The Dune universe spans tens of thousands of years of human civilisation in a far future where humanity has spread across the galaxy but banned all computers, robots, and artificial intelligence following an ancient conflict known as the Butlerian Jihad. In place of thinking machines, humanity has developed extraordinary mental and physical disciplines - the political prescience of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the mathematical genius of human computers called Mentats, and the space-folding navigation of the Spacing Guild. At the centre of everything is the spice melange, a substance found only on the desert planet Arrakis that extends life, expands consciousness, and makes interstellar travel possible. Control of the spice means control of the universe, and the struggle for Arrakis drives the politics, wars, and religious upheavals that define Frank Herbert's six original novels. The series begins as political intrigue and ecological science fiction, evolves into a meditation on power, prescience, and the dangers of messianic leadership, and ultimately spans millennia of human transformation.