BOOK ONE - CHAPTER NINE
Many different explanations have been offered for the prescient faculty of Muad'Dib. Some have theorised that his training as a Mentat combined with an unusual compatibility with the Spice have given him an uncanny ability of extrapolating the future from minutiae detected in the present. Others say he is God, who creates the future, and therefore knows what will happen. Mathematics allows us to see both these theories contain pearls of wisdom, but do not supply the entire picture. In a previous lecture I explained Muad'Dib is capable of reducing a multiplicity of independent dimensions of time into a single temporal inertial system, but I failed to explicate how this worked exactly. Of the two mentioned theories, the former is partly true because his Mentat mind can construct an n-dimensional vector space, n being the number of parameters used to quantify and represent the aspects of the present pertinent to Muad'Dib's inquiry at a given time. The values these parameters assume he calculates through parallel processing of data supplied by his senses - Mentat computation to the extreme -, having abstracted this sensory information to represent the dominant processes underlying reality - the Spice allows him to perceive these. Based on the constitution of this vector space, he calculates a multitude of scenarios representing the future developments in the main temporal dimensions, and actively chooses one of the possibilities based on both the statistical properties of this future itself and the harmony the actual content of that future creates with his own plans - this is why the second of the described theories is not completely false. Being the most powerful prescient being in the universe, Muad'Dib's visions form our future.
-Palimbasha: Lectures at Sietch Tabr-
Idaho entered the Mentat trance. The events of the past period had spun a complex web that had managed to trap him - its structure needed to be analysed, and much depended on the success with which that could be done.
He felt the sensory impressions decrease in strength, the signals that his body absorbed from its environment being largely ignored, to allow the mind to function in as uninhibited a fashion as was possible. For safety reasons, Idaho did not allow the trance to immerse him completely; the circumstances - the risks his recent actions were exposing him to, in particular in the form of the wrath of Garimi - dictated that he needed to be able to awaken from it at a moment's notice.
His mind was now virtually self-contained, in absence of outward stimulation nothing left to think for it except the mind itself, and its contents; Idaho had reached the mental state in which Mentat computations were possible. To most effectively pursue the answers to the questions he had, Idaho virtually divided his mind: one part would ask, others - representing different points of view, if necessary - would answer.
*** Mentat Session No. 3582. Session title: To be determined.
= = = = =
*** Query Directives:
-Recent developments and acquired data;
-Access of malignants to my mind;
-Syntheses of recent Mentat Sessions;
-Face Dancers and Ix;
-Report of Miles Teg;
-Potential convergence of above;*** Query Format:
Associative.
= = = = =
*** Commence.
Datum 1:
The old couple can still see me.Interrogative 1:
By what mechanism?Conjecture 1 [Re: Interrogative 1]:
Insufficient data. Required input: Your perception data of manifestation of occurence in question.Datum 2:
They use what, in my mind, manifested itself as a net.SubInterrogative 1:
With what purpose?SubConjecture 1 [Re: SubInterrogative 1]:
To attempt to trap your mind Internal.SubConjecture 2 [Re: SubInterrogative 1]:
To attempt to influence your actions External.Datum 3:
Their method of access to my mind allowed me to extract information from them.Datum 4:
Their access to me and/or my mind was not prevented by no-shields.Datum 5:
Their access to me and/or my mind was not in any significant way hindered by physical distance (my current location could not protect me).Conjecture 2 [Re: Interrogative 1]:
They used a mental link [Re: Data 1,2], possibly by manipulating reality on a level different from the one customarily perturbed by no-shields [Re: Datum 4]. They do not control their ability well [Re: Datum 3], OR wanted you to access information of theirs [Re: Datum 3], OR the access to the memories of your previous ghola lifetimes has triggered the emergence of new, as yet poorly controlled and understood abilities [Re: Data 1,2,3,4,5] AND Synthesis Mentat Session No. 2106, "Analysis Of Self No. 135".Datum 6:
Highly evolved Face Dancers from The Scattering [Re: Synthesis Mentat Session No. 3478, "Honoured Matre Origins And Weaknesses"] might have developed previously unimagined abilities.Interrogative 2:
Are these Face Dancers?Conjecture 3 [Re: Interrogative 2]:
This is not impossible.Datum 7:
Aforementioned Face Dancers assimilated Ixians during their formative stages in The Scattering OR have already infiltrated several key planets in the Old Empirium, including Ix [Re: Synthesis Mentat Session No. 3483, "Technology And The Scattering"].Datum 8:
Face Dancers are customarily controlled by Tleilaxu Masters. Their subservience has been bred into them.SubInterrogative 2:
Could any Face Dancer hope to break free of this influence?SubConjecture 3 [Re: SubInterrogative 2]:
Insufficient data. Required input: Abilities of Face Dancers.Datum 9:
The newest generations of Face Dancers are capable of extracting the mind of another by touch.SubConjecture 4 [Re: SubInterrogative 2]:
A sufficiently large number of absorbed minds might produce an emergent perception/knowledge-system that is capable of independent thought.Datum 10 [Re: SubConjecture 4]:
A number of Face Dancers might have asserted their independence.Datum 11:
Miles Teg reports the presence of an underground base in the vicinity, utilising no-fields.Interrogative 3:
Given an alliance between (exponents of) Tleilax and Ix, can the identity of the occupants of the base be determined?Conjecture 3 [Re: Interrogative 3]:
Uncertainty accumulation. Required input: sufficient corroboration of Mentat Session Syntheses No. 3329, 3483, 3501.*** Override processing constraints No. 34, 36, 47.
