Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985

Frank Herbert speaking at UCLA 4/17/1985
Please support our nonprofit efforts to preserve tapes like this! Contribute to UCLA's Communication Archive at giving.ucla.edu/campaign/dona...
From the archives of the UCLA Department of Communication. Digitized 2015. This video is a re-mastering of the first campus speech we digitized and uploaded from our collection.
The views and ideas expressed in these videos are not necessarily shared by the University of California, or by the UCLA Department of Communication.

[@UCLACommStudies]

Note: This is a complete digitization of the entire tape recording provided to us by the UCLA Campus Events Commission. The tape is from 1985 and our department cannot explain the cuts in portions of the tape. We only digitized what we were given.

[@CaptainSnackbar]

i just started listening to it, and i noticed that some parts of it are cut off or skips in mid sentence? is that recording damaged?

[@timsim83]

It has been censored

[@CaptainSnackbar]

@@timsim83 copyright reasons ?

[@McKinleyMorann]

@@timsim83 Doubt it, more likely someone has made an edit of the original recording and accidentally saved a new digital version with all the excerpts they used missing. Or this is a copy of a tape that was previously plundered for excerpts. Maybe been archived without being checked properly... Shame, whatever happened!

[@antayat123]

Whomever edited this lecture is afraid of the sparks it may ignite in minds of the listener. Its a sad day when higher educational institutions proactively censor thought.

[@ambulocetusnatans]

"It doesn't make a damn bit of difference whether it's a fascist bureaucracy, a so-called capitalist or oligarchic bureaucracy, or a communist or socialist bureaucracy. To the people looking up at the bottom of it, they're identical."

[@trissloan2340]

Are you fucking high????

[@cheddar2648]

Listening to this in Sep. 2020 is downright surreal.

[@lism8563]

@@cheddar2648 Culture carries truths and Truth transcend time.

[@vendora1]

100% oppression in any form it takes looks the same to those oppressed

[@KatanamasterV]

@@trissloan2340 It has been a year, do you still have the same feeling regarding that Frank Herbert quote and if so why do you think he's wrong?

[@TheMrSlyxx]

I read Dune in the 80's when I was 13. I will tell you this if you're watching this before the (2nd version) movie. Read the book first. Don't cheat yourself out of the rich experience of seeing it all in your mind first.

[@mothersmilkltd4329]

Bi-lal kaifa.

[@oliveiraluis3540]

Absolutely. It has to be done.

[@vincentjoyce5100]

Doing it now

[@poposterous236]

I love how everyone says "read the book" without mentioning that it is a series. The first book's meaning is completely different in the context of the other books. I'd wager that most people that read Dune aren't aware of this.

[@mothersmilkltd4329]

@@poposterous236 It is not clear to me if your message is informative, with the aim of contributing something useful to people who are entering the saga and may or may not know the context of each book within the set, or given your use of words, a mental masturbation to emphasize your knowledge or the absence of it in other people. Either way, I am sending you a squad of Fish Speakers to advise you on matters of productive communication with other human beings.

[@MH-ln6pv]

Herbert on when a bureaucracy becomes an aristocracy "They pass the power along to their children...We don't have that in the states yet". Fast forward to today.

[@vendora1]

indeed look how many senators have progeny in political positions--as well as a certain president who used nepotism in the worst way

[@0sm1um76]

@@vendora1 Bush right?

[@vendora1]

@@0sm1um76 indeed as well as trump they been doin that for along while back to jefferson days

[@hamuArt]

Same happen everywhere.

[@Albtraum_TDDC]

@@hamuArt North Korea was supposed to be the cautionary tale, not the plan...

[@sierranevadatrail]

I remember going to this. They had a video camera taping the speech. There was a decent sized crowd, but not huge, and he signed a lot of books afterwards. I read that he was suffering from intestinal cancer at the time, and was receiving some type of hypothermic treatment for it. He was really nice to everyone afterwards, and let me take a photo of him outside, although sadly it did not come out.

