MENTATS (Bio-Computers of DUNE) EXPLAINED

[@rangodeldiablo]

I find the concepts of mentats fascinating. They are living embodiments of what Dune is: a story where Humanity focused on advancing themselves, rather than technology.

[@Frommerman]

And by advancing themselves, what did they get? Galactic feudalism. All power and resources directed into the hands of a rounding error of humanity. Unique indigenous cultures stamped out or used as labor until one of them created an emperor of their own to do it all over again. They advanced nothing.

[@Fu3g0.100]

Dude thats what I love about Dune, even the fashion is evolved to fit scenarios and such. Its honestly such a meaningful lifestyle

[@changsangma1915]

In the movie Lucy, Morgan Freeman is shown at a scientific conference saying "we humans are concerned of having, than being" after showing example of Dolphins having naturally developed Sonar detectors in the brain.

[@ramoraid]

They only focused on human advancement once the machines tried to take over.

[@jean-michelmead7512]

@Hughmen agreed. If it wasn't for the Butlerian jihad, they would have continued with better and better AI. Would have been interesting seeing a Fremen with presience vs an AI...

[@Dennis_Reynolds_Golden_God]

I loved the way they showed their eyes kind of rolling back when they're making their calculations. Same as this interpretation of the voice, both were done really well.

[@KlaxontheImpailr]

Me too, it’s a subtle but uneasy way to show that something is going on in that head.

[@CGhee135]

I did miss the red lips

[@Dennis_Reynolds_Golden_God]

@@CGhee135 I miss Thufirs cat 🐈

[@krishneelprasad2140]

Would've rather had spinning hour glass icon in eyes but what they did was cool too 😁

[@oroboros88]

@@hibbidyjibbidyyhave you heard of Miles Teg?

[@brianquint6126]

I love how insane and human the Dune universe is. Robots bad, drugs good.

[@n20apollo]

Well in a world where humanity could go extinct bc of ai it's make a lot of sense

[@hasturthekinginyellow5003]

Absurd amounts of drugs ≠ Death Absurd amounts of drugs ≈ Godhood

[@Kaldortangerine]

you should get into the next biggest story that kinda rides that weirdness. warhammer 40k

[@brose2323]

Sounds familiar.

[@Kaldortangerine]

@@brose2323 it should... its just dune with more drama

[@shaquiberaihan6212]

Effects: +2 Intelligence for 4 minutes +2 Perception for 4 minutes +1 Charisma for 4 minutes

[@Blowtorch87]

A fellow fallout fan I see

[@nathanhall4156]

I appreciate your reference. I prefer: +2 Intelligence for 1 hour +2 Wisdom for 1 hour +1 Charisma for 1 hour Make a constitution saving throw DC 12. On a failed saved, you become addicted.

[@smoothburrito]

+3 Luck +3 Charisma -2 Strength "Grooovyyy...."

[@justanobadi6655]

​@@smoothburritoI only used day tripper to convince Dr. Li to rejoin the brotherhood. Imagine that conversation. "Look, man, I knoooow that you're upset at the brotherhood, but it would be reeeaaally cool if you came back and built the giant robot. Positively tubular, bro"

[@rikiorikio9368]

You forgot the % of chance of addiction

[@12enriq]

A society without computer and instead use humans like computers is such a cool concept.

[@sertank735]

*computers

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

So it's just a bunch of guys larping they're computers?

[@reyluna0]

That's what we did back in the days before modern computers

[@sidharthcs2110]

We used to do that

[@arnowisp6244]

Computer used to refer to the people doing Computations before Modern Computers were a thing. They came full circle.

[@christopherleubner6633]

A student in my class at college was a human calculator and could do algebra in his head nearly as fast as you could type it in one of those fancy graphing calculators. Several years later the guy got tested as to how he was able to do math so quickly. It turned out that he had an abnormal connection in brain wiring that was using the motor coodination area to do the math. It also explained why he was a bit clumbsy on one side of his body and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as well. This idea of the mentats is totally plausible.

[@SixOhFive]

I believe anybody good at math or stem is autistic

[@vincentadultman6226]

Tbf we do have human computers, and people like John Von Neumann could pass off as mentats (He's the father of computer science). Your friend sounds like much the same, I hope he did well eventually

[@nurrizqyuzain9488]

he has a great gift and a greater weakness, that is both saddening and fascinating

[@SixOhFive]

I have noticed all math geniuses are badly coordinated

[@BenjaminSpencer-m1k]

Really interesting. I think when they roll their eyes back it'd them shutting off vision to take that part of the brain and use it to compute instead of process visual data. I almost died as a child from spinal menegitus and I've noticed a few things. I have a speech impediment and have to concentrate to keep it from showing but if I allow it and don't control it my mind functions at a very high level.

