The world of Dune is known for its scale
and its futuristic yet strangely familiar technology,
But its most recognizable feature is probably its brutal environment.
According to research, humans can survive for only about 10 minutes
at a temperature of 121 degrees Celsius.
If they're in a dry environment
and 60 degrees Celsius if they're in a humid environment.
But the people of the planet Arrakis have figured out a way to survive
in a climate that's on average between 45 degrees Celsius in the lowlands
and 70 degrees Celsius in the waistlines And it's not just the heat.
They have to deal with the wind, which blows up to 750 kilometers an hour.
The sandstorms and a complete lack of water.
and not only survive, they've built cities and wealth
and also some really strange local customs.
And the world is
full of these details, both high-tech and low-tech, that exhibit
how they've managed to survive in these brutal, inhospitable conditions.
And although it's set in the year 10,000, this fictional world
might actually give us some insights into our own futures as well.
A portion of this video is sponsored by Wayfair,
Frank Herbert
wrote Dune in 1965 after his visit to the Oregon Dunes.
This was a time when he was kind of struggling with his career.
He went to Florence, Oregon, to write a magazine article about these sandstorms.
Apparently, winds were blowing in from the Pacific Ocean
and destabilizing the sand, and it was threatening the communities
along the coast.
But instead of writing the article, he ended up writing
a bestselling masterpiece.
Oh, and he was really into magic mushrooms.
No big deal.
Arrakis, as you might have guessed, was written to be allegorical
to the petrol-rich countries like the ones in the Middle East.
And if you don't know the story, the reason why they stay living in this
inhospitable planet is because it's the only place in the universe
they can produce Spice, also known as Mélange.
Spice is a fictional substance that can extend life.
It can give you enhanced abilities.
And you can only do space travel If you're high on spice
And therefore, it's the most valuable substance in the universe.
as a byproduct of a sandworms lifecycle, which is intertwined
with the desert ecology of the planet.
And so as the producer of the most valuable substance
in the universe, It makes Arrakis the only source of spice,
the wealthiest and most strategically important location in the universe.
There have been efforts to terraform the planet to be
a little bit more livable, but changing the atmosphere
will essentially deprive the planet of its most valuable resource.
So all of these efforts have been stalled So,
yes, it's a story about sandworms and space travel, but it's also about
geopolitical conflicts around the exploitation
of natural resources and the effects of a changing climate.
Arrakis sits on a sheet of
bedrock nestled within a mountain bore on the north pole of the planet.
And these nice people actually made a climate simulation of the planet
Arrakis to see how accurate the descriptions in the book were.
In the book,
it describes a planet with unforgiving sun and wasteland of sand and rock.
But as you move closer to the polar regions toward the cities of Arrakeen,
it starts to change into something that might be a little bit more livable.
But actually, in their simulation, they found the opposite.
The overall climate of the planet is actually relatively mild
and the warmest months in the tropics hit around 45 degrees Celsius.
And the coldest dropped just below 15 degrees Celsius.
But when you get into the polar regions, that's when you get the extreme
temperatures.
Summers can get as hot as 70 degrees Celsius and as low
as -75 degrees in the winters But I digress,
There's not a
whole lot of information on how the city is built or laid out.
But what we do know is that the city of or Arrakeen is nestled within a mountain wall
which gives them protection from the sun and the wind and the sandworms.
They've also built in a shield wall on the side that doesn't have mountains.
So in a way, it's a walled city.
the city looks pretty deserted in the movie, but the book does
describe it as a bustling city with millions of people.
So you can maybe assume that people come out only at night
or the entire city is partially underground.
There's instances of cities like this here, too, that are built into the earth
There's several advantages to this.
First, and most obvious as protection from the heat.
But the second one is passive cooling.
If you look at termite mounds, they look solid from the outside.
But from the inside, it's actually really open, covered with tiny holes.
And the temperature difference
between above and below ground, thanks to convection, creates
this steady flow of air throughout the structure.
The focal point of the city
is the Grand Palace, which is the residence of the ruling family.
Apparently, in the future,
under Paul's rule, the palace gets significantly expanded
and renovated, becoming the largest built structure known to mankind.
But today, we're just going to be talking about the first maybe.
The building is shaped like a ziggurat, which is also how they designed
the headquarters
of the Tyrell Corporation and Bladerunner, because there's something about the form
and immense scale of these buildings that illustrate power and dominance.
But in this case, the form probably also helps
to deflect the wind while mimicking the surrounding mountains.
It's made up of super thick, thermally dense
material like stone or concrete to provide protection from the heat.
there's also a lot of influence from brutalism,
especially Brazilian brutalism, with all these lines and angles.