[@riverstones972]

Thank you for sharing that experience. I have never heard him speak before, but he seems like a very intelligent and likeable person. I am looking so much forward to watching the new film adaptation of 'Dune' this year and hope it will do some justice to his series. But what I find most fascinating here, is that he sound just like a well educated person from 2020 speaking. Either I have grown up, or things somehow haven't changed all that much. When Herbert say's Nixon, I think Trump.

[@sierranevadatrail]

@@riverstones972 Thanks. He was very intelligent and forward thinking. When you met him he made you feel like it was very important to him, and nobody else mattered, even if it was for only a few minutes.

[@sierranevadatrail]

@TheBrabon1 I think it may be because it was close to Easter, and people had gone home. People did not go to hear a lot of the talks, unless it was someone like Johnny Carson.

[@RevelationNone]

@@sierranevadatrail thank you for sharing. I'm 34 and was born in 86. I was introduced to herbert by my father. He has been a literary hero of mine and have taken so much from his writings over the years. I know if I was at UCLA I would have stayed behind. I would have loved to hear him speak

[@sierranevadatrail]

@@RevelationNone Thanks. It was interesting because in only a few minutes, he could make you feel like he was a friend of yours. He had a high energy, which is nice considering he was dying and supposedly in a lot of pain, and he never complained. I just wish there was a visual of this as well, but I suppose there might be copyright reasons or something else that prevented them from doing so. It is actually nice of them to post it.

[@henseltbrumbleburg3752]

"If I were born in my Grandfarthers time I would've made my Grandfarthers mistakes, I just think it's nonsense, stupidity to make my Grandfarthers mistakes today..." Frank Herbert 1985 What a mind! Just a crumb of the wisdom from this man. It saddens me to hear them discuss and talk about topics we still debate today, showing the painful climb and failure to adapt to the tolerance of others and to live with the world, not against it.

[@Juhziz]

6:57 About engineers and engineering. 28:10 How Herbert pronounces "Bene Gesserit". 46:39 About science. 47:58 About individual responsibility. 52:40 About creative process of writing.

[@JohnFourtyTwo]

Thank you. 🙏

[@Albtraum_TDDC]

Thanks. 28:10 How Herbert pronounces "Bene Gesserit". I guess I was saying it right all along :P When you realize they are based on Jesuits you know how to pronounce it.

[@thatguynicky1979]

"I think there is a bad idea in the world, about power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I think it's rather that absolute power attracts the corruptible." - Frank Herbert (34 min mark) Man, I've never heard this spin before, but it is a revelation of sorts. Thinking of an adage as a charismatic person, for instance, we tend to not even question those, and yet here Frank Herbert is telling us that even an adage, though logical and thoughtful , still can get it wrong. Everyone knows that absolute power can corrupt absolutely, but no one thinks about it from the opposite direction where, that power is what's drawing the corrupt in. Man, Frank Herbert truly was a unique thinker, and it's very inspiring to say the least!

[@TalentHouseAd]

I've thought that several times. I liken it to the "DnD is evil" craze back in the 80s.

[@pheidipp]

Yeah, but isn't everyone potentially corruptible, given the right (or wrong) set of circumstances & conditions?

[@BlueGrenadeTom]

@@pheidipp Everyone? Maybe. But different people are corruptible to different extents. For example I would never wish to be president or prime minister. My main pursuit, and what attracts me the most is freedom, not power. Yes the two can at times be the same, and I’m not naïve enough to say I’m incorruptible, far from it, but I know people who are certainly more corruptible than me, and some who are less, so if there are only a limited number of positions of power they’re generally going to be filled by those who desire it the most, and that desire will make them corruptible as they won’t wish to lose that power. I have and had the intelligence to earn a huge wage from leaving university, but it held no appeal for me (no, I’m far from wealthy and never have been), however I had yet to realise that among many things money can buy freedom (I’m only intelligent in certain areas!). But power, and certainly power over others doesn’t interest me at all. As an example.