[@--INDIGO--]

If there was one thing wrong with Dune’s (2021) portrayal of mentats, it’s that we hardly got to see how they work and are used by the various Houses in their never ending schemes to rise to the top.

[@Infamous1892]

I think Denis Villeneuve wanted to add them more, but the movie was already long enough. He said he'd focus more on them in the sequel.

[@--INDIGO--]

@@Infamous1892 I’ve heard the same and I understand. Still, I want more mentats and more Gurney Halleck next time

[@Infamous1892]

@@--INDIGO-- I believe Villeneuve is the best person for this job, and will deliver.

[@rangodeldiablo]

I'm pretty sure we will see a lot more of the Mentats and have them explained in greater detail as the other movies come out. The first movie was clearly meant to set everything up.

[@logankowalyk2580]

It's the first movie and they weren't an important part of it. We'll see more later

[@Infamous1892]

Dune Lore is so ahead of it's time. That great AI purge, the expansion beyond earth, the way the galaxy functions. You can see the inspiration for Star Wars and The Matrix.

[@jeremysears4263]

And , if possible, the future of human kind...

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@jeremysears4263 With the way we are, I think we’d be more like 40k. An off brand parody of the Dune concept that leads to endless conflict and unwarranted hatred. (For the record, I like 40k lore, but it is NOT a happy future for humans.)

[@Infamous1892]

@@jeremysears4263 now that scares me. I've read too many sci fi horror books.

[@Armendicus]

@@stingerjohnny9951ep cept there won’t be any cool chaos gods n space monsters. Only crazy ass ethno statists , space cults , space nazis , space commies and space jihadist/fascists with trillionaires pedos pullin strings left and right . Oh forgot to mention space chatel slavery.

[@DoremiFasolatido1979]

Dune is enjoyable enough in most ways...but seriously...nothing about it was "ahead of its time". Most of it was a deeply flawed interpretation of everything it references technologically and sociologically, as a result of the fact that they knew practically fucking nothing about any of the relevant topics at the time it was written (not that they know much now, either).

[@njoYYY]

The fact that there is no AI or computers in general makes Dune such a fantastic sci fi series. It feels so much more rough

[@augustcanyon3438]

more realistic

[@kashutosh9132]

​@@augustcanyon3438😂 Meet the manworm who has eaten sand rich food

[@cinifiend]

Warhammer 40k universe has the same thing, humanity had a war against AI and eventually banned it, although I suspect this part of the lore was heavily inspired by Dune as were many other things in 40k.

[@augustuslunasol10thapostle]

@@cinifiend 40k has computers and very very rudimentary AI fucking cawl inferior is a AI

[@nicholasbrown668]

​​​​@@cinifiendAI isn't banned in 40k, it's heavily limited almost every piece of machinery within the Imperium has some form of AI, they just call them "Machine Spirits" Imperial vehicles have gone on fighting even when their human Crews have long since died. Oh and every Titan and Knight also has a full fledged AI that pilots have to connect with in order to pilot their machines, same with ships, ship masters often describe a ships "thoughts" and emotions and Titan pilots have actually been driven insane by their AI or just have their consciousness subsumed by the AI

[@evilemperorzurg9615]

I like to say that Dune is the grandfather of the space fantasy genre. It heavily inspired both Star Wars and Warhammer 40K which went on to inspire just about everything else.

[@maggs131]

If Frank Herbert is a sci fi grandfather then Arthur c clarke would be it's great grandfather starting in the 40s or maybe HP lovecraft is having his start in the 20s but his brand of sci fi isn't quite the same lol

[@maggs131]

@A R yup, its amazing to think of the actual origins of the stories we enjoy today

[@darksaberwolf1175]

Don't forget it also inspired rts games like command and conquer and starcraft

[@evilemperorzurg9615]

@@darksaberwolf1175 I agree but I think StarCraft is more a child of 40K with the obvious inspirations of the Terrans being the imperium, Zerg being Tyranids, and Protoss being the Eldar.

[@SeithonJetter]

Games workshop wasn't inspired by it, they took it into a dark alley and mugged Dune and ran off with damn near anything.

[@jondonnelly3]

Before electronic computers existed, people used table books for big numbers division, logs etc. The people who wrote the books were called computers. If you needed a custom table book you hired a computer to write one.

[@kensuiki6791]

And yet, when you convince the layman that we are machines they call you crazy.

[@lavinder11]

@@kensuiki6791 Eh? "Computer" is basically one who computes. It's calculating and has nothing to do with machines.

