What would happen if a Culture ship turned up in orbit around Arrakis?<\/p>\n
The Mentats would be up in arms, of course, at the presence of an AI. The Bene Gesserit would try to control the Culture, and be overwhelmed. The Navigator’s Guild would strike at the prospect of ships that didn’t need them. The Empire would convulse in a jihad it could not win, against a target that didn’t care much what it did.<\/p>\n
The Culture would be unaffected. Spice would become a fashionable drug for a while on some ships, then fall out of vogue. Even true foretelling becomes uninteresting with no disasters to avert.<\/p>\n
Thus:<\/p>\n
While questing through the timelines undefined
\nThey say the Muad’Dib beheld a ship
\nNo navigator steered while in the grip
\nOf worm-bred spice. The pilot was a Mind
\nConstructed like a man’s, but smarter still.
\nIts crew were men, but fattened with excess.
\nA culture without want, without distress
\nTo test a man, to strengthen mind and will.
\nThe Kwisatz Haderach then closed his hand.
\nFor he who sees all roads can pick his way:
\nWhich branchings to ignore, which let to stay.
\nThis path he blocked, as if with drifting sand.
\nA lucky man, who may his jihad choose
\nForknowing which he would most surely lose.<\/p>\n
Originally posted on Making Light<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What would happen if a Culture ship turned up in orbit around Arrakis? The Mentats would be up in arms, of course, at the presence of an AI. The Bene Gesserit would try to control the Culture, and be overwhelmed. The Navigator’s Guild would strike at the prospect of ships that didn’t need them. The … Continue reading The Culture and Arrakis<\/span>