[@pheidipp]

@@BlueGrenadeTom Yeah, I would say potentially corruptible, given the circumstances. It doesn't mean that the person is villainous or Machiavellian. For inst, their daughter is ill, and they need more money, so they sell favours/positions. Any relative or friend could get into trouble. We have this wide net of relationships. You'll appreciate how difficult is is for any of us to attain uncoerced freedom, without any degree of obligation.

[@dnbjedi]

Dr Who (?) once said, "Great men don't need rules, and now is not the time to ask me why i have so many."

[@peteb2323]

I read Dune and Dune Messiah back in 1985-86 and was able to catch the Dune movie in the theater. It's been a long time and glad I finally got to hear Frank talk about the book and hear his intellect. Thanks for the memory!

[@gterrymed]

there are terrible cuts in this recording. I am grateful for it nonetheless.

[@BatDadx]

+TheIceSpark that was the most irritating part, however i'm sure he was speaking about leto II.

[@CaptainSnackbar]

I notice the cuts are in places where he criticize developed countries history. 41:00 for example comparing Indians wiping out sustenance without knowing the danger of preservation or extinction just the way ....... then it cuts.

[@wildestier911]

Bellonda is at it again!

[@stephenwhite1372]

why cut the fact that he likes that you cannot predict everything?

[@porazindel]

@@CaptainSnackbar probably censorship

[@johnwcoletta]

I just want to know what the results of the egg drop are. And is Fernando Bravo enjoying his sweet new HP calculator?

[@maxpokhiton8242]

ahahahhaha

[@jelv.4142]

No..its missing the number 9.

[@nerdistry]

36 years later, Fernando is still getting used to its postfix arithmetic.

[@anthonyn4603]

Frank Herbert was a genius and was going strong, even at this point and time but his health wasn't. In the interview, he pauses every time and makes these soft coughs and this is an indication of pulmonary embolism which was slowly killing him at this point. He would die a year later.

[@surdeepc4186]

Herbert was such a brilliant man, he had a true passion to pass on what he learned and really focused on the youth.

[@danrazART]

" The only thing wrong with the universe is that we haven't invented the right machine yet" Solid Gold.

[@michaelmazzone6223]

Absolute gem of a speech. Thank you so much for this upload. If only there were more people like this brilliant mind.

[@mendelevium2768]

Congratulations Ruth Yoon for winning at the micro-computer fair!

[@wadya69]

pls upload unedited version!

[@DRAGUNOVIX]

Skip to 3:00 to hear Frank Herbert.

[@nicholibaldron8171]

3:30

[@angusorvid8840]

So we don't have to hear that annoying coed: "The UCLA Student Association of the Association of Associations is proud to present an even in our speaker's bureau registrar of events, which in the future will include Tom Wolfe, author of The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, but this week our speaker is an author known for..." blah blah blah.

[@Jeff_1349]

@@angusorvid8840 yup

[@kh9242]

Thank you

[@gerryboudreaultboudreault2608]

Herbert was a 'thinking man's writer. He once said that he wanted readers to get their money's worth. One of the major themes in Dune was to be wary of messiahs. The Dune novels move slowly, not with thrill-a-minute action like childish Star Wars etc. He wrote many other novels & short stories, all quite intelligent.

[@8vI]

How egregious to cut such a great mind's address.

[@williamcampbell6794]

Frank Herbert was such an amazing man, and the world needs him now more than ever before... R.I.P. to one of the best authors of modern times, and most definitely the best science fiction author.

[@fm71450]

Thank you for this opportunity. After reading, purposefully, many “Great Books” (classic works, up to 20th century authors’ works), my belief is that Mr.Herbert wrote a Great Book in “Dune”. It has been under-recognized by “serious” critics. Anyway, WHAT A MIND!

[@ddavis9729]

There are so few interviews with Herbert, it is a shame to edit this one. Let us hear it in full. And I think he could not get Duncan Idaho out of his head.

