Why Dune’s Sci-Fi Future Doesn’t Have Computers Or Robots

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune features a wide range of futuristic technology, but no supercomputers or intelligent robots of any kind. While those are staples of many other classic science fiction stories, they’re absent from Frank Herbert’s original Dune book for some very specific reasons, tied to the history of the galaxy. Some of that history is briefly alluded to in 2021’s  Dune movie, but most of it is glossed over to make room for the more direct action of the film.

Dune begins in the year 10,191, but the story is set even further in the future than that number makes it sound. 10,191 refers to the number of years since the establishment of the Spacing Guild, which itself takes place roughly 10,000 years in the future. That sets the start of the main Dune book franchise at around 22,000 A.D. Due to the massive time jump into the future and the various pieces of sci-fi tech seen in the film, it would make sense for the world to also be filled with robots, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence, but it isn’t.

The reason for Dune’s glaring lack of certain traditional sci-fi technologies goes back thousands of years into the history of Herbert’s fictional universe. Thousands of years prior to Paul Atreides’ birth, humanity developed “thinking machines” – a broad term for all forms of computers and robots capable of human-level intelligence. This technology eventually evolved into full-fledged artificial intelligence, but that didn’t result in the utopian society some humans had hoped for.

In Herbert’s original Dune timeline, he briefly describes how artificial intelligence and all other thinking machines were wiped out in a series of devastating wars called the Butlerian Jihad. The original Dune novels explain that the fighting started because of an ideological schism between two factions of humanity – one that had come to rely on the thinking machines for most aspects of life, and one that believed doing so was inherently harmful to the human race. The latter group ultimately won, leading to the destruction of all thinking machines and a renewed focus on uniquely human intelligence, manifested in orders like the Mentats and the Bene Gesserits. Non-thinking machines – computers with very minor capabilities – were still permitted. This legacy of erasing reliance on technology is perhaps best summed up by one of the major religious tenants of Paul Atreides’ Dune era – “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.”

The Dune prequel novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson change the history of the Butlerian Jihad notably, making it instead a war between humanity and an overtly evil AI construct called Omnius. Due to the fierce loyalty to Herbert’s books in Villeneuve’s Dune movie, it’s reasonable to assume that it’s using the original history of the universe as its grounding point. Regardless, the effect is the same – humanity has evolved in such a way and established its society along such guidelines that the idea of relying on computers is not just reprehensible, but heretical. Therefore, there are no remaining thinking machines by the events of both the book and movie versions of Dune.

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Rick Stevenson
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Rick Stevenson is a writer, editor and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s written on TV, film and games for over six years, in addition to assorted stints in bookselling, carpentry, and TV production. Rick studied writing at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, and can report with some authority that they are both old. He lives and dies for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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