WEBVTT - The Artifact: Death Tripods of Dune

0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.640
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of

0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:10.560
<v Speaker 1>My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and

0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.280
<v Speaker 1>this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff

0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.360
<v Speaker 1>to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and

0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.800
<v Speaker 1>moments in time. Though this week we should be considering

0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:26.360
<v Speaker 1>an artifact from the fictional universe of Frank Herbert's June novels.

0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.080
<v Speaker 1>Under Hearken and Rule, the death tripod became a common

0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.960
<v Speaker 1>sight and a common symbol of tyranny on the planet Aracus.

0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.239
<v Speaker 1>While the death tripod is not described in tremendous detail,

0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.760
<v Speaker 1>the terror and weight of the concept is sufficiently conveyed.

0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.920
<v Speaker 1>Aracus is a desert world, and so when the Hearken

0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.760
<v Speaker 1>and oppressors wish to make an example by execution, they

0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.520
<v Speaker 1>would leave the bodies for all to see on the

0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.920
<v Speaker 1>death tripod. It is unclear, at least to this reader,

0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.400
<v Speaker 1>if a death tripod is merely a means of displaying

0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.640
<v Speaker 1>the bodies of the executed, much like various pikes and

0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.679
<v Speaker 1>gibbets and human history, or if the tripod structure is

0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.120
<v Speaker 1>itself a means of execution, functioning like a gallows or

0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.720
<v Speaker 1>a structure for crucifixion. One assumes they are imported or

0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.840
<v Speaker 1>made of imported or repurposed parts. At any rate, the

0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.679
<v Speaker 1>use of the death tripod would seem necessitated, at least

0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.680
<v Speaker 1>in the cruel minds of the Hearkenings, by the planet's

0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:33.080
<v Speaker 1>sandy ground conditions and lack of trees, But the symbol

0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.199
<v Speaker 1>of the death tripod ultimately transcends this usage and comes

0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:41.119
<v Speaker 1>to refer to collective efforts of vengeance, in which three

0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:45.920
<v Speaker 1>individuals work against an enemy. I am a naive, says

0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:50.240
<v Speaker 1>the fremen stillgar, never to be taken alive. I am

0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:53.480
<v Speaker 1>a leg of the death Tripod that will destroy our foes.

0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.040
<v Speaker 1>Tripods also factor heavily into the novel as a means

0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:02.240
<v Speaker 1>of understanding the delicate balance of power within the broader empire.

0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.320
<v Speaker 1>The three legs of the political tripod and Dune are

0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.919
<v Speaker 1>the Patashah Emperor, the Spacing Guild, and the lands Rod,

0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:15.280
<v Speaker 1>all of more or less equal power. The Emperor is,

0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.000
<v Speaker 1>of course, the ruler of the interstellar Imperium, backed by

0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:23.200
<v Speaker 1>his legions of elite Sardakar warriors. The Spacing Guild controls

0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.640
<v Speaker 1>a complete monopoly on space travel through the Imperium, and

0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.600
<v Speaker 1>the lands Rod is a collective composed of the various

0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:33.360
<v Speaker 1>great houses in the feudal Dune universe. And yet we

0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.240
<v Speaker 1>are also told quote in politics, the tripod is the

0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:41.160
<v Speaker 1>most unstable of all structures in the world of done.

0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:44.920
<v Speaker 1>This initially refers to the fact that, amid the lands Rod,

0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.240
<v Speaker 1>the Spacing Guild, and the Emperor, each quote unquote leg

0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.720
<v Speaker 1>of the tripod is simultaneously in league with and opposed

0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.880
<v Speaker 1>to the other two legs. The Emperor cannot become too

0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.720
<v Speaker 1>powerful because the Guild and the lands Rod keep him

0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.919
<v Speaker 1>in But at the same time, the Spacing Guild cannot

0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.840
<v Speaker 1>become too powerful because the Emperor and the lands Rode

0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.360
<v Speaker 1>keep them in check. And so forth. It's a delicate balance,

0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.000
<v Speaker 1>and if things become unbalanced, then two sides might move

0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.600
<v Speaker 1>against the third. We of course, have historical examples to

0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:20.760
<v Speaker 1>turn to here on Earth various rules of three, from

0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:24.519
<v Speaker 1>the Triumvirates of Rome to notable examples in Chinese and

0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.840
<v Speaker 1>Russian history, amid many others, but we also see the

0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:31.720
<v Speaker 1>basic dynamics of the political tripod borne out in game theory.

0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.880
<v Speaker 1>Many of the more famous problems in game theories, such

0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.680
<v Speaker 1>as the prisoners dilemma, relate to two player games. These

0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:42.320
<v Speaker 1>are often the simplest models of conflict on which to ruminate,

0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.120
<v Speaker 1>but as Roger A. McCain describes in the two thousand

0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.120
<v Speaker 1>four book Game Theory, three player games are also important

0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.800
<v Speaker 1>for two reasons. Number One, they're just one step of

0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.840
<v Speaker 1>complexity beyond two player games, but often entail complexities that

0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.080
<v Speaker 1>then translate into games with even or players. And then secondly,

0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.720
<v Speaker 1>they enable two players to gain up on a third.

0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:10.560
<v Speaker 1>In short, they allow for alliances. You've probably encountered some

0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:14.680
<v Speaker 1>examples of this playing three player competitive board games. Take

0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.479
<v Speaker 1>Settlers of Katan, for example, what do players one and

0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.960
<v Speaker 1>two do when player three appears to be in the lead.

0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.039
<v Speaker 1>Why they gang up on them, of course? And then

0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.760
<v Speaker 1>what happens when player two moves into the lead, why

0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:33.080
<v Speaker 1>the alliance is likely to shift. This very roughly illustrates

0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.880
<v Speaker 1>the instability of the political tripod. The power balance in Dune,

0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.200
<v Speaker 1>and certainly the power balance in real world scenarios, is

0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.960
<v Speaker 1>generally far more complicated than a friendly game of Katan,

0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:45.719
<v Speaker 1>but you get the picture. I'm not sure to what

0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:51.080
<v Speaker 1>extent Herbert intended us to contemplate connections between unstable political

0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:55.720
<v Speaker 1>tripods and the death tripod. Itself, but certainly the hearkening

0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.800
<v Speaker 1>approach to power and governance proves unstable. In the end,

0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:05.120
<v Speaker 1>It's appetite for cruelty and its thirst for power eventually

0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:12.919
<v Speaker 1>leads to its demise. Tune in for additional episodes of

0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.800
<v Speaker 1>The Artifact or The Monster Fact each week. As always,

0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.159
<v Speaker 1>you can email us at contact it's Stuff to Blow

0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:30.960
<v Speaker 1>your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is

0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.600
<v Speaker 1>a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for

0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.720
<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:38.560
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.