[@MrCountrycuz]

What kind of game are you playing Davis?

[@travis419]

donnie davis. Holy fuck!! How can they cut out what he was going to say!!!! That was so incredibly infuriating to almost get a glimpse into his mind only for some jerk to cut it!!!

[@Adrian19032]

@@MrCountrycuz what's that supposed to mean?

[@ianeckhoff1992]

@@Adrian19032 He's just joking around with you.

[@BlueGrenadeTom]

He’s just building up to making his point and it jumps forwards! So infuriating, especially with such an interesting thinker.

[@dangerfield85]

We don't deserve this censorship or editing of his critical thoughts.

[@nonoozabletodogmaisaiah4577]

This man could have saved any country with his knowledge! A genius in philosophy and plain logic.

[@nomoreheroes1718]

I was just a year old when this happened. Man, I missed out.

[@Godwithinagod]

A true visionary and brilliant writer ! Frank you are dearly missed but your legacy withstands the test of time

[@hennyzhi2261]

Look, if this isn't bad audio and it's the college deliberately cutting out parts too "sensitive" for viewers you may as well also put up the full recording with an explicit thoughts advisory and a cut at the beginning like it is in the description: views and ideas... not necessarily shared etc. If it is a bad audio recording than it's sad we could not have it in full. But if you're being intellectually dishonest than you should feel ashamed for distorting history even if it doesn't align with what you believe. It already looks like you're full of it because you made no attempt to address the cuts.

[@younggrasshopper3531]

Henny Zhi welcome to American College

[@huntervelicky7502]

i agree.

[@SuperflyCLB]

Tbh I’m amazed they didn’t burn this tape, though chopping it up like this is almost as bad.

[@cbee2]

IT'S 1985 fuck head magnet reel tape or cassettes NOT DIRECT DIGITAL & no video, that shit was prona

[@rgelling]

They respond to this below, this is not edited the source was damaged. You are seriously paranoid.

[@natalieshark]

I love how his jokes are clever, but not quite landing.

[@brandonpierce]

I thought that too. :)

[@jukaa1012]

The problem I he is saying it like it's supposed to be funny, he waits for the laugh, his timing is off...

[@MrRandalFlagg]

In this way he reminds me of Alan Watts sometimes.

[@cybersanta1413]

His audience even in 1985 was not very quick.

[@bartacomuskidd775]

its almost like people used to think.

[@herowithpsp]

Thanks for uploading this, even if it's not the full version. Frank Herbert was a remarkable person.

[@jbtechcon7434]

Good God, imagine having to be the opening speaker for Frank Herbert, with everyone in the room wanting you to shut up and get him on.

[@duckbuck1830]

This is wonderful thank you so much ...ps can you restore the bits that was edit out

[@TomOostenrijk]

This man was a goddamn genius

[@gael3623]

Thank you Mr Herbert.

[@g.b.s.5587]

Like the dude confronting him on the gay thing, really the biggest blight on his record is how he treated his son.

[@bluestiffy1]

I understand how he treated his son wasn't good, but what was the guy going on about? The only blatantly homosexual character who's evil is the baron and that's more because he's a rapist, murderous pedophile, not because he's gay

[@the_Googie]

I find the introduction albeit unrelated to why I came here kinda interesting. I like these snippets from other time periods, little peaks into a little part of a time gone by. 1985 might not be long ago for many of you but for me its 15 years before I was born.

[@Albtraum_TDDC]

Yes, it's like a glimpse in another world. A world of the past, now gone and mostly forgotten. "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain".

[@lazyfreedom98]

Thanks again uploaders.

[@nomad_boreal]

Can't believe I ignored Dune all this time until seeing Part One just a couple of days ago. And the points that Herbert made in this clip are still very relevant today. OT: Leanne Sharp's voice sounds strikingly similar to that of Mori Calliope (if you know, you know) Anyway, I gotta read the books at some point.

