  They can also be disadvantages.
- Erasmus
Reflections on Sentient Biologicals
(The Butlerian Jihad, p. 610)

Erasmus is learning.  This is an interesting observation as it points out that reliability and lack of guile are both advantages and disadvantages.  Finding myself to be very reliable and, for the most part, a complete lack of guile, I can vouch for the fact that these are both advantageous, and even admirable, characteristics while there are times that these characteristics are certainly a disadvantage to me.

The Butlerian Jihad is now done ... on to The Machine Crusade!

The Butlerian Jihad - Entry #6

The spice melange.

The fact that melange is found only on Arrakis and was exported to the League Worlds to the point of widespread addiction is known by all who have read Dune ... the first book published in this vast story.  But the story of its discovery by "offworlders" and how it came to be exported is found in The Butlerian Jihad.

I won't give away who discovered it and who first envisioned exportation and exploitation but these passages are revealing.  This first passage is by the first person to actually export a cargo hold of melange, but considering how far off the beaten path Arrakis was, he had trouble envisioning a profitable future in melange exportation.

Realistically, he doubted if melange would ever be more than a mere curiousity. (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 372)

Hah!

But this person shared the idea with another who had more vision and more resources leading to this later passage.  In this passage, the venture capitalist had just tried his first taste of melange ...

The melange seemed to seep into every cell of his body, transmitting energy and vitality directly to his brain, but without the usual sensory distortions.  The was pleasure ... but much more than that.  [Name] sat back and felt the substance seduce and relax him, controlling him without controlling him.  It was a paradox.  He felt mentally sharper than at any time in his life.  Even the future itself seemed clear.  (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 517)

How could you NOT become addicted!

The Butlerian Jihad - Entry #5

Oh, how I love Norma Cenva.  And even though Tio Holtzman is not the most admirable of characters, his brilliance cannot be denied.  During a "peer review" between Norma and Tio where Norma was cautioning Tio about the conclusions he had come to, Norma cautions:

"Correct calculations are not always correct - if based on faulty principles or invalid assumptions". (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 290)

As a professor of technical content, this speaks to me.  I caution students not to be so blindly dedicated to a theory without knowing the assumptions made for the theory to hold true.

This conversation infuriated Tio.  He could not take the criticism even though it was given to assist in further development, not to stifle his work.  But adversity often makes us humans try harder and in this case, it led to Tio Holtzman developing the Holtzman Equations ... the base theory used to develop personal shields and foldspace.  Holtzman's drive to develop something really innovative as he had not done for years, even if it was just to prove he still had "it", should not detract from his remarkable accomplishment.

There is a similar story in recent actual history.  The brilliant mind of Shockley, the inventor of the modern transistor, came up with the remarkable theory for the transistor in what has been called "the miracle month".  Two physicists working under his direction had actually invented the first transistor in the lab without Shockley and this really pissed him off.  Reacting to what he saw as a betrayal, drove Shockley to new heights inevitabley affecting every single one of us with his invention.  You see, his invention was the basis for the modern transistor which was much more feasible, commercially, then the "first" transistor.

Well, I think I have gotten deep enough in to this geeky topic, at least for now.  I think the next entry will be about drugs ... melange ...

The Butlerian Jihad - Entry #4

I should have kept the text message conversation that went on when I came across the quote below and texted it to a friend.  The quote comes from a "chapter-starter".  You Dune readers should be familiar with and fond of these.  In all the Dune books, the Herberts (father and son) employ a literary technique of starting the chapter with an appropriate quote accredited to some individual, journal, log, or report.

So the quote I texted to a (geek) friend of mine was:

Overly organized research is confining, and guaranteed to produce nothing new.

-- TIO HOLTZMAN,

letter to Lord Niko Bludd

(The Butlerian Jihad, p. 154)

My friend, who also happens to be a graduate student and therefore one who is engaging in research, responded back with something like "That's BS from an inexcusable, unmitigated hack!!"  Now I don't have the direct quote, but you get the idea.  I countered by pointing out that Norma Cenva, who came to work with Tio Holtzman, may never have made the extraordinary discoveries she did without the influence of Savant Holtzman.  But my friend would not back down an inch, spewing pure venom.

Well, over 100 pages later, we find Norma developing new ideas:

Mostly, though, she pondered wild, ideas, the more unusual the better.  On Rossak, her mother had never encouraged her to consider impractical possibilities, but here Tio Holtzman welcomed them. (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 287)

As a researcher myself, I was fascinated by the quote from Tio Holtzman.  I am a hyper-organized person but I have learned to observe and learn from what might initially seem to be chaos.  It is unorthodox, but Savant Holtzman's advice frees the mind to consider the impossible.  So I'll wrap up this entry with a "chapter-starter" from Serena Butler:

Only those with narrow minds fail to see that the definition of Impossible is 'Lack of imagination and incentive.'

