It has occurred to me that the Foundation and Dune series actually deal with the same philosophical material, regarding the predictability of human actions and the danger of subjugating humanity to the will of an individual. And there's parallels in how they deal with the topic, yet they're also very different takes on the matter - in both series, centralization of power is seen as a bad thing, but in Foundation predictability is a good thing, while in Dune it's the very means by which humanity is subjugated. A quick recap:
In the Foundation series, while an individual is unpredictable, humanity's actions as a whole are predictable at a macroscopic level through a science called psychohistory (like how an individual quantum mechanical effect is unpredictable, but can be aggregated to a higher level into Newtonian mechanics, which are very predictable). This allows the inventor of the science to predict the downfall of our galactic civilization, but also to create a cache of advice to be released over time to help shorten the following dark age before the next renaissance. However, eventually a single individual (a mutant) develops the power to influence minds en masse and starts conquering the galaxy, thus bending humanity to the will of a single individual, which then also effectively makes humanity unpredictable again. Which is a bad thing since it causes the plan to help us out of the dark age to go askew. It takes another individual with the power to change minds to undo the damage by manipulating the conqueror to give up his plan.
In the Dune series, all of humanity's actions are predictable by a single person (the result of a millennia long selective breeding program combined with a psychotropic drug to trigger the ability), which is a bad thing since it also gives that one person unprecedented control over humanity's destiny by using his knowledge of the future to manipulate events - effectively ending "free will" for everyone and putting all our eggs in one basket. It takes another millennia long breeding program (based on a tyrannical empire providing evolutionary pressure) to undo the damage by breeding true unpredictability into humanity again.
I find it fascinating how two great sci-fi series deal with the same philosophical question in a way that is so similar yet also so different.
I would've been positive if Brian Herbert would have left us the option to peek at the unedited legacy notes, whatever the crude state the were left in. It's also sad that the literature Art is in a state that no contemporary or posterior work can dispute the quality rank of this saga in its genre.
I absolutely agree. Children of Dune and Dune Messiah are by far the worst. The series picks up with God Emperor of Dune, and my favorites are the last two: Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune.
The original Dune book was also good, but overrated compared to the last two in the series.
I'm the opposite, I found the books in a steady decline from book 2 onward. I thought the last two were terrible. And the new books by Brian Herbert were largely unreadable. But we all have different tastes.
In the Foundation series, while an individual is unpredictable, humanity's actions as a whole are predictable at a macroscopic level through a science called psychohistory (like how an individual quantum mechanical effect is unpredictable, but can be aggregated to a higher level into Newtonian mechanics, which are very predictable). This allows the inventor of the science to predict the downfall of our galactic civilization, but also to create a cache of advice to be released over time to help shorten the following dark age before the next renaissance. However, eventually a single individual (a mutant) develops the power to influence minds en masse and starts conquering the galaxy, thus bending humanity to the will of a single individual, which then also effectively makes humanity unpredictable again. Which is a bad thing since it causes the plan to help us out of the dark age to go askew. It takes another individual with the power to change minds to undo the damage by manipulating the conqueror to give up his plan.
In the Dune series, all of humanity's actions are predictable by a single person (the result of a millennia long selective breeding program combined with a psychotropic drug to trigger the ability), which is a bad thing since it also gives that one person unprecedented control over humanity's destiny by using his knowledge of the future to manipulate events - effectively ending "free will" for everyone and putting all our eggs in one basket. It takes another millennia long breeding program (based on a tyrannical empire providing evolutionary pressure) to undo the damage by breeding true unpredictability into humanity again.
I find it fascinating how two great sci-fi series deal with the same philosophical question in a way that is so similar yet also so different.