[@nisqually7]

Tough crowd, but maybe some of what he says went over their heads? Haven't heard something so intelligent in a while.

[@dnbjedi]

Lol mori calliope? Thats the last thing i EXPECTED to see talked about here. hahah leanne sharp where in the clip is that?

[@shripaulrooplall9923]

I went wide-eyed when I heard him talk about Guyana's Jim Jones story, I'm from Guyana, and I don't know many Guyanese that know about Frank Herbert.

[@cybersanta1413]

About what?

[@squaeman_2644]

Yes I heard the tapes today... Awful stuff. Jones' voice reminded me of what I thought Vladimir Harkonnen would have sounded like...

[@BlueGrenadeTom]

@@cybersanta1413 This is just from memory so forgive me if I confuse this with Waco, but Jim Jones headed up a cult and I believe they called where they lived "Jonestown" and long story short it ended in a mass suicide where they all drank poison - I think it may have been that one (it was certainly some cult mass suicide) where the poison was in Kool-Aid, which is where the phrase, "Don’t drink the Kool-Aid" comes from - don’t fall for it - don’t start believing the same thing as x group of people.

[@greym7857]

This is truly illuminating

[@marktracy1721]

Thank You

[@christinemusselman5499]

I attended and enjoyed this talk by Frank Herbert. His thinking is very wide ranging and insightful.

[@lisaonearth]

Wow! Very lucky. So glad it was recorded ❤

[@tannisbhee7444]

The editing made this hard to follow. Could someone involved in the production process please explain the editing choices? Given that the recording was made in early 1985, and it was digitized in 2015, I suspect damaged tapes may have been involved.

[@rgelling]

They respond to this below, this is not edited the source was damaged.

[@byronencinas7103]

I want to know, are the edits onto the parts that specificly treat the military critique?

[@sakekasi]

Wow the intro sounds exactly the same as at engineering events in 2015 when i was at ucla. Some things don’t change :)

[@ladyasriel7874]

If an uncut version of this exists, please upload it. Listening to this is very difficult when a train of thought or a conversation is severed and then onto something else unrelated continuously.

[@rgelling]

They respond to this below, this is not edited the source was damaged.

[@progamerhennessey9483]

“Damaged”

[@HBrooks]

i once encountered a collection of LPs in a small town public library. 33's. lots of interviews, including this one, readings and other stuff about Dune. this series is by far the second best group of books i've ever read. Frank Herbert was a god among men.

[@jessebeaty7768]

…so I’m curious…what is the first best group of books?

[@HBrooks]

@@jessebeaty7768 Ayn Rand's novels, essays and other writings

[@mglover145]

Congrats to Ruth Yoon, Fernando Bravo, Gerald Lionel, and Todd Selbo

[@michaelcalibri3620]

Important lesson at the end on individual responsibility.

[@henrycook4922]

Please upload the unedited version.

[@BNardolilli]

weird how introductions for academic guest lectures were the same in 1985 as they are today

[@NikoWinter]

anyone know if the original audio or video tape is available anywhere?

[@Freakya713]

Looking forward to seeing Tom Wolf on Thursday, May 9th

[@barrywhite8747]

Does anyone know why it seemed like it was skipping, was it pieced together from clips?

[@jamesdenofantiquity]

This is bothering the hell out of me, its way too choppy to get a good grasp of what he is saying and the full context. I was really hoping to hear several things and he would begin to address them and it would be cutoff. I am not sure if this was censorship or just plain bad editing but I hope, along with the others, that a true full recording can be found.

[@johnrobinson6945]

Steven Wright asking if Chapterhouse will be a prequil at 51:00?!

[@vincentjoyce5100]

Lol!

[@lux-vacui]

Is there a version of this with video too? I remember to have seen it once but can't find it anymore.

[@stephenwhite1372]

the first three books of Dune make up the story Frank Herbert envisaged - in the third book there was a character he created that he could not get out of his mind... then the interview is edited... !!! ... once I had done this I opened Pandora's box... What did he do??? Can anyone tell me more about this?

