“War to the death should be instantly proclaimed against them. Every machine of every sort should be destroyed by the well-wisher of his species. Let there be no exceptions made, no quarter shown; let us at once go back to the primeval condition of the race.” These words, written nearly a century before the first Dune novel, have inspired one of its defining civilizational moments. The nineteenth century novelist Samuel Butler was one of the first people to speak freely about the dangers of technological evolution and “machine logic”, which, according to his book Erewhon, would invariably “replace humanity as the superior species” if it weren’t checked. From these musings, Frank Herbert fashioned a universal conflict that pushed mankind into the direction that that opening quote refers to; so it’s only proper that he names said conflict after the man who inspired it. Dune Prophecy calls it the Great Machine Wars, but to hardcore Dune fans, it will always be the Butlerian Jihad. In this video, we’ll take a look at what happened during this Holy War against Artificial Intelligence, how humanity changed as a society because of it, and what implications it has for the narrative of Dune Prophecy. So without further ado, put on your spoiler hats and let’s dive straight in.
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