The angles and heavy materials seem to provide some hearty shelter
from the wind, and the whole thing actually feels very defensive.
And when you go inside, it really feels like a bunker.
It's really dark and there's very few openings.
The openings are closer to a light wall than windows.
They're very deep.
You don't get any views.
And it's just this diffuse, indirect light.
They also use mesh rabbis looks like for spaces
that have a religious purpose.
And when you compare it to Caladan
Paul's home planet, which is actually really pleasant and habitable.
First of all, you'll notice these big round windows and lots of light.
There's also a much richer material palette latticed windows,
stone walls, Persian rugs, wood floors and ceilings on furniture.
Because Caledon has water and vegetation.
Apparently, Caledon was modeled after coastal Canada
and connotes a civilization quietly sliding into obsolescence
idea of something that is ending like a tradition that's going to fade away.
I just love how the rest of the world thinks about Canada
anyways, compared to their palace and Caladan, the Palace and Arrakis
has a very monotonous material palette, just stone or concrete.
But it looks layered and it looks like it's been built
over a long period of time.
and when you think future civilization, you'll probably think of
something like this.
But here it feels ancient.
You can get a tectonic understanding and kind of see how it's been built.
You can see the structural framing with posts and beams.
Here it looks like a mixture of materials.
Over here it looks like sandstone or limestone, probably mined from the hills.
And here it looks like a board formed concrete.
You can see something like raked concrete here
And maybe
concrete seems like the obvious choice because, well, they have lots of sand,
but wind eroded desert sand is practically useless for construction.
The sand we use for concrete is this coarse,
chunky aggregate that helps bind and strengthen concrete.
But maybe
in the future, they have figured out a way to make concrete out of desert sand.
fact, this is something we're already working on here on Earth
because construction great sand is being depleted very quickly.
Did you know that sand is the most consumed resource after water?
and big surprise were excavating it faster than it can renew itself,
Which is why companies like Finite
have been looking into composites using desert sand.
Apparently this new desert sand mixes biodegradable
and it can cut the carbon footprint in half.
So once they fine-tune this product, I think it'll be a game changer
because sand isn't just used for building, it's also used for glass
and computer chips.
And desert sand is pretty abundant.
But the other major ingredient in concrete is water,
which Arrakis does not have.
So I think the most plausible answer is that a lot of these building parts
were made on another planet and then shipped to Arrakis.
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As we move away from our
skin, we start to see how the locals live in the desert.
The Fremen have lived in the desert for generations and generations.
So they've adapted to living in this harsh environment
and they've become kind of experts in desert survival.
And it's really interesting to see how differently they approach building.
The first from instructor we see as their ecological testing station,
which has a very different tectonic language than the Palace in Arrakeen.
Instead of large blocks of stone, you see layers.
It looks like it could be rammed Earth, which is a pretty ancient
construction technique, very popular in drier and hotter parts of the world
where you grab damp soil made from aggregates,
sand, silt, clay and gravel into a formwork.
But when you look at the shape of the walls
and how it becomes the ceiling, it's not likely rammed Earth
because rammed Earth is mostly just strong in compression.
Over here, it looks like it could be 3D printed concrete, but again, with concrete
you need water actually in the back story of the Dune universe.
It is hinted that Iraq is was originally a pretty lush planet
and that the sandworms somehow affected the atmosphere and turn it into a desert.
So one possibility is that these structures were built back
then, but the outside tells a whole different story.
It looks like the entire building is carved out of the hill,
Petra
is an entire city that was carved into the mountains.
And in fact, parts of the movie were filmed in Jordan.
Petra was built in the fourth century B.C.
by this fascinating Arab Bedouin tribe called the Nabateans
They were once nomads, but they became very wealthy
by trading spice and they settled in Petra.
They use this mountain terrain as a natural barrier against enemies
and the harsh climate, so much so that they started carving buildings
directly into the cliffs.
apparently the city was built to align with the sun.
And on days like the winter solstice,
the sun would align with some of the most important buildings.
so when you look closely at the structures in the movie, you can see
the layers similar to what you observe in the buildings in the hills of Petra.
and there's instances in this ecological testing station
where you can see how the building interplays with the sun.
I know that the Fremen were inspired by the Bedouin tribe,
but I think the Nabateans in particular, have a lot of similarities.
I think one of the most amazing things about the Fremen
is their technology to conserve water like this.
Still tonight, although they're not really discussed in the movie,
they use a very similar principle as the stillsuits
These tents are designed to provide shelter in the harsh desert environment,
and they can capture and reclaim moisture that you exhale or perspire.
