Dune Lore: What Was The Butlerian Jihad (Dune 2021)

[Music] once men turn their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free but that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them one of the unique elements of the classic science fiction novel dune is the setting writer frank herbert chose thousands of years into the future mankind has advanced and spread across the universe yet after the devastating conflict known as the butlerian jihad where after all machine computing and artificial intelligence was prohibited civilization has continued to advance in unique ways with a focus on the human condition a somewhat common plot device found in works of fiction detailing an uprising against machines was made new by herbert by his building a universe long after this complete technological upheaval with the banishment of all thinking machines computers and artificial intelligence and examining a society built around the other disdain of its use the result is a unique story focusing on humanity itself by exploring the social political and philosophical changes and issues that would arise in this video i'd like to explore the butlerian jihad which provides the very framework for the dune saga in frank herbert's original six dune novels this cataclysmic event in mankind's history known as the butlerian jihad or the great revolt is referenced occasionally throughout yet the conflict itself is not described in extensive detail its impact however is acutely felt in this universe it is the very foundation that the story stems from ten thousand years before dune begins humanity freed itself from self-imposed enslavement to machines human innovation coupled with inherent laziness was perceived as the potential destruction of the human race how could humans themselves advance when technology was doing everything for them men had inadvertently turned over their thinking ability and thus their freedom to machines technology had even begun to train humans to think like machines a new concept began to make its way through the masses man may not be replaced this realization sparked the religious crusade that would forever change the course of humanity two generations of uprisings chaos and violence ensued billions of lives were lost in the effort to rid mankind of the crutch that computers thinking machines and conscious robots had become in frank herbert's god emperor of dune later atreides ii spoke about this pivotal event in their history the target of the jihad was a machine attitude as much as the machines lato said humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty or necessary self-dom out of which we make living judgments naturally the machines were destroyed this technological purge and subsequent reversal was driven by religious fervor from those who were repulsed and disgusted by the fact that technology was guiding and controlling every aspect of their lives from the ashes of this ideological conflict the religious and political institutions came together to set and enforce what would become the principal command of the most important and influential religious text in the known universe the orange catholic bible which stated thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind the possession and development of any and all machine technology remotely resembling or performing any human-like functions was then made illegal and violation of the anti-artificial intelligence laws carried the punishment of a swift death even the simplest of devices over time came to be viewed as taboo and even repugnant to general society in regards to the actual sequence of events that initiated the great revolt frank herbert did not provide extensive details choosing to instead focus on its aftermath on society however others have since attempted to fill in the gaps in the dune encyclopedia priestess and bene chesterat gian butler inspired the revolt against machines her unborn child had been aborted under false pretenses by the thinking machine that was working as a hospital director when she uncovered the machine's deception a larger plot involving mass abortions to control the human populace was discovered her continued investigation led to the discovery that this self-programming machine was performing these abortions as part of a larger scheme to control human civilization the planet for chess spawned the revolution as it was revealed on this planet that the self-reproducing and self-programming machines were controlling the human population and not just their numbers but also their emotional and intellectual characteristics this manipulation had been going on for centuries with the cooperation of thousands of programmers scientists and technicians the religious backlash and jion butler's martyrdom incited the war that raged across the known universe in regards to the official canon with the expanded prequel novels written by brian herbert and kevin j anderson the butlerian jihad was detailed in a sweeping legends of dune prequel trilogy these stories depict a gradual uprising of militant humans turned cyborgs taking advantage of humans reliance on technology to enslave them with it the cyborgs themselves were eventually conquered by pure machine intelligence seeking to bring order to humans inherent chaos the event that instigated the jihad against sentient machines started after the invasion of thinking machines on getty prime where serena butler an influential political figure was captured and taken to earth where she was assigned to serve the independent robot erismus the eccentric robot was obsessed with understanding humans through experimentation to ensure machine superiority serena butler was an object of fascination but when she gave birth to a son the robot became displeased with this apparent distraction aerosmith ended up sterilizing serena and murdering her son serena's son was the martyr that instigated the uprising of enslaved humans against their machine overlords during and after the great revolt all infrastructure dependent on machines collapsed billions of lives were lost and the institutions left standing forged ahead from the devastation the remnants of society focused on advancing the human race a feudal imperial government arose not long after the revolt the two chief surviving organizations from the jihad were the spacing guild which began building its monopoly on interstellar travel and the bene jesuit sisterhood an institution focused on advancing human talent and abilities to fill the enormous void left with the elimination of computers the mentat order arose humans were to be trained and conditioned with superior cognitive abilities that would go on to surpass the accomplishments of the machines of the past certain isolationist groups did push the boundaries when it came to development of certain devices and technology but by and large humans shifted from reliance on machines to other unconventional means of advancing society the dune fandom is divided when it comes to the contribution of the expanded universe novels regardless of the different interpretations of the conflict though frank herbert provides the necessary details so the reader understands the current state of the universe frank specifically wanted to focus on a story set in the future without the emphasis being on the technology the butlerian jihad was simply the background for a story that explored how the social and political institutions could have evolved over time in a way where parallels could more easily be drawn from the real world his world building technique is brilliant and provides the reader with just enough information from the past in order to get our bearings in the strange future in david lynch's 1984 film and the sci-fi channel miniseries it is princess ireland daughter of the emperor that provides narration that introduces the audience to the world of dune this creative choice is understandable considering the novel is filled with the characters writings that serve as chapter introductions since there is no casting for princess ireland however in vilnev's first film it's unlikely the same approach would be used in the new adaptation if there is an opening narration scene depicting the events of the past it seems likely this will be handled by the reverend mother gaius helen mohayem of the benny jesseret her character after all plays an important part in setting the stage for dune through her interchange with paula tradies it is a pivotal scene in describing the significance of the great revolt and its impact on society it's one that i am particularly looking forward to seeing in vilnev's first dune film i hope you enjoyed this video leave a like if you did and be sure to subscribe for more dune and other sci-fi and fantasy content and let me know what you think about the different interpretations of the butlerian jihad and what you think would be the best way volnov could introduce the audience to the setting and background of frank herbert's universe thank you all so much for your support and as always have a very nerdy day you

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Id: 2YnAs4NpRd8

Length: 9min 50sec (590 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021