Butlerian Jihad

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The Butlerian Jihad is an event in the back-story of Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. It led to the outlawing of certain technologies, including artificial insemination and "thinking machines" (computers).

[edit] The original Dune series

In Terminology of the Imperium, the glossary of the 1965 novel Dune, Frank Herbert provided the following definition:

JIHAD, BUTLERIAN: (see also Great Revolt) — the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. Its chief commandment remains in the O.C. Bible as "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."

Herbert referred to the Jihad many times in his later works in the Dune series, but did not give much detail on how he imagined the actual conflict. However, he did illustrate its many profound long-lasting effects on the socio-political and technological development of humanity throughout the galaxy in his fictional setting. In the series, the known universe is purged of all forms of thinking machines, resulting in not only a ban on the re-creation of similar devices (which remains in effect throughout the periods described in the original six Dune novels), but also a great technological reversal for humanity. The chief commandment from the Orange Catholic Bible, "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind", holds sway, as does the anti-AI laws in which the penalty for owning an AI device or developing technology resembling the human mind is immediate death.

As a result, the "human computers" known as Mentats are developed and perfected in order to replace the analytical powers of computers without violating the commandment of the O.C. Bible. Over the millennia, the mental abilities of the Mentats are honed to the point where they became superior to those of the ancient thinking machines.

The Butlerian Jihad also leads to the rise of a new feudalistic galactic empire which lasts for over ten thousand years, until the rise of the God Emperor Leto Atreides II in 10,217 A.G.^[1] This empire, also known as the Imperium, includes the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, and the Great Houses, such as House Corrino, House Atreides and House Harkonnen. However, as the centuries pass, fringe worlds like Ix and Tleilax begin to focus on developing technology that, if not actually transgressing the commandments of the Jihad, at least comes extremely close. This emphasis on technology gives birth to the technological powers of the Ixians and the Bene Tleilax; the former are known for their cutting-edge mechanical technology, while the latter gain fame for their emphasis on biological technology.

Prohibitions spawned by the Jihad also include artificial insemination, which is explained in Dune Messiah when Paul Atreides negotiates with the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam:

"You may have my seed, but not my person," Paul said. "Irulan banished and inseminated by artificial —"

"You dare!" the Reverend Mother flared, stiffening.

"We'll not discuss the things your Sisterhood forbids," Paul said. "I will listen to no talk of sins, abominations or the beliefs left over from past Jihads. You may have my seed for your plans, but no child of Irulan's will sit on my throne."

The Reverend Mother closed her eyes to hide his face. Damnation! To cast the genetic dice in such a way! ... The teaching of the Bene Gesserit, the lessons of the Butlerian Jihad — all proscribed such an act. One did not demean the highest aspirations of humankind. No machine could function in the way of a human mind. No word or deed could imply that men might be bred on the level of animals ... The genes, the precious Atreides genes — only these were important. Need went deeper than proscription. For the Sisterhood, mating mingled more than sperm and ovum. One aimed to capture the psyche.^[2]

Herbert's death in 1986 left the actual events of the Butlerian Jihad unexplored and open to speculation.

[edit] Legends of Dune

In 2002, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson released the first novel in their prequel trilogy Legends of Dune, based on Frank Herbert's work notes left behind after his death, as well as his outline for a seventh novel in the original series.

Set over 10,000 years before the events of Dune, Legends of Dune chronicles the struggle between humans and thinking machines that would eventually become known as the Butlerian Jihad. The series explains that thinking machines had first been created to serve humankind, but had then been used by a group of ambitious militant humans, the Titans, to enslave many worlds. The Titans soon make the transition into cyborgs called cymeks; through the use of specialized interfaces, their brains are installed inside large walking machine bodies. These fearsome, weaponized bodies make the Titans virtually immortal — and unstoppable. They later convert a number of subservient humans into an army of "neo-cymeks" to enforce their rule over the universe, and this so-called "Time of Titans" lasts for a century.

Eventually, the AI program Omnius usurps control from the Titans themselves. The thinking machines dominate and enslave nearly all of humanity in the universe for 900 years, until a jihad is ignited by the independent robot Erasmus' murder of the child Manion Butler, son of Serena Butler. This crusade against the machines lasts for nearly a century, with much loss of human life.

The Jihad ends in human victory at the Battle of Corrin. The de facto leader of mankind Faykan Butler merges his position of Viceroy of the League of Nobles with the vacant position of Grand Patriarch, as the first step to consolidate his power. Faykan changes his family name to Corrino in tribute to the Battle of Corrin and declares himself Emperor, thereby establishing the Corrino Empire. Later, he asserts his power through military might over the factions of the former League through the formation of the army that later becomes known as the Sardaukar. The Landsraad is formed by the League in order to keep the power of the Corrinos in check. The Corrino Emperors rule for the next 10,000 years, until the events of Dune and the ascension of Paul Atreides.

[edit] The Dune Encyclopedia

The Dune Encyclopedia (1984) by Dr. Willis E. McNelly presented a different version of the Butlerian Jihad. The canon status of this book is disputed.

In this version, Jehanne Butler gives her name to the Jihad. Jehanne had been trained as both a priestess and as a Bene Gesserit on the planet Komos. After her training, she marries Thet'r Butler, both of them marrying late in life and looking forward to having a child. Due to her Bene Gesserit training, Jehanne is in contact with her developing fetus and knows the state of its health and development. After waking from the anesthesia given during delivery, she is shocked to learn that the fetus had been malformed and the infant therapeutically aborted. She later discovers through investigation that her child had in fact been fine, but that the hospital director, the first self-programming computer on the planet, had been secretly carrying out a policy of unjustified abortions.

It is this discovery which triggers further investigation into the extent to which such machines had been controlling society and altering the emotional and intellectual characteristics of planetary populations over a course of centuries. During the course of these investigations, the chief priestess of Komos, Urania, interrogates one of the chief computer engineers, Doctor G. Demlen. She observes that he is an arrogant and unrepentant man, and she is shocked to witness his pride in his machines. Urania tells him that his work violates the fundamental principles of respect for human life and is an offense to the worship of the Goddess.

"At the mention of the Goddess, Demlen exploded in a fit of acid and honest outrage, and in his fury, after suggesting that there was more worth reverence in one of his machines than in the worship of 'a supposed "goddess" invented by a clutch of bucolic bumpkins on a pigsty of a planet,' Demlen turned to the icon of Kubebe as if to spit on it. Before he could commit the act, Urania had killed him with her ceremonial knife." ^[4] That moment of sacrilege was the beginning of the Jihad. The priestesses of the planet met that night, and the next day, the Jihad began to be preached to the faithful of Komos, against "the thinking machines and all who find their gods within them."^[5]

Jehanne argues against it, knowing the horrors that a jihad would bring. In spite of this, she lets her name be used and serves as the jihad's leader for its first twenty years. During this time, the battles are "planned and led by a tactical genius, whose concern for the lives of her soldiers and of her enemies is the dominant element."^[6] After her death, this element of the campaigns disappears.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Darwin Among the Machines
• Neo-Luddism
• Technophobia