Conjecture 3 [Re-evaluation a]:
Ixian involvement possible (Unknown accuracy).*** Effect Session Synthesis.
Synthesis [Re: Conjecture 1,2,3; SubConjecture 1,2,3,4]:
Possible threat of alliance of (exponents of) Tleilax and Ix on this planet. Recommend accumulation of more data.Interrogative 4:
Can this synthesis be upgraded to a Prime Computation?Terminus:
No. Format and uncertainty accumulation of utilised data disallow this.= = = = =
Mentat Session No. 3582 terminated. Determine session title: "New Face Dancers No. 27".
Disappointed with the meager results of this Mentat session, Duncan re-entered the realm of normal thought. Still, a desire to understand, to know remained, a common byproduct of disappointing Mentat projections.
Teg thinks we might be on Terra. Why would Fate lead me to this planet?, Duncan wondered. Supposing he is correct, would there be a specific reason why we would end up here? My intent was to start a new life, a new society - nay, humanity far away from the many poisonous relations and detestable habits that had been fused into the structure of the Old Empire - even Leto's Golden Path couldn't change that.
When I made an effort to start over, I was led back to the place where all evil began. The emergence of malignant, envious thought, of the ability of twisting the neutrality of the interaction of matter into the drive to destroy the other in service of one's own advance - it all began here! Why would I not be allowed to break free of these trappings?
Despair overcame him now. What kind of universe would continually circle in upon its own rotten heart like this? What god would allow such self-destructive processes to continue?
In the past, this line of questioning and ones similar to it had proven fruitless within the confines of Mentat algorithmic analysis - demanding the limited amounts of information a human being is capable of possessing to yield definite anwers to questions pertaining to the irreducible, primitive essence of reality always drives the seeker up against the cliffs that are formed by the flawed basis of any system of knowledge: any set of empirical propositions allows the formation of multiple, mutually exclusive but nonetheless in and of themselves sufficiently explanatory theoretical systems. However, Idaho felt he needed to find an answer - he allowed a decidedly unscientific but quite necessary element to enter as a tiebreaker: emotion. Personal preference and consistency with beliefs chosen previously on the basis of not completely rational argument balances are sometimes the only things capable of forcing a decision either way.
Tapping into a well of un-Mentatlike but decidely human qualities, his version of what Bene Gesserit would call Other Memory fashioned the part of his mind that had been dedicated to answering his questions in his Mentat trance with a rudimentary personality: a guiding principle accompanying him in his travels deeper into darkness the questions generated - a principle which he perceived as a human being.
He turned to her against the backdrop of swirling red and flaming gold that was spiraling into the black hole he felt he needed to enter but had to resist for a little while longer, and asked his first question. "Is there a god?"
"Would you like to believe there was one?", she asked in return, her voice pleasantly warm in his mind.
Duncan hesitated. "Yes and no. Knowing that there's a higher power controlling your life gives you a sense of reassurance that there's something or someone making sure everything is in order, but having witnessed the kind of cruelty that permeates every place that I have been in my many ghola-lifetimes, I would much rather believe our existence is the product of chance than that there's a being out there with the power to stop the suffering, but who allows it to continue anyway, and perhaps even actively promotes it."
"These arguments focus on your sense of what is right and wrong, and do not touch upon whether or not there's actually any proof that is able to decide for you what is actually the case," she reprimanded him.
"Is there such proof?"
"Whether or not it exists depends wholly on your willingness to accept the theoretical framework in which that proof is coherent."
"Are there no absolutes?"
"Each person creates his or her own absolutes."