[@eldyrionthewatcher1993]

I think it's obvious that he talks about Leto emperor.

[@kwombok]

Leto II - may his passing cleanse the world.

[@otterrivers3765]

Frustratingly, it skips a few seconds (maybe 10 seconds) every few minutes and the further into the video you get, the more often it skips and the longer turnstile seem to be.

[@robertprobst3836]

Dayum, in less than a year after this talk he died from cancer :(

[@mcapps1]

"The views and ideas expressed in these videos are not necessarily shared by the University of California, or by the UCLA Communication Studies Department." It was a sad day in America when we started putting this disclaimer on everything, to protect the morons and mentally weak.

[@BlueGrenadeTom]

Sadly I think it’s a case of we get what we deserve. If society wasn’t so litigious (obviously encouraged by lawyers and such) then companies, organisations, any individual or entity wouldn’t be so afraid of legal action against them, wouldn’t feel the need to put up such disclaimers, and we’d probably have a much more free and frank exchange of ideas and may have progressed more, and more positively, as a society. Now the judicial system doesn’t even have to be a part of it with the insidious and rabid rise of cancel culture: there’s counterproductively a rapidly diminishing amount of space for debate - everyone wants to shut everyone else down and is unwilling to listen to any viewpoints that are not their own (especially at a university - that’s one of the main reasons to go to university, to have your ideas and notions challenged and maybe changed for better ones - they have "safe spaces" for god’s sake!!! It’s insane!!) and will only lead to greater ignorance and divisions within society. I doubt the litigious side of things will ever change - there’s money to be made their - but I hope this pathetic, intolerant whiny cancel culture will eventually stop. Sadly there’ll probably be such a backlash against it that much of the good work done prior to this extremism may be undone with it. But yeah - a sad day all over.

[@nonoozabletodogmaisaiah4577]

Hey this is chopped up. Can you fix it and re-upload?

[@rgelling]

They respond to this below, this is not edited the source was damaged.

[@duckbuck1830]

It truly disturbing how this has been edited

[@danrazART]

I watched the Lynch movie first in the 80s and I had no idea what is DUNE all about. it was just a BAD space opera. then the news of the new DUNE started and I researched and then I found out the Islamic terms and other cultural allegories DUNE carries So, I watched many Frank Herburt interviews to get the inner understanding. (I had read some of the first book by the time) and Then I watched the DUNE part One and I loved it as a tragedy and I loved that it ended where it did. it was almost perfect. then I rewatched the Lynch DUNE 84 and though it was still crap, I found that it was a big inspiration on Denis's DUNE 2021 for the House Aterdies side of the visual designs. and then I completed the AUDIO books of 3 DUNE books. and I came back to listen to Frank Herburt explain himself some of the choices he made and get some in depth understanding on the world we live in thru the allegory called DUNE.

[@jeffmarlatt6538]

To cut out his answers to the questions he was asked ? What is the point in doing that ?

[@chrisgriffith1573]

He died just as I realized he existed...

[@home4485]

why so many cuts !?!?!

[@bendavis663]

Herbert starts at 3:30

[@Tinjinladakh]

Watched dune 2 , JUST WOWOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[@theothergameygamer]

I wonder if there is an uncut version somewhere in the bowels of UCLA.

[@3dward220]

huge performance

[@hanniffydinn6019]

What in the holy fuck was cut out ?

[@goldiegaims]

13:08 that clipped part is giving me major FOMO... I need to know. What was the typical solution to such an occurrence.

[@redstar4333]

The Spacing guild travel method is a Mathematical principle Ive been working on for years. The best way I can explain this is using 2 ipads @ same time using facetime from the same iCloud account sending a messages to itself. The message would be echoed, ending message would be in the future but would be INSTANT travel between 2 points. Making for faster then light possible. Does anyone know where Frank Herbert concept of spacing guild folding space idea is from? "The Key to Success Is Failure" This technology can use used to move both forward and backwards in time. I believe 1 among us has been is using this technology for a few years now Its wearable. When Ive seen this person they always have it onself

[@robertprobst3836]

Folding space was not in the first novels. The description is vague and is not much more than "space travel". If I remember correctly it was in Book 5 when the space travel by the Guild became explicit and was described as using a Helmholtz motor to establish the Helmholtz effect which deforms space as Guild Navigators use their prescience to find a non-destructive route through "fold space".