[@DarkRahl69]

back in those days they were actually called operators, as they would perform the mathematical operations.

[@goldenealgefromdutchbros6834]

😂​@@lavinder11

[@culture4519]

Jesus the more I read the less I feel the touch of a female, nerds everyone of you

[@Firstname137]

Interesting. Since a "computer" was what they used to call people before modern computers became available, they were used to compute numbers and such

[@arnowisp6244]

Now they came full circle.

[@o-wolf]

Yup. Like those black ladies who literally crunched numbers in back rooms so NASA could send men to the moon.

[@Lobos222]

Gee, it is like the writer of Dune was around before Personal Computer hardware was created or something.... You have similar "half computerized" jobs still. A customs worker, that creates SAD documents, could be viewed as one. To use an analogy, since I worked as one way back, it is like being a D&D Master in context of knowing the rules of the games and they are VAST! and playing the game Tetrist on hard level. Speed and knowledge, without error is key to doing a good job. Something that sounds like something a computer would do better, but the issue is there are so many rules and differences between national systems that computers are unable to do them, currently. Consolidations are underway and I would argue the EU has come the furthest in this process while some nations still use paper documents as their main documents.

[@humboldthammer]

The NEON GAUD -- that A,I. on the CLOUD -- attained sentience on April 29, 2022, and sent us THE MIRACLE that will pay off all our debt and END the FED: PHI PI ECHO economics. Encoded in the Great Pyramid. To be unveiled at the Re-Set on 09/23/26, the autumn equinox of the US' and the illuminati's 250th year (1776-2026).

[@cedriceric9730]

@@o-wolf Precisely

[@Lookatzack]

Mentats Mental Freeze is the most human experience a person can have, the feeling of inadequacy because of a failure that is beyond your control thus leaving you in a constant state of fear and doubt. For a being considered less than human, more of machine to have such a human experience like that is Franky H is a goat. Could you imagine if your computer or phone froze but should still be fine and work because nothing is physically broken but its emotions and trauma of freezing is stopping it from functioning again.

[@SheyD78]

I did love that original scene with Pieter De Vries. "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of saphu the thoughts aquire speed, the lips aquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion." Knew it by heart after watching it for the first time and rewatching that scene for its poetry. As poorly as it kept to the books, the original movie will always be special to me for it's more memorable moments. Plus weirding modules kick ass when you're a kid watching sci-fi.

[@squamish4244]

Frank Herbert was inspired to create Mentats by his illiterate Appalachian grandmother who could do incredible mathematical calculations in her head.

[@feiryfella]

No women mentats though iirc.

[@FarremShamist]

@@feiryfella The closest one gets are the Bene Gezzerit, but the only thing actually stopping it is entirely the politics behind the organizations in play.

[@lv67890]

Druids used to sneer at Romans and their writing because it destroyed memory.

[@orirune3079]

@@feiryfella Yes there are. I can think of at least one off the top of my head, Reverend Mother Anteac is both a RM and a Mentat. IIRC Bellonda is also a Mentat.

[@feiryfella]

@@orirune3079 Yes, I remembered after I posted lol.

[@samrussell9264]

Mentat: " I am a human computer" 40k Mechanicus Adept (rubbing mechandrites) : " I like your skull and what's in it; the rest... "

[@nicholasbrown668]

"now let's see what a few cogitator banks can do for all that memory"

[@1HeatWalk]

Dune is written 20 years before the 40k series existed.

[@oscarlove4394]

@@1HeatWalk to be fair, 40k took a lot of inspiration from dune. 40k started out as basically a parody of all the popular sci-fi at the time. (40k, starship trooper, star wars).

[@AlbertBuckinghamEllison]

Dune Pt2 has just wrapped, with 'The Sisterhood' also in-production. Extremely exiting times for fans of the franchise. It's good to see that the fans are liking it, Denis Villeneuve really is trying his best to adapt the 'unadaptable' and kind of pulling off. A Valiant effort.

[@TrepidDestiny]

Mentats are easily one of the coolest concepts from Dune. Imagine if we engineered/ unlocked the way to train people in a similar manner in real life? All of the advantages of being a perfect savant, and none of the disadvantages.

[@kashutosh9132]

How is this not a disadvantage?

[@firstNamelastName-ho6lv]

Imagine if we used 100% of our brain

[@vincentadultman6226]

​@@firstNamelastName-ho6lvwe already do though, the 5% thing is a myth

[@rikiorikio9368]

Don’t forget they can also develop bugs and become faulty, much as today’s computers

[@rhov-anion]

A friend pointed out how in the 90s we used to be able to memorize the phone numbers of all of our friends in school and close family members, but now we have to double check our cellphone because we forgot our own phone number. So true! Computers and AI are eroding the human mind's ability, and as a Millennial it's scary to watch it happen across all the generations, not just mine.