"And if I decide to 'create' a god to inhabit my worldview?"
"That would be your decision. However, you should remember that you cannot force others to adhere to the same beliefs."
"You haven't answered my question."
"You have asked several questions."
"My first question," Duncan said, slightly annoyed.
"I have answered that one: there are many gods. The question should be: do you have a god?"
"I don't know. How should I define him?"
"Part of the power the idea 'god' has lies in the fact that most people don't attempt to define him. They say what he does, and what we should do to be more like him, but they can not - and will not - try to define who or what he is."
"And what if I don't want to believe in a god?"
"You have the right to make that choice."
"Doesn't the emergence of life and intelligence require the intervention of a force higher than the rules of ordered chaos?"
"What do you propose?"
"If god is not an actual person, perhaps it is a semi-conscious force controlling the evolution of the universe."
"Does this mean you subscribe to the anthropic principle?"
"I'm not familiar with that term," Duncan admitted.
"It's very old. In its strong form, this principle states the universe organises itself in such a way, that at one point in time the emergence of consciousness will occur."
"That does appear likely. The chance that life would emerge purely by accident is too slim."
"I see no reason to suppose this principle is true in this form," she said, the fire of fanaticism suddenly in her voice. "The fact that consciousness did emerge in no way means that at the beginning of the universe - granting that there actually was a beginning the way we would understand the concept - it was a necessary truth that at one point life and consciousness would become reality.
You use the word 'chance', but use it incorrectly. The universe is not governed by completely random interactions of matter - the fact that we're here is enough proof of that. The most effective cosmological theories, some of which date back to before the Butlerian Jihad, clearly state the universe is governed by a set of fundamental forces - gravitation, electromagnetic force and the weak and strong nuclear interaction forces - which generate the totality of forces and tendencies that organise the motions and interactions of particles our universe."
"On what grounds can we suppose that these theories are true?", Duncan taunted with a smirk on his face, bending the relativism she for argued earlier back on her own words.
"We can't, but for the sake of argument we will suppose the most promising theory - the one just described - to be true, because otherwise there really would be no way for us to have this conversation. In any exchange of ideas, there needs to be a set of organising principles to give our thoughts direction and substance."
"I see."
"Despite the non-random character of the most fundamental levels of reality - however, it might be the case that each interaction or transformation on that level can be described by projecting a probability distribution onto the system in question, listing the various potential developments, the propensities of the system -, still the emergence of life would be a very rare event: all sentient and semi-sentient lifeforms in the Empire, with the possible exception of the sandworms from Arrakis, originated on Terra. At this point, there are very few reasons to believe life is not a rather unique occurance. However, given the enormity of the universe, even a minuscule chance of life emerging on a single planet becomes rather likely if considered on a universal scale. Saying that the chances of it happening on Terra were extremely small, and therefore there should be a regulative principle beyond or more fundamental than the forces of nature is committing a fallacy: the existence of life and consciousness on Terra was a given, it cannot be denied. The conditions were such that life could emerge, and the question why this is so supposes a measure of consciousness in the universe, as if it decided to create life. This explains why people assume there must be a conscious superbeing somewhere: the way they ask their questions already presupposes this. However, this kind of anthropomorphic projection is not warranted by the empirical facts - inasmuch as anything empirical can be called a 'fact'."
"Once again there are several suppositions implicit in your line of reasoning," Duncan remarked.
"Very perceptive! In this case the coherence of this way of thinking grants the arguments their effectiveness, but of course this does mean there might be other ways of constructing a coherent world-view, logically incompatible with this one. However, the burden of proof is on the person wishing to construct such a system. My conclusion remains that one cannot ascribe a will or a consciously pursued goal to tendencies of elementary particles - that would be committing a category mistake. Now, the theory positing the existence of four forces indicates it's extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible to know exactly how the unified force that controlled the movements in the universe at the very earliest stages of its existence came to be. We can theorise about how the various disengagements of that unified force into the four forces that exist now occurred, but the events leading up to the 'creation' of the initial force itself - if it is even coherent to talk about such events - are inaccessible to us. Perhaps the way the forces in our universe are distributed is the only possible way, perhaps the 'choice' depended entirely on chance - the only thing that's fairly certain is that the theory that a supreme being created it the way it is, is completely without foundation beyond what some people would like to be true. Only ways of explaining empirical data in a very peculiar fashion, likening naturally occuring events to events caused by conscious beings, might produce such an hypothesis, but even in that case the resulting 'theory' is highly unstable, and requires the truth of many unexplaneable propositions - a dogmatic approach that's infinitely less satisfying than a coherent system of propositions and laws which are provable withing a certain axiomatic system."