[@OneMindAnyWeapon]

There are a few jumps in this aren't there?

[@UllyrWuldan]

He fully addressed his views on gay people through Moneo Atreides to Duncan in God Emperor Of Dune. Duncan was disgusted by gay people because the Baron Harkonnen was gay. However Moneo sets him in his place, I won't spoil it but you should read it.

[@jopeDE]

Yesss exactly! I read this passage today!

[@roryspickett9881]

Yeah that question was more of a vent than anything academic. The Baron Harkonnen is not evil because he is homosexual. He abuses everything and everyone to further his goals. Gender, age, position none of those facets of a person warrant any sympathies in the Baron's eyes. The 80s movie visually emphasized the homosexual undertones. The 2000s mini-series kept it very much an in the background element. Edit: In the 2021 movie the Baron's sexuality is completely removed.

[@MissPopuri]

It really couples itself nicely with his view on corruption in power. The corruptible become overwhelmed by the desire for power. What is corruptible? Humanity is susceptible to corruption and magnification of their own ends. To question JFK or Richard Nixon is pretty wise because donkey or elephant should either be relegated to the stable or a zoo depending on where you need to go to view them.

[@jimmyfaulkner1855]

He also in the same book had the near omniscient God Emperor call homosexuals “mentally ill” and being mentally-like children most likely due to trauma and said homosexuality at least has one benefit and that is that there violent tendencies (equating violence with homosexuality) can be repurposed for causing violence for militaristic purposes. In that Duncan and Moneo scene you are suppose to feel sorry for Duncan due to him being lost in time. He wasn’t defending homosexuality. And further, Frank Herbert disowned his own son (Bruce Herbert) because he was a homosexual and a gay rights activist. Whether you like it or not Frank Herbert was a raging homophobe. He also has a Freudian slip in this video where he responds to the gay questioner by shouting at him “homosexuals have chosen not to continue the human species.” His homophobia derived from his philosophical natalism and psychoanalysis.

[@ArvosCrusader]

@@jimmyfaulkner1855I’m glad I saw this comment. I love the dune books but it’s important to accept that Frank Herbert was not perfect. And I find it fairly ironic how many of his readers seem to miss the point of his novels and do not question or even defend Herbert’s flawed or sometimes backwards beliefs.

[@Nerf_Jeez]

17:05 "The surface of the balloon is their face" hits hard though

[@JeansiByxan]

What's wrong with the audio? It cuts off at several places.

[@imp4ktth]

yep, prolly censorship

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

​@@imp4ktth yep, "prolly" 😂😂😂 if you took the time to read other comments you'd find it was not censorship, it was problems with the original source tape ... but, dayum that Deep State for gettin' to the tape first!! 😂😂😂

[@brianquinn1800]

Jesus! Was there no water for this guy to drink?!

[@soridosuneku]

happens when I get nervous speaking. coulda been the same thing with him (and water doesn't really help)

[@kellymathews6615]

It was his intestinal cancer making him cough, not lack of water, most likely.

[@geofreycrow9663]

His water belongs to the tribe.

[@BlueGrenadeTom]

@@soridosuneku - yeah, a good tip I learned was to swallow instead of cough. It may not be quite as effective but it’s much less audible so people don’t notice it - and whatever connotations it may carry - as much.

[@damirchina2203]

Thumbs up if the new Dune movie brought you here. Need to check the old one... 🧐

[@germanicus5066]

Why is the audio cutting out?

