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I think the language re "machines" in the Dune context refers more to thinking devices, computers, than to mechanization.
by sandworm101 5y ago
I think the language re "machines" in the Dune context refers more to thinking devices, computers, than to mechanization.
- carapace 5y agoThat's the origin and emphasis of the Butlerian Jihad, for sure, but it seems to me that there's a more general disdain of machines in the galactic culture. Although they certainly do use a lot of machinery: shield generators, poison snoopers, spaceships, etc. so maybe not.
- PeterisP 5y agoOn the other hand, in Dune universe we see all that weird machinery used by a very unusual part of the society, the top 0.01%; and even they're not a product of the societies they live in but an import from the partially shunned Ixian community - so we can presume that the ordinary people don't make or use machines nearly as much. E.g. there are some instances of complex electronics, but it seems like most planets e.g. Caladan would have near-zero electronic industry, it doesn't seem that this would be a career option for some random inhabitant of Atreides' home planet to just decide to study electronics and make them.
- hutzlibu 5y agoTrue, but allmost all of our modern machines need lots of thinking devices to work.
- sandworm101 5y agoI see lots of calculators that can execute programs (CPUs). I see lots of software that is great a pattern recognition or trend analysis (AI). What I haven't seen are any devices actually thinking through a problem.
- hutzlibu 5y agoDepends how you define thinking. I used it in that calculations are "thinking" work.
- addingnumbers 5y agoThat seems uncomfortably close to claiming every Turing-complete device is artificial intelligence.
- carapace 5y agoWell, Turing was formalizing something that his mind was doing, so in a sense, yes, Turing Machines have always been AI.