"Circles," Duncan said. "I'm seeing circles." The accretion disk surrounding the black hole in the distance increased in size, it's circular structure being mirrored everywhere around it in the mindscape Duncan's query had conjured up.
"You are correct. Circularity looms over my reasoning, which might indicate the effect of the underdetermination of theories by data, causing the acceptance of any theory to require a so-called leap of faith. In other words, as I implied earlier, it all comes down to what you want to believe."
"I'm looking for certainty - something to provide my existence with a solid foundation. Your answers do not help."
"Remember that you are doing this," she said. "I am you - I do not represent a way of thinking mirroring the purely mathematical, nor do my words reflect unstructured emotion. I personify your attempt at reaching a synthesis of the two."
"Am I incapable of finding deep soil in which my knowledge and beliefs can find root?"
"You can make your beliefs as strong as you like, even in the absence of absolute proof. Aesthetics raises similar issues: there is no absolute right or wrong, but someone who can make a strong case for himself, with many arguments supporting his position, and is able to refute the beliefs of the other, will ultimately generate the most useful, comprehensive and coherent theory. And these aspects - usefulness, comprehensiveness and coherence - are positively charged in and of themselves. Religion fails on all three accounts when compared with the best of what science has to offer, where the question of approximate truth about the world is concerned."
"Your world-view is cold, without soul," Duncan said, contempt in his voice.
"On the contrary - it is part of a vast system of beliefs that enable you - not me - to find the most constructive balance of emotion and reason available in the life that you have chosen for yourself. It's impossible to demand a reason for being from strict materiality, which allows you to generate those reasons yourself."
Having said this, the entity disappeared, and the circular, black-hole-like center filled Duncan's vision, as a representation of that which cannot be named and in essence does not exist other than as a relationship to the very horizon of what can be asked. The singularity's pull increased, and Duncan fell into it, all his questions flashing through his mind, their answers impossible to put into words but there for him to feel just beyond the reach of his senses.
Suddenly infinitely many shapes appeared around him, and it took him a while to realise where he was.
I'm in the Hall Of Mirrors!, he knew. The shapes he thought he had recognised a moment before were reflections of the many different parts of the totality of his being - images from the past, the present and the future, his hidden thoughts and emotions given visible form: everything his mind had ever produced was there. Being confronted with oneself in such an overwhelming manner was painful and mesmerising at once, and he knew that if he couldn't leave this place, he could be trapped here forever, his body reduced to a vegetative state, unable to respond to any impulse.
The mirror merely contains a reflection, Duncan analysed, while the more fundamental reality exists in the synthesis of the many reflections, resulting in a this-transcending unity.
He tried to achieve such a unity, looking for the invisible center of the circle of his life that the many reflections formed, and found it: the mirrors disappeared, and the resulting darkness offered his senses a short relief.
Weak light of many colours appeared around him - a complex structure of strange clouds of translucent colours connected by streams of differently coloured substances, matter constantly being exchanged between the various parts of the structure: this was the way his mind represented the most fundamental building blocks of reality to him. He was at the center of it all, seeing past and future and the formation of reality stretch out in all directions. His births were there, many hundreds of them, Paul and Leto and the Golden Path, the Butlerian Jihad, the creation of life and the infinitely stretched-out moment that had preceded the formation of this universe.
He saw other things there: the planet of Chapter House, surrounded by a fleet of very large no-ships, the worms, Murbella, his death! He held up a hand before his eyes to protect himself from the horrors he witnessed there, subconsciously wishing the images to leave him, and they did: the unreality around him reacted to his gesture, collapsing onto itself as if he had forced it to do so. He did not understand what it was exactly he had done to force his environment to respond to his wishes or why it worked; he just knew instinctively what to do to get the desired result.
In the distance the other appeared once more, as he had once before, and Duncan found he could not control the other as he could the rest of his environment. Again the laughter resounded, and this made Duncan recoil in terror. He emerged from his vision, lingering at the point just before awakening for a few moments. The other had not left him, and the terrifyingly familiar voice once more filled his mind.
You have served me well so far - you have been executing plans that benefit my cause, even if you don't realise it. I will increase my influence on you now, to allow you to grow. You will forget it is I who controls you. Every decision I make for you will to you simply seem to be the best choice in that particular situation. You will not be able to think beyond the boundaries I set for you, but you will be able to expand beyond the boundaries you have been trapped in until now. Learn to control your new powers - I will have need of them shortly.