It's also lightweight
and compact and in camouflage, just perfectly into the desert.
It also keeps the interior environment cool and humid and it's completely sealed.
So moisture does not escape.
although it doesn't explicitly sabers, the concepts used and stole
suits and soul tents is similar to the function of many desert animals.
For example, the Australian thorny Devil lizard is known to channel rainwater
and do from its skin directly into its mouth through its grooves,
They call this mouse mouth deep,
which directly translates into instructor or teacher.
they're perfectly adapted to the desert.
So they've become a symbol of resilience and adaptability.
In fact, the Fremen have modeled their wind traps after these mice
and how they collect water vapor in their large ear flaps.
When traps capture the wind and funnel it into this underground chamber
where the moisture in the air condenses due to cooler temperatures.
And then it's collected in this catch basin for storage.
Wooden traps are not entirely fictional and
could be a cross between these two devices
atmospheric water generators extract water from humid ambient air.
They use cooling coils to condense moisture from the air similar
to how air conditioner works.
they do require a power source and are mostly effective in humid environments.
They're also a lot smaller than these wind traps.
These are wind catchers or partials.
it's a pretty ancient method
of passively cooling buildings in hot and arid regions.
They essentially capture wind and direct it into buildings
to provide natural ventilation and passive cooling.
The tower is designed to catch the wind and funnel it downward
and the pressure differential pushes hot air out of the building.
Sometimes they're paired with an underground channel transporting
water called canards, which cooled the air before it circulates the building.
There's even modern buildings.
Let's use wind captures with some really great results.
and it's allowed them to avoid mechanical AC units and also
reduce their emissions.
the most interesting part of Dune for me is this huge
contrast between the local Fremen and the ruling families.
Whether it's house Harkonnen or house of Atredis.
And I think it actually offers some really valuable insights.
The newcomers, even though they're technically
the most powerful and resourceful family they struggle to adapt to Arrakis,
has harsh conditions, and they rely mostly on imported resources.
the fremen, on the other hand, they've been able to develop solutions
that are locally adapted approaches that are specifically designed
for this climate.
Instead of seeking universally applicable high tech solutions,
maybe we need to be looking more for nuanced locally adapted approaches.
And sometimes the solutions come from observing
seemingly insignificant moments that happen right under our noses.
Anyways, let me know what you guys think in the comments below.
and if you want to keep up to date with what we're doing,
I have a newsletter and a Discord server.
I'll leave the link in the description and with that I'll see
you guys in the next video.
We also have a research booklet
that covers some of the stuff that didn't make it into the video.
I'll leave the link also in the description
as we grapple with our own issues here on Earth,
maybe we need to shift our focus
Dune at its core
is a story about how we're going to survive in a climate
that's become completely hostile to human life.
I found it really interesting about the people who've adapted to the desert,
have a pretty low tech means of surviving, and their entire culture revolves
around reuse, use and conservation rather than production of energy.
Whether it's reusing the water
from dead bodies or the heat from our bodies as energy.
And a lot of these techniques could be learned only from nature
and a hyper specific knowledge of their context.
I actually have a video on biomimicry.
You can check it out. All right. Here.
Although dubious fictional, I can't help but think how special our planet is.
This is the range of temperatures that have been measured so far.
The span of temperature that allows humans to live is remarkably small,
and even potential exoplanets that come close to our range
probably means dramatic changes in what we consider typical human life.
Throughout history, humans have proven to be incredibly resilient.
And as we grapple with our own issues here on Earth,
maybe we need to shift our focus
because sometimes the biggest discoveries were made by observing
seemingly insignificant moments that happen right under our noses.
A portion of this video is sponsored by Wayfair,
a portion of this video is sponsored by Wayfair.
as we grapple with our own issues here on Earth.
Maybe we need to shift our focus because more often than not,
the course of history was changed by observing seemingly
insignificant moments that happen right under our noses.
The world of Dune is known for its scale
and its futuristic yet strangely familiar technology.
But its most recognizable tree is probably its brutal environment.
According to research, humans can survive for about 10 minutes
at a temperature of 121 degrees Celsius.
If they're in a dry environment and 60 degrees Celsius
if they're in a humid environment.
but actually
in their simulation they found the opposite.
The overall climate of the planet is actually relatively mild,
and the warmest months in the tropics hit around 45 degrees
Celsius and the coldest drop just below 15 degrees Celsius.
But it's when you get into the polar regions,
that's when you get the extreme temperatures.
Summers can get as hot as 70 degrees Celsius and in the winters
it can go as low as -75 degrees Celsius.