Humanity as one singal organism

[TMA_1]

Has anybody noticed how in Dune, humanity is usually treated as one whole organism? I mean htis seems to be such an important aspect to the Dune universe. what do you guys think?

[Caid Ivik]

Well, I would say it was still far off things like Human Instrumentality Project...

[Emperor Harkonnen]

I don't understand what you mean TMA. please explain further..

[Khan]

I don't understand the picture Caid posted.

[Egeides]

Hey-hey! :) It seems that Evangelion has propagated into certain places :)*

I noticed this too TMA. I think it is normal since Frank constantly look at the faith of mankind and what has to do with mankind, not the fate of its individuals and what pertains to them (how they live, etc.). Frank Herbert's individuals are pretty blind and are a bunch of micro-forces all going on their side and canceling each other, thus not someone's subject if you want to look at the future and see how it works. Herbert thus studies global mecanism since they are what changes things.

This view is typical of certain social systems and go hand in hand with elitism (since the others are directed by the global waves), centralized governments (for this elite), determinism (since individuals do less), and sometimes is anti-liberal (since liberalism is about individuals). The presence of these elements also strenghten this "organism" sensation found in Dune.

*Anyone of you that don't know what is Evangelion should get "The End of Evangelion" (long as a movie). It's the ending of the "Evangelion" series, but it's concentrated content. Rent it if possible, otherwise download it on Kazaa or something generally better like Overnet (www.overnet.com).

[nemafakei]

The analogy of the society to the individual and so thr treating the whole as a single being with observable trends is fairly pervasive within the Dune Books, but nothing particularly new... Economic theory depends entirely on it (the name Keynes springs hauntingly to mind at this point).