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> OK: But what does this have to do with the glowglobes? The thing about writing a sci-fi book where your big shtick is that There Are No Computers is that you

> OK: But what does this have to do with the glowglobes? The thing about writing a sci-fi book where your big shtick is that There Are No Computers is that you can no longer use “Very Advanced Computers” as your hand-waving explanation for how anything works. So Herbert, one of the great sci-fi writers, came up with a new hand-waving explanation: “The Holtzman Field Generator.” The explanation for any cool non-human tech in the Dune universe is: Holtzman Fields. How do spaceships fly? Holtzman Fields! How do shields work? Holtzman Fields! How do glowglobes float? Say it with me now: “the secondary (low-drain) phase of a Holtman Field Generator.” This is hilarious. I think I'm going to enjoy reading the whole thing.

nervousvarun 5y ago
Yeah with Dune you sortof just have to ignore the tech. It never makes much sense. Later on the books get heavy into bio-engineering. Some really strange stuff in the books w/ clones (and multiples/generations of the same clones) etc. The film sorta hinted at it a bit with the spider creature thing (which is not in the original book) but...one of the distinct things about the Dune universe is anything "alien" is really just weird Human bio-engineering.
- dragonshed 5y ago
  I felt the opposite when I read the books. I thought it was rather clever that Frank Herbert invented a physical force [1] which accounts for much of the interesting tech that isn't possible or feasible in reality. I just wish there was more detail. [1] https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Holtzman_Effect https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Holtzman_Effect
teachrdan 5y ago
This makes one of my favorite Onion articles a lot more pointed: "Sci-Fi Writer Attributes Everything Mysterious To 'Quantum Flux'" https://www.theonion.com/sci-fi-writer-attributes-everything-mysterious-to-quant-1819570928 https://www.theonion.com/sci-fi-writer-attributes-everything...

nervousvarun 5y ago

Yeah with Dune you sortof just have to ignore the tech. It never makes much sense. Later on the books get heavy into bio-engineering. Some really strange stuff in the books w/ clones (and multiples/generations of the same clones) etc. The film sorta hinted at it a bit with the spider creature thing (which is not in the original book) but...one of the distinct things about the Dune universe is anything "alien" is really just weird Human bio-engineering.

dragonshed 5y ago
I felt the opposite when I read the books. I thought it was rather clever that Frank Herbert invented a physical force [1] which accounts for much of the interesting tech that isn't possible or feasible in reality. I just wish there was more detail. [1] https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Holtzman_Effect https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Holtzman_Effect

teachrdan 5y ago

This makes one of my favorite Onion articles a lot more pointed: "Sci-Fi Writer Attributes Everything Mysterious To 'Quantum Flux'" https://www.theonion.com/sci-fi-writer-attributes-everything-mysterious-to-quant-1819570928 https://www.theonion.com/sci-fi-writer-attributes-everything...