Interstellar Communication in House series

[driftingcloud]

I've just been thinking about the treatment of interstellar communication in the House prequels. I find it suspicious that there is no readily available technology to communicate across the galaxy any information except through couriers. Basically, if you want to send a message to someone, you hire or send a physical courier, pay additional to send them on a Heighliner, and then assume the message will get where it's going uninterrupted. I know there was that whole plot line about D'Murr and his ability to act as intermediary for a kind of fold-space transmission, but the Emperor only uses it once or twice and then it is deemed unreliable (I can't remember the exact details.)

I can understand a variety of methods for transmitting information, depending on the need. In Dune, we have the message implanted into a Harkonnen soldier for Dr. Yueh. We have the distrans bats. There are a myriad of Bene Gesserit ways of encoding secrets into any number of objects (such as the braile-like message sent to Jessica by Margot Fenring. I am just surprised that 30 years yearlier than Dune, there is really only one way of communicating between planets: Send a courier. But there is no hint at this limitation throughout any of Frank Herbert's works. (Or if there are, can someone point them out to me?)

I understand the limitation on sending any transmitted frequencies across any distance, and that they are bound to be way slower that the speed of light. So they would take lifetimes to travel across the galaxy. But don't you think they would have come up with some sort of technology to accomplish this basic human necessisty? Especially in a Feudal society, how can you rule if you don't have constant communication? And how can you relie on couriers alone to provide that communication?

And, if a Suk doctor was so readily infiltrated by Baron Harkonne, his conditioning broken down, is it not safe to assume that a mere courier would be easier to infiltrate?

I can also understand the unreliability of sending any message, even if it is encoded. All messages have the potiential to be intercepted, no matter what method of delivery. I just think that human delivery is bound to be more fallible than any technological method. Unless, of course, that human had special training, like that of the Bene Gesserit.

Any one have thoughts on this they'd like to share?

[Vanguard3000]

There is no way of instantaneous long-range communication in Dune, aside from couriers and messages sent via Guild heighliner.  In fact, this is one of the factors keeping the feudal system in place.  A feudal lord rules his feif (i.e. a planet) absolutely, but still reports to a central body (the Landsraad) regularly via courier.

Most messages would be sent through the Guild themselves, who controlled banking and whatnot.  That way, they are fairly well protected, for who would dare cross the Spacing Guild?  Naturally, they would also be encoded in certain "battle languages" or secret, private languages known only by certain family members and, perhaps,  trusted vassals.

As for couriers being "infiltrated" well, that's the danger to it.  Again, messages would be encoded, whether that means a ciphered sheaf of documents, or the courier memorizing a coded message.  The courier would be able to recite the message, but not necessarily know what it means.

And for the record, Yueh was the exception, not the rule.  Not all Suk doctors would be so vulnerable to such persuasion.

[Caid Ivik]

Communication is many times used as factor of society's development, a term very popular in 60s. Rapid and massive flow of information causes higher education, and thus the society seems to be more "developed", inclining to democracy and equality. We can see, that on Dune functions some kind of feudal society, while information is a dear thing available to the richer or otherwise influental ones. Herbert wrote Dune in these times, maybe with this limited messenger-based communication he tried to show this view. Sociology was very popular in those times, read Herbert's Godmakers and you know what I'm talking about...

[driftingcloud]

While lack of instantaneous communication seems to be a deciding factor in the development of the cultures, I am still surprised that the house prequels, which rely so much on interstellar travel, more than any of Frank Herberts Dune books, why there are no other forms of communication other than couriers. Just for ordinary communication, there ought to be other ways of communicating across vast distances of space. I can't imagine that the Guild hasn't developed some sort of side job of transporting less secure data and information as part of their cargo. They've had over 10,000 years to do so...

[Vanguard3000]

I can't imagine that the Guild hasn't developed some sort of side job of transporting less secure data and information as part of their cargo.

As I said, they probably did do stuff like that as well.

[TMA_1]

Its one of the things to me that kept the whole Dune universe "real" in a sense that it seemed realistic to me in the dune universe, or any sci fi universe for tha tmatter. I love Star Trek, but there are too many things that destroy the frontier feeling of the future. The thing is, radio waves cannot evolve into anything fastre than the constant of the speed of light, so communications cannot evolve, the only way would be to send communications through foldspace, but because there is no direct line of sight between billions upon billions of miles between planets, and all sorts of complications, it would jsut be impossible. So it kept it real to me, and it is one thing that I thought was a bonus about the prequels, that they didnt screw it up, as they usually do.lol sorry its just true sometimes.lol

[Caid Ivik]

Guild had a big advantage with monopole for communication. They had no need to upgrade it, as it was enough for them. Navigators lived without sense of time, like Muad'Dib, without "waiting". They've seen the universe as itself, tough some blurs make the ubersicht harder - one of these blurs was for example this Muad'Dib. In fact, even the waiting was minimal. Guild had to have many interstellar ships, all usually stationed on their core planet, from where they could send one in a moment to a place, where they needed someone to contact. Others had to adapt, that's the source of whole Guild's power. Control travels, that's a detail. But control communication, information, thoughts, that's a true power! Simply by their will, any mem could be erased in a moment, while we can't even talk about the duration as there is no time in Guild's view.

[Alexander_Ordos]

Well these communications are in fact one of the special things that only Duniverse has and that would be a far future not being followed by a vast technological jump. In most Sci-Fi storiesmovies the future is always filled with variuos super technology. In Dune on the other hand, Frank showed that the technological rush, that we have nowadays, will stop. That was the Butlerian jhihad.

In any case, delivering messages via curriers , with the support of the Guild isn't that problematic. Most likely, there was smth like a currier guild, people that were guarded by conventions and other that sort of things, making it safe to deliver messages.

[Tio_Holtzmann]

Don't forget the ever-important instroy paper.