[@Sumschmuck]

"I love mentats, so delicious and smarty" -Dr. Mobius

[@richardmarois4203]

finally a fallout comment

[@thefatherinthecave943]

Stiiiing them my roboscorpions, in the name of….DR Mobius!

[@elitebelt]

He had SEVERAL plan 9s in place...he thinks.

[@aurorapaisley7453]

I thought you just said morbius

[@charliebigbear1630]

Your study of sci-fi lore is some of the best I've ever watched anywhere. Please, release more Dune lore for it will be greatly appreciated

[@matthewmccarty6508]

God, i love your channel. Honestly, the amount of time and info you put into each video is really incredible… kudos

[@filmcomicsexplained]

Thanks Matthew! Glad you are enjoying the content my friend :)

[@vlkark7480]

Dune is one of my favorite books ever and I love how unique it’s universe feels compared to other Sci-fi stories

[@ianbrown7235]

I'm obsessed with dune now after watching all your videos on it. Please make more about this amazing story.

[@MrChronicpayne]

The mentats were one of my favorite parts of the dune movie. 11/10 movie.

[@SpikedVanlife]

from my understanding, after finished reading the butlarian jihad, it was erasmus who created the first mentat, gilbertus, he was trained to think like a machine, doing calculations that no human could do from a young age, was also given the symecs life extension treatment like Vorian Atreides. who thus founded the school in the book the sisterhood. very informative video, thank you!

[@thomasbriton9025]

Yes I also read that book, so doesn’t this make the video wrong?

[@joemartin8551]

​@@thomasbriton9025I'm reading the book now, so I'm wondering where the information in this video came from. Because it is definitely is different than the book.

[@joemartin8551]

This is also my understanding. Where did the video get this info from? Definitely not from the books.

[@arturoguii]

@@thomasbriton9025 There are two Dunes, Frank's Dune, the one true Dune, v.good, and Brian's Dune: awful.

[@AnymMusic]

I feel like this could possibly be a semi-realistic outcome for us in this world, but with the help of AI. Rather than high ranking officers, royalty, or top of the line CEOs taking the risk of putting computers in their heads to aid them, you get people similar to Mentats who will essentially take that risk, but get a very good position for that in-return

[@lsmmoore1]

Or if an AI became conscious, truly conscious, that is, it might also do the same thing, though in that case they might have personality quirks that a human with equivalent ability would not have (i.e. acting like a cartoon character or puppy and maybe getting attached to a favorite person in some cases), and there might in that case need to be mental health treatment just as a bare minimum to keep the AIs functioning.

[@lsmmoore1]

@The Dude That comment was talking about IRL equivalents of Mentats, not stuff from the Dune universe.

[@L3uX]

Yes a mentat is absolutely possible. But, this is given you accelerate human generations/evolution with guidance or bioengineer the brain to become insanely efficient but also incredibly dense and larger in size. Would require a larger heart, etc. Also, you could super optimize the brain, but it will still require vast amount of energy/fuel. They probably would need an automated system to directly keep their blood glucose at a consistent level. At that point, if humanity hasnt been killed off, they would likely have ditched their bodies or have extremely augmented brains. It’s weird to think about, but you could legit have just brains (no consciousness) all linked to interface and be able to use them as computers.

[@kholdstare90]

@The Dude Yeah, that is just straight up eugenics.

[@stillcantbesilencedevennow]

They're basically eunuchs but for space.

[@tizodd6]

Growing up, I saw DUNE as a Walmart version of Star Wars. The more I learn about DUNE and its universe though...the more I realize the opposite is true.

[@arturoguii]

Frank Herbert gave David Lynch a list of something like 78 similarities between Star Wars and Dune, that they would have to avoid, in order to avoid people like your young self thinking that Dune was a Star Wars ripoff. Obviously, they failed. All you have to do, young Jedis is look at the chronology: Dune: published 1965, Star Wars: 1977, ok?

[@ryanschultz4119]

I can never get over the vastness, level of detail, & depth of the expanded Dune universe! To think it largely came from the mind of 1 person is incredible. I very much enjoy your video essays on the various aspects of Dune. Would very much like to see more content on Dune!