-- SERENA BUTLER

(The Butlerian Jihad, p. 159)

The Butlerian Jihad ... Entry #3

I thought the best word to describe the first meeting of Atreides and Harkonnen before the Butlerian Jihad would be "ironic".  But upon looking up the definition, just to make sure the word served my purposes, I found that "coincidental" and "unexpected" did not hit the mark for me.  I can say that it made me feel uncomfortable, as if my world had been turned upside down.

I mean, really, just consider this exchange between Xavier Harkonnen and Vor Atreides:

     As the Armada Commander [Xavier Harkonnen] took evasive maneuvers and rallied his kindjal pilots, he hurled insults back at Vor on the comline. "You are a disgrace to humanity, a traitor!"
     Vor laughed, proud of his place here. He quoted what he had been taught all of his life. "I am the pinnacle of humanity -- a trustee of Omnius, the son of General Agamemnon."  (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 248)

Harkonnen on the side of humanity?  Atreides on the side of Omnius who is in the process of enslaving or destroying all of humanity?  Crazy talk I tell you!!

The Butlerian Jihad ... Entry #2

See .. already I have hit a passage that reaffirms the importance of taking in the whole story from beginning to end!  Being optimistic that I will have readers ... for those of you reading my blog that have not read all the Dune books, I will try not to give away story details that would take away from your book reading pleasure.  However, in some cases, like the one I am about to discuss, I will be hinting at some future events and I sincerely hope that this piques your curiosity rather than turns you off.

The following passage from p. 224 of The Butlerian Jihad is some truly ominous insight in to Omnius:

     Thinking machines were capable of making long-term plans - and living to see them carried out.  By the time humans expanded into those distant star systems, Omnius would already be there.
     Waiting.

This passage refers to the fact that as the thinking machines reworked the factories of the newly conquered Giedi Prime, Omnius discovered the human designs for a new model of long-distance space probe which Omnius realized "could be adapted as emissaries for the thinking machines, new substations for the computer evermind" (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 223).

This whole passage went under my radar in my first reading of the book ... before reading Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.  But now ... oh my.  Completely different perspective on the importance of the concepts here.  First, although the thinking machines clearly have their weaknesses, humans did not take in to account the long range planning ability and patience of the thinking machines.  Second, the consequences of the Giedi Prime occupation by the thinking machines, and the realization and action taken by the Giedi Prime-Omnius are NOT a sidebar to history!

Throughout the reading of Dune, I am constantly drawn to the insight of what it means to be "human".  This passage provided some insight into what "thinking machine" might mean.

The Butlerian Jihad ... Entry #1

The Butlerian Jihad begins with a sort of preface by Princess Irulan:

Any true student must realize that History has no beginning. Regardless of where a story starts, there are always earlier heroes and earlier tragedies. (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 1)

And that is why this journey has no beginning or end, all must be in context. As I meet anew the incredibly important historical characters of Xavier Harkonnen, Serena Butler, and Vor Atriedes, I am reminded of how we all start out so naïve, so willing to believe what we have learned from our mentors. It is so wonderful to meet young Norma Cenva, who becomes one of the most important historical characters of the entire saga. She so wanted her mother, the powerful Sorceress of Rossack Zufa Cenva, to notice her. As a mother, Zufa is a disaster. But she is so inspired to help the human race beat the thinking machines. I love the description of Zufa’s first demonstration of her power to the League Representatives:

“ Then Zufa relaxed, throttling back the chain reaction of mental energy. Letting out a long, cold breath, the Sorceress smiled grimly at the started onlookers. ‘We have a weapon.’ ” (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 89)

Introduction ...

I am starting a journey I have taken before but this time in historical order … from several thousand years BG (Before Guild or approximately 10,000AD) through to around 15,300AG (After Guild). Having read all sixteen Dune books, those by Frank Herbert and those by his son Brian Herbert and co-author Kevin J. Anderson, and some read two, three, and even four times, I have become obsessed to read them all again from “beginning” to “end”.

As I rediscovered the Dune books and discovered Brian Herbert’s contributions (I had given my husband Dune:House Atreides as a gift nearly 10 years ago already), I inadvertently drew others around me in to the Dune universe. We would find ourselves talking about it around the campfire, emailing quotes to each other at work, texting provocative ideas about it on our phones. I even started documenting my favorite quotes on my Facebook page. That is when the idea of blogging came up. I think my daughter was mulling it over for a while, but she brought it up to me the first time on a family vacation this past July after exploring the Oregon Dunes, which served as Frank Herbert’s inspiration for Dune. My daughter, Shoshana, being the one to suggest the blog, will also be a welcome contributor.

So last week I started (re)reading Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. At first I was not sure what I would write but as soon as I started getting in to the book I knew I wanted to keep a log of my thoughts and feelings about the characters and the events as well as the compelling quotes. I am ready to get started!!