The universe of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dune is filled with esoteric powers, from the prana-bindu of the Bene Gesserit to the s𓃲hapeshifting Tleilaxu. Mentats possess a rare skill born from ღnatural aptitude mixed with rigorous training and enhanced by ingesting the spice melange; they are able to perform the functions of a supercomputer in their own minds.

All of the Imperium's major players have one or more Mentats in their service, and without their computational abilities space travel would be impossible. You don't need to be a mentat yourself to understand why they're so important - read on to get all the details on these marvelous mystics.

Why Are There No Computers In Dune?

As detailed in the Dune prequel novel The Butlerian Jihad, the galaxy was ruled by a malevolent AI called Omnius some ten millennia before the birth of Muad'Dib. Serena Butler and her companions - ancestors of the Great Houses - led an uprising that overthrew Omnius. To prevent another AI from ever emerging, the victorious Butlerians banned thinking machines of any sort anywhere in the known universe.

"Thou shalt🐬 not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." -The Orange Catholic Bible, Dune

A galactic civilization relies on space travel, which is impossible without advanced mathematics and precise calculations. To make up for the lack of computers, the Mentat discipline was created. Employed as Spacing Guild Navigators, Mentats handled the n♈umber-crunching necessary for t🅷raveling at faster-than-light speeds.

Mentats proved their usefulness in other areas as well, and quickly found roles as advisors to royalty, nob🌟ility, and the wealthy in general.

Who Can Become A Mentat?

The capability to become a mentat is extremely rare, and screening for mentat potential begins at birth. The subject is taught from infancy skills in critical thinking, mathematics, cause-and-effect, and other forms of logic. They are not told they are a potential Mentat until they reach adolescence, to prevent that knowledge from affecting how they process data in their minds. When the subject's potential is revealed to them, they must actively choose to continue the training.

"A day comes... when the potential Mentat must learn what's being done. It may no longer be done to him. The Mentat has to share in the choice of whether to continue or abandon the training. Some can continue; some are incapable of it. 🅘Only the potential Mentat can tell this for sure about himself." -Duke Leto Atreides, Dune

If the Mentat chooses to continue their training, then by adulthood they will not only be able to instantly draw conclusions from any data given to them, but they will find themselves unable not to do so.

Why Are Mentats Important?

In addition to their necessity in space travel, Mentats are often the most prized members of a noble's retinue. Their ability to draw logical conclusions lets them predict the short- and long-term consequences of any actions taken by their employers, and to anticipate the actions of others. Mentats🌃 are instrumental in everything from predicting market fluctuations to ensuring the success - or failure - of a complicated assassination plot.

"A Mentat requires data." -Hayౠt, Dune Messiah

Although they are almost always correct, Mentats are not fortune-tellers; they simply make predictions based on logical, deterministic interpretations of the information given to them. When a Mentat is wrong, it's usually because they were given faulty or incomplete data to use in their prognostications.

Famous Mentats

Despite their rarity on the galactic scale, Mentats appear frequently in the Dune novels. After all, since Mentats are in such high demand among the nobility, the upper echelons of Imperial society are wheඣre these specialists will gather.

Piter de Vries, a Mentat in the service of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, is the first Mentat readers encounter in the original novel. He is instrumental in developing the Baron's plot to destroy House Atreides, but is himself killed by Duke Leto at the culmination of the coup.

Thufir Hawat, Duke Leto's spymaster, is a Mentat. Acting on incomplete information, he incorrectly deduces that Lady Jessica is the traitor in the Duke's palace. He is later captured by the Harkonnens and forced into their service, waiting for an opportunity to avenge the Duke.

Hayt is a reanimated ghola created from the corpse of Duncan Idaho, an Atreides swordmaster and diplomat who died defending Paul and Jessica. He is given Mentat training after being brought to life and offered to Emperor Paul Muad'Dib as a gift.

Paul Atreides / Muad'Dib was born with both noble blood and Mentat potentia♚l. This exceedingly rare combination, combined with his exposure to the spice on Arrakis, grants him the gift of prescience. He becomes more than a Mentat, fores🧜eeing a chain of events that will allow him avenge his father and place himself on the Golden Lion Throne as ruler of the known universe.