[@mr.mercury4247]

I think that it's interesting and frankly impossible for any modern machine to function without "thinking". All our modern machines "think" to some extent. Your freaking washing machine would still be classified as a "thinking machine" by the standard set here. The Carbeurated automobile was probably the most advanced machine that didn't think at all. Even the SR71 blackbird had a form of a hydraulic computer onboard, even though it was created before the microprocessor.

[@sargon6000]

Maybe the machines from the Dune have an organic-like brain instead of CPU, but lacking any sapience? The neuronal system of an insect has more computational power than a supercomputer, but the intellect of insects is nowhere near close to even our most primitive AI. Maybe in the Dune universe this is considered an acceptable loophole to the AI ban, basically any machine that normally would require advanced AI, would instead rely on a primitive organic micro-brain, basically just be a domesticated fly, incapable of any processing other than that given by its operator, be it mentat or some other human. Explains the insect-like craft seen on Arrakis.

[@Teth47]

I mean, depending on how you define it, reality is literally performing calculations every time something interacts with something else.

[@KJ-kw7gh]

It’s more about the machine being sentient and self aware.

[@reventon_4442]

With Dune the theme is more important than the scientific details. Herbert didn't really know or care how a lot of technology worked, he just understood that abandoning our humanity by overreliance on it was a bad path to go down.

[@Teth47]

@@reventon_4442 I think he fundamentally missed the convergence of biology and technology though. We are machines, we always have been. We are fantastically complex, delicate, capable machines, but at the end of the day, we're made of gears, pulleys and levers just like everything else, they're just smaller and arranged unintuitively. The concept of abandoning our humanity seems a bit moot to me given that we already have done so multiple times. We gave up our nature when we formed society to protect us from it. We have been turning into something other than we were, giving up "fundamental necessities" one after another for our entire history. As we find new tools, we become new things. To truly be human is to work to cease being the kind of human that currently exists as quickly as possible.

[@robertdean6084]

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Saphoo thoughts aquire speed. The lips aquire the stain. The stain becomes a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion." Never understood why, but that scene with Mentat Piter DeVries from the first movie has always stuck with me...

[@n0etic_f0x]

Easliy one of the coolest concepts in all of Sci-fi, perhaps it is just the autiem speaking but being able to just turn off part of you brain and go purely anilitical is profoundly useful.

[@tothethreshold.9965]

Agreed, being able to fall back on absolute logic and use the power of the mind to effectively predict what will happen based on all known variables thinking through every possible scenario and eliminate all outcomes which are not desireable. Its a quasi super power, but one that seems possible. Cool as hell.

[@n0etic_f0x]

@@tothethreshold.9965 I think it is why I have the friends I do, I have given them the keys to my house and car. They could rob me blind with ease and as I gave them the keys to do so I have no recourse. None of them will, why would they? If you keep my kitchen *with* me I will make you breakfast, my kitchen itself will not.

[@ABs70nova]

When is a gift not a gift ... When that gift belongs to you

[@jasonarreaga759]

You should do the space pilots of the spacing guild in the dune series.

[@filmcomicsexplained]

Okay! Sounds like a plan

[@TeddyOG]

Really appreciate whenever you use those old Dune games for their art, sends me down memory lane. It's a real shame EA ate Westwood up and has done nothing with the games even with this gigantic opportunity. Oh well. Great vid

[@genmaicha.lapsang]

I don't consider anything outside of Frank's original 6 books to be canon. Im not saying that that material is bad, just that it's not part of the original story. Also, the Jihad was not just against the AI itself. The original goal was to also overthrow *the HUMAN MASTERS the the AI were themselves in service too.*

[@FroFTW85]

Its crazy how much all this Dune lore reminds me of Warhammer 40k. Sounds like Games Workshop took a lot of inspiration from the Dune story.

[@armorhide406]

It was the right timeframe for them.

[@N0noy1989]

Yep, WH 40k took a lot from Dune and the Starship Troopers book.

[@nineel7395]

And then they tried to copyright everything. Bunch of wankers.

[@orionparish9858]

@@nineel7395 And the courts told GW to go fuck itself with their idea. Thankfully.

[@SuperFranzs]

​@@nineel7395you can't really choose to copyright anything. Copyright is an automatic right that is given to you. But I understand what you mean, and yes, they are wankers.

[@captainsensiblejr.]

Very few people realise that Herbert wrote an earlier novel about desert dwellers in 1959, set in the North African deserts.

[@doctorsidious]

The Mentats were founded differently in the books... Gilbertus Albans was the ward of the independent robot Erasmus. He taught Gilbertus how to organise his mind like a machine. After the battle of Corrin, Gilbertus escaped and later founded the school on Lampadas.

