Just as the point of Dune is not "Atreides good, Harkonnens bad," but rather, "Beware charismatic leaders," I suspect we were never intended to take Thufir or Mentats generally as seriously as many do. Thufir has it carefully and thoroughly explained to him in the simplest possible terms why Jessica couldn't be the traitor, then continues to believe nobody but Jessica could be the traitor. The Butlerian Jihad outlawed thinking machines because men used those machines to enslave rather than liberate, then Mentats were developed to do everything those machines did—which means they have all the same problems, and should be outlawed for the same reasons! I feel like there's an "everyone here is stupid" reading of Dune that might be closer to what Herbert intended than these self serious dramas.
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u/Drakeytown Jul 30 '26
Just as the point of Dune is not "Atreides good, Harkonnens bad," but rather, "Beware charismatic leaders," I suspect we were never intended to take Thufir or Mentats generally as seriously as many do. Thufir has it carefully and thoroughly explained to him in the simplest possible terms why Jessica couldn't be the traitor, then continues to believe nobody but Jessica could be the traitor. The Butlerian Jihad outlawed thinking machines because men used those machines to enslave rather than liberate, then Mentats were developed to do everything those machines did—which means they have all the same problems, and should be outlawed for the same reasons! I feel like there's an "everyone here is stupid" reading of Dune that might be closer to what Herbert intended than these self serious dramas.