Technology is a key aspect of the fictional setting of the Dune series of science fiction novels written by Frank Herbert, and derivative works. Herbert's concepts and inventions have been analyzed and deconstructed in at least one book, The Science of Dune (2007). Herbert's original 1965 novel Dune is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. Dune, and its five sequels by Herbert, explore the complex and multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology and technology, among other themes. The Butlerian Jihad, an event in the back-story of Herbert's universe, leads to the outlawing of certain technologies, primarily "thinking machines", a collective term for computers and artificial intelligence of any kind. This prohibition is a key influence on the nature of Herbert's fictional setting. In Dune, ten thousand years after this jihad, its enduring commandment remains, "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."
Atomics Atomics is the term used to refer to nuclear weapons in the Dune universe. Like real-world nuclear weapons, atomics presumably are fission and/or thermonuclear weapons, and Herbert notes that "radiation lingers" after their use. However, the author never delves into the specifics of the technology or explores in detail how it may have evolved by the time of Dune's far-future setting. In the initial Dune novels, the Great Houses of the Landsraad own "family atomics" as heirlooms, keeping a secure, hidden cache as weapons of last resort in their wars. Though such possession is necessary to secure power, the use of atomics against humans violates the chief prohibition of the Great Convention, the "universal truce enforced under the power balance maintained by the Guild, the Great Houses, and the Imperium". Paul Atreides notes in Dune that "The language of the Great Convention is clear enough: Use of atomics against humans shall be cause for planetary obliteration." The atomics themselves act as a military deterrent; any House which violates the Great Convention flagrantly (such as using atomics openly in warfare) faces massive retaliation from any number of the other Houses. As Paul notes via epigraph in Dune Messiah (1969), "any Family in my Empire could so deploy its atomics as to destroy the planetary bases of fifty or more other Families". A stone burner is a conventional weapon that uses atomics for fuel. Whether they are covered by the Great Convention is discussed several times in the series, with the opinion that while they "skirt the intentions of the law" they do not warrant retaliation. The explosion and radiation can be precisely adjusted depending on the desired effect. Stone burners emit "J-rays", a form of radiation that destroys the eye tissue of anyone surviving the initial radiation blast. If of sufficient power, a stone burner can burn its way into the core of a planet, destroying it:
Paul remained silent, thinking what this weapon implied. Too much fuel in it and it'd cut its way into the planet's core. Dune's molten level lay deep, but the more dangerous for that. Such pressures released and out of control might split a planet, scattering lifeless bits and pieces through space.
The original series In Dune, Paul uses an atomic device on the surface of Arrakis to blast a pass through the Shield Wall, a desert mountain range protecting the planet's capital. He says this act is in accordance with the Great Convention because the atomics are not used against humans, but rather against "a natural feature of the desert". A stone burner is used in an attempt to assassinate Paul in Dune Messiah; he survives but is blinded for the rest of his life. In God Emperor of Dune (1981), the God Emperor Leto II notes that since his 3,500-year reign began, he has "searched out all of the Family atomics and moved them to a safe place".
Prequels In the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (1999–2001) it is revealed that a renegade House of the Landsraad had devastated the capital of the Corrino Padishah Empire, Salusa Secundus, with atomics and rendered the planet essentially uninhabitable. Padishah Emperor Hassik Corrino III had relocated the Imperial throne to the planet Kaitain, and the attacking House had been subsequently exterminated. During the events of the series in 10,175 A.G., Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV uses atomics to destroy House Richese's artificial laboratory moon of Korona. Part of Shaddam's plan to ensure his own spice monopoly, the explosion causes a quarter of the planet Richese's population to go blind from the resulting light produced by the destruction of the Richesian mirrors stored on Korona. Finally, the persecuted Earl Dominic Vernius plans to use atomics to attack Kaitain; when his hidden base on Arrakis is discovered by the Padishah Emperor's Sardaukar army, Vernius ignites a stone burner to destroy himself and as many of the Sardaukar as he can. The Legends of Dune prequel series (2002–2004) establishes that the first human victory of the Butlerian Jihad (the crusade against the thinking machines) is the 200 B.G. destruction of Earth and the Earth Omnius using atomics. "Pulse atomics" calibrated for use against the gel circuitry of the thinking machines are also used at the end of the war to systematically wipe out every single machine-controlled planet. It is this action, and the millions of human slaves who are killed in it, which ultimately leads to the ban on atomic warfare in the Great Convention. It also contributes to the development of the feud between the Harkonnens and Atreides.
Axlotl tank
Axlotl tanks are a fictional biological technology in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. Axlotl technology is also mentioned in Herbert's novels Destination: Void and The Jesus Incident but not elaborated upon. A trade secret of the Tleilaxu, an axlotl tank is a "device for reproducing a living human being from the cells of a cadaver", a type of clone called a ghola. Axlotl tanks are eventually revealed to be semi-artificial uteri created by transforming women into biological factories. Later in the series, the Tleilaxu scientists also use the axlotl tanks to replicate the spice melange, previously only available on the desert planet Arrakis where it is created naturally as part of the life cycle of giant sandworms.
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