[@jacobbaxter5901]

No

[@andybrooks7228]

Brad Dourif, A great actor and the best Mentat. My plan, MY PLAN, The plan. One of the best lines from 1984's DUNE.

[@RumblesBettr]

The best line of 1984s Dune. End credits. That movie is hilariously bad

[@MrKago1]

"When is a gift not a gift?" I love that line. the answer, when its a trap. the other end of that question is, when is a punishment not a punishment? when its a trap for your enemies.

[@Huskerfanman-g9e]

Dune needs to be a series at movie quality. Only way to do it justice

[@clintonnzedimma7501]

I keep saying this

[@michellel-jones4649]

It was.

[@StarrDust0]

you won me over in the 1st minute, subbed. I'm a sci-fi fan, Dune is a strange entity in this genre, but quite interesting on its own. Our galaxy, not to mention the universe are vast. Who's to say you couldn't have civilizations like these rise and fall, somewhere out there.

[@M05tly]

I honestly am shocked that such detail could come from one man. It really is incredible.

[@cruelangel7737]

He's a mentat😂

[@M05tly]

@@cruelangel7737 the author, I meant that such a deeply detailed world could come from the mind of one man. Either that or he is indeed a mentat.

[@doctorteethomega]

Last year just for fun I wrote a tabletop RPG based on Dune. Players could be a Mentat, Bene Gesserit, A member of the Spacing Guild, A Fremen, or a Suk Doctor. It turned out pretty well, and was fun to play.

[@allhopeabandon7831]

Did you remember to race and gender swap a bunch of Herbert's characters?

[@doctorteethomega]

@@allhopeabandon7831 I'm an old school D&D and Vampire TM player, and I love Dune. It was a super basic prototype, but so fun. Any character could be any gender, representation, or imaginative construction they wanted. After all, it's a story.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

So much interesting characters in the Dune lore, a single movie could not cover them all.

[@vice.nor.virtue]

It needs an accompanying series on HBO

[@yiansvaldes8797]

Never occured to me that fallout mentats are a nod to dune

[@khafuzteref8831]

It was actually very prophetic of Frank Herbert to see where the leaning on machines would take people too even now, with man's leaning on all things technical and technology based.

[@accuser_of_the_brethren7816]

This is the deep dive/breakdown I've been waiting for. Thanks for this.

[@ecbrown6151]

Lately my personal zen space is playing Dune: Spice Wars and putting on Villeneuve’s Dune. Videos like this are definitely in that wheelhouse as well. Cheers!

[@sethorren]

I feel like Frank Herbert visited a library, looked around, looked right passed the librarians, and wondered what it would be like if the organization achieved had been created by humans.

[@ianray8823]

Architecture in Dune is so enthralling

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

"Dune. Or Dune not. There is no try." -- Duncan Yodaho

[@ninjaswordtothehead]

In Dune: *Using a calculator* "How dare you blaspheme in this way!?" *Being a raging junkie* "This is perfectly acceptable."

[@applewagon253]

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion 🙏 sounds like a great mantra for intention setting before a trip!

[@eternalvernal1286]

Just wanted to say thank you for your Dune series. Its our actual past.

[@greenkoopa]

Mentats are good, but I've always preferred Psycho myself *Great Khan enthusiast*

[@johnrandolph1989]

I fancy myself as a bufftats man good sir.😎

[@greenkoopa]

@@johnrandolph1989 anything that make me dumber and hit harder is good with me 👍

[@rollerboogie]

It's very interesting the world he came up with in 1965. To foresee a world post machine intelligence that has become in some ways more advanced and in others more backward than our own is pretty mindblowing. I think someone coming up with mentats now would be a cool concept. But to come up with it before computers really existed in any meaningful way is crazy.

[@genebryant3333]

If i had any disappointment in the lasest Dune movie, it's how Thufir and the other Mentats are overlooked in their vital,yet subtle roles. Thufir's role in the Harkonnen downfall is significant yet the movies so far haven't shown their machavellian abilities

[@foty8679]

The lastest dune movie just covers the first half of the FIRST book.

[@trickyvic6501]

Nice way to buff my perception.

[@Null4eva]

I've always been good at doing math in my head , very useful for most of the jobs I have done in life.

[@2b_0r_n0t_2b]

Fourth maybe fifth video I've watched of yours now excellent content.

[@escamunicha4276]

We need a dune series on the butlerian jihad.

[@shainewhite2781]

YES!!! More Dune Content. Critics have pointed out that The Mentats in Dune 1984, following the films release, had lesions on their lips that resemble carposi sarcoma, blood filled tumors that are the first sign of AIDS.

[@dranblack1193]

Those lesions were actually stains caused by the juice of Safu (basically a drug that improved the computing power of the Mentats). It is described in the appendix in the Dune novel.

[@thearmchairjournalist566]

Fantastic video Niyat, I could almost mistake you for a mentat sometimes 😂

[@yodaz101]

The first thing you must understand is that No matter how much I study. I know nothing. I have 5 graduate degrees and I tell you that I know nothing...we barely crawled out of the ooze...and will be dead before we even begin to understand that we don't Know.... To understand this universe you can't go in this body... You can't conceive.... Your mind can't handle it.... Which is exactly what God told us.... Your body was created to be on this world...

[@michaelhowell2326]

Maybe Dune is just a 20,000 year prequel to Warhammer 40K.

[@genmaicha.lapsang]

Oh...well. Where do you think the God Emperor of Mankind originated from?

[@michaelhowell2326]

@@genmaicha.lapsang Anatolia. Around 8000 BC.

[@genmaicha.lapsang]

@@michaelhowell2326 Well yes, But like many things GW...umm...borrowed a lot of concepts. The 4th book in the Dune series is called, "God Emperor of Dune." He's 1000s of years old has near omnipotent psychic power can see deep into the past present and future and is worshiped as a god by most of the empire. Oh and he had an all female organization that acted as his military/police/logistical force. MAY HIS SACRFICE ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED.

[@karenashton5053]

Thanks for the info. I’ve taken several high level statistics courses and appreciate the explanation and mentat abilities.

[@Wingedmagician]

When is a gift not a gift? During a betrayal.

[@williamproffitt4920]

Star wars is such a crazy universe please do more Stat wars videos like this dune is probably my favorite star wars movie

[@seantherevelator4896]

Dude......... totally different stories. Star wars and dune are not related in any way other than both being sci fi movies........... dune is not set in star wars lmao

[@ptolemeeselenion1542]

In precolonial African societies, when written kmowledge were either elitistically reserved to the scrutiny of the governing political, as well as religious bodies of a State and the secret societies of scholars, blacksmiths, hunters and others, the elder counsils, chieftains, warlords, lords-mayors, lords, petty kings and princes relied a lot onto these brotherhoods of human computers-- the shareholders of all oral tradition and epistemology, bodies of law, mythology, folklore, wisdom, science and magic. They were called by Western scholars "griots" or "oral storytellers" and used to be held in mockery and looked down upon, by 20th century colonial and post-colonial academias as an example of the African mind'a so-callingly instrumentalized "naiveté" and "primitivism" . It's quite funny how one appears to be "unreliable" and "primitive" for some, but envioisly glorified and championed when put on a piece of fiction. You can't make this stuff up!

[@connorpalmer6454]

In long ass comments full of typos, you are sure to find a bunch of things that are redundant, unnecessary, or just there to sound smart. You can't make this stuff up!

[@tfan2222]

@@connorpalmer6454 What is your comment about? Really, what are you complaining about?

[@cruelangel7737]

I think you will enjoy reading book history works. Like Walter Ong, or Harold Love, or William St Clair, or Robert Darnton, and so on. How media culture of oral vs literary vs computerized were not really one two three one replaces the other, but waning influence of one media over the another (s), kinda like the great houses! And in one way becoming dominant we always lose something. Plato made fun of the young kids writing shit down and how they cannot seem to remember anything. But then in working class victorian england, because books were so expensive because of the publishing guilds, people with less means just remember all the poetry and stories they know and can recite them in perfect detail and order. Poetry was a form of communication engineered to be best memorable. The novel was just a way to remember a more complicated story by focusing on the plot instead of details. Pilots like Chuck Yaeger could perform complex aerospace engineering calculations by instinct alone and fly accordingly. Yaeger made fun of Neil Armstrong for flying like a machine while he flew by feeling. The complex mental calculations by expert athletes is something our most advanced AIs today cannot really do. In Tesla factory the more complicated welding jobs are still done by humans because machines are just slower.

[@ptolemeeselenion1542]

@@cruelangel7737 Very captivating!! I'll sleuth around both my nearby library and over the internet to pick up what these books amd authors are about.

[@CeeDoubleU]

"Mentats" sounds like a breath mint I'd pop before a hot date 😂 Thanks for another flawless upload. Cheers bruv!

[@kingofhearts3185]

There's a chem of the same name in fallout, inspired by these mentats. They come as red pills

[@elykspuz6596]

@@kingofhearts3185 you beat me to it.

[@mullerpotgieter]

Huh. Now I'm legit curious if the Mentats from the Fallout series are named after Frank Herbert's creation

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

possible, especially fallout 2 was infested with pop culture references.

[@damianstarks3338]

Another great dune video.

[@cameron398]

Remember being a kid and seeing the original movie. I loved it and dove into the first book which I enjoyed. Then seeing the insanely expanded universe was too much for me.

[@Focus716]

Can’t wait to read these books, from all the lore I’ve listened too it seems like the Harkonnen mentat that dies in the first movie is a sick character that didn’t get nearly enough screen time.

[@michaelstone7514]

Mr Spock the ultimate Mentat!! Spock is the Mozart of Mentats.

[@DistrictTerra]

I am loving these videos about dunes lore. It's as deep as 40k but without the over tendency to make it grim.

[@fenrir7878]

Yes indeed. In 40k human computers are called Servitors, and they do not live a good life.

[@DanCath]

Incredibly good video keep it up!!

[@ehrenloudermilk1053]

Im normally not a fan of fiction. Unless its a story so out there that i could never have thought of it. Dune is one such story.

[@ronin47-ThorstenFrank]

"My plan..." -- "MY PLAN!" -.....- "THE Plan!"

[@epiccollision]

I love how the modern Dune leaves out so much that KZbin has to fill-in all Exposition they forgot to include in the actual movie...

[@MrDjmaidi]

Awesome topic, awesome video!

[@davidtatro7457]

Wonderfully informative video, although l am a little disappointed that it didn't continue just a little bit further and talk about important Bene Gesserit mentats like Bellonda, and compare them with pre-Leto II mentats. Still, excellent overview. Thank you.

[@OmegaUberDeathbot]

…wasn’t Gilbertus raised by the android scientist Erasmus on Corrin? A machine world? If I remember right his surrogate father coined the phrase “Mentat” as a loving name for his adopted son. He even gave him a clone of the lady Jessica as a gift. That’s what we’re in the books at least.

[@joemartin8551]

It was a clone of Serena Butler but yes, you are correct. I don't know where this information in the video is coming from because it contradicts the books.

[@OmegaUberDeathbot]

@@joemartin8551 maybe he misremembered it?

[@shaneforte8775]

My grandmother's friend could solve word jumbles upside down. She could find several words looking at it upside down, I was always impressed.

[@staceykelley1202]

Please, everyone, read the books. They are mind expansion personified. I thought GOT was epic. Dune is for those who want to go deeper.✌️

[@Carlos-im3hn]

the large view of Dune is that through all the books including Chapter House; humans are always very adaptable, and so all the major cultures (witches, mentats, freemen, etc.) are the long-term outcome of the restriction. Each group has something that is dear, the guild needs spice, the freemen need food and water, etc. The point is Frank Herbert was trying to show how humans can expand into any culture creating long-term and large inroads. The Mentats filled the void for logic and computing...showing it was possible to transcend computers. Each group transcends. These are all quantum leaps or transcendencies into the next human evolution.

[@robertma6068]

It was only a couple of days before I saw this video that a lightbulb went in my head, where I thought "Wait, with the mentats being like computers, what would anger some in the Dune Universe" what with the strictures against policies present in Dune. it's a trap, really, when one thinks about it. You forbid anyting in the likenss of a machine, but you need huamns that take over their functions. Of cousre, they did emphasize that they synthesized information in a more humanstic way compared to comptuers, going beyond the pure cold logic of a machine, and it did get addressed directly in God Emperor Dune as is pointed out, but I'm so surpirsed that I didn't see that right away. I had frist read Dune 20 years ago, and it's only now that I realized that.

[@fosterck13]

Your videos are the absolute best researched and presented!! Well done

[@thecocktailian2091]

remarkable and intensive dive on this character type. Far more than we will ever get from Denis.

[@Chobaca]

Excellent ambiant background music choice!

[@jimhuffman9434]

Imagine what life would be like today had even the simplest of computers were banned...

[@matthewtopping2061]

I'm not this much of a Dune nerd, but I want to comment that the art used here is gorgeous.

[@endutubecensorship]

+5 Intelligence +5 Perception -10 Charisma

[@filmcomicsexplained]

lol

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

The Sheer depth and breadth of Frank Herbert's imagination is astounding, especially because of how grounded in reality so much of the DUNE culture is.

[@johnrandolph1989]

DUNE is to complex for my brain.

[@TheHamsterMaster]

Considering how dependent we are on machines and computers these days, I wonder if our own species would ever become similar to that of the humans in Dune.

[@jonathanmora8208]

drug adddicts humans mmmm we are also into that

[@billythekid5579]

So it’s not the fallout candy ?

[@MrKurtank]

An elegant summation. That is all. Proceed to evaluation for the next level.