[@JoaoSantos-lv4rc]

23:30 "Learning a language represents training in the delusion of that language. " -Gowachin Aphorism. x). Thanks for sharing. Do put out an unedited version with a disclaimer.

[@rgelling]

They respond to this below, this is not edited the source was damaged.

[@JoaoSantos-lv4rc]

@@rgelling thank you.

[@d7ffab979]

13:07 what's missing there?

[@JBFJBFJBF]

10:50 I am absolutely flabbergasted that Herbert mentions the Romani people as being fellow victims of the Holocaust. It was my understanding that not many people talked about, or were even completely aware that the Romani were also victims. Now I want to know how much more common knowledge this was or, if not, how did he stumble upon the information.

[@fifthofascalante7311]

42:55 Very much yes!

[@Javibetazka]

Why is a cut in minute 13'??

[@yoavzi]

I think frank herbert was perhaps the greatest philosopher of all times thank you frank for "God emperor of dune" .... you enriched my life love man

[@cloudbloom]

God Emperor is absolutely amazing. That and the first book are tied as my favorites, they are both so enriching

[@squaeman_2644]

Great men stand on the shoulders of Giants

[@brandonstanley9125]

Before I was born, yet I read the books. Good ones.

[@newq]

He died less than a year after this interview.

[@himynamesfather]

Too much missing info

[@philip9485]

I want the FULL talk NOT klips with wired cuts. WHAT IS THIS!!!

[@BlueGrenadeTom]

God - it’s almost like reading a William Burroughs cut-up novel towards the end it skips that much!

[@danielcastelo]

I drank 3 bottles of water during this video. Has anyone else????

[@JackHumphrey]

Did I miss the paper airplane contest? I was at the microcomputer contest where that hacker Ruth engineered her "win."

[@nathanbaum724]

It's painfully obvious that the guy grilling him about being a homophobe never bothered to read God Emperor of Dune, where Leto II spends a full chapter poking holes in the logic that underpins Duncan Idaho's homophobia.

[@scapegoatiscariot2767]

Being gay was unrelated to The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen's cruelty and sexual perversions. He could have been sexually straight and just as evil. We would not want to see any teenager subjected to the fears of the baron. Gay or straight is irrelevant. Had not the dear Frank Herbert had his prejudices, we would not have known this. Thus, he would have said so. But even so, he was a man ahead of his time. Even in this. Trying to not be gay when you most certainly are, is much like trying to not like your favorite ice cream. Just try that. "Thank you Frank!"

[@jopeDE]

Yes! Later in the book God Emperor he also writes that gay is completely normal... and nothing bad

[@scapegoatiscariot2767]

@@jopeDE . That may have been his way of clarifying any misunderstanding the gay community may have had concerning Vladimir.

[@Nithael_]

True, it was so incidental that it never even crossed my mind, in fact until I reread the book I didn’t even remember it.

[@scapegoatiscariot2767]

@@jopeDE . Yep. He was asked to do that by a gentleman in a college talk question and answer time. We'll never know if that had any influence on it, but it's there in the god emperor of Dune and I'm so glad it is. And the girls were doing it in public. Duncan Idaho was Furious. The emperor Corrected his conditioned prejudice. And if they never grew out of it, that was fine. The fish speakers.

[@scapegoatiscariot2767]

I believe you're right. And in doing so, he wrote the science and the truth that he could see with his philosophy. In my opinion, he freaking nailed it in a short conversation between the emperor Leto II and Duncan Idaho. He cut phrases, sentences and paragraphs light Jewels.

[@himynamesfather]

Why are there cuts?

[@jopeDE]

By whom and why?

[@rgelling]

They respond to this below, this is not edited the source was damaged.

[@paddymcgrath9721]

Ray Kurzweil is probably one of the modern eras best futurists, he and Frank Herbert would make a wonderful pair.

[@JSBallard]

Wtf is up with the edits and horrible jump cuts?

[@physxme]

16:37 this is true for mathematics, all maths go back to Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory, which can't be proven and have to be "believed" as true.