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First Tenet of Duneism in Duneism

  • May 14, 2016, 2:08 p.m.
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“Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind.” (From the Orange Catholic Bible.)

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” Frank Herbert, “Dune”

Two warnings exist here. The first against A.I. is the more direct. An intelligence greater than humanity, particularly that of a self-aware machine, will conclude that humanity is irrelevant to itself. At best, it will leave us alone finding no reason worth interacting with us in the same way a human does not interact with insects in the same way they do with other humans. At worst, seeing us as a potential threat to its own existence, it may wipe out humanity as a preemptive strike, like a human might do with a termite infestation in their home.

The second warning is more subtle. It is against allowing technology to control humanity. It is to not allow technology to strip away that which makes us human. (This will intertwine with the second tenant.)

These two warnings should serve as the basis for Duneism. Technology can be a wonderful thing, but not at the price of the human soul.


Last